News / National
Mugabe's prostate cancer scare is old news
07 Sep 2011 at 11:59hrs | Views
WikiLeaks' release of a cable alleging Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is dying of prostate cancer and could be gone by 2013 may have raised eyebrows around the world last week, but it's old news in Zimbabwe.
The cable detailed how the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, told then U.S. ambassador James McGee in June 2008 that Mugabe's cancer had metastasized and that doctors gave the President five years to live.
Mugabe's illness has been an "open secret" for many years, says legislator Eddie Cross of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). And it is has been officially acknowledged that Mugabe made several medical trips to Malaysia in recent years, although those were always claimed to be for minor ailments.
Still, Mugabe has appeared increasingly frail in public, sometimes requiring a golf cart to move around. However public debate about the 87-year-old's condition ' like discussion of almost anything to do with Mugabe ' has been stifled, Cross says, "because of the atmosphere of fear surrounding Mugabe."
If the WikiLeaks cable allegations are true, how long might Mugabe have to live? "If Mugabe's doctor gave a five-year prognosis, it sounds like the intent is palliative," says Professor Mohamed Haffejee, head of urology at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand, using a medical term for relieving and preventing the suffering of a patient who cannot be cured.
The cable detailed how the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, told then U.S. ambassador James McGee in June 2008 that Mugabe's cancer had metastasized and that doctors gave the President five years to live.
Still, Mugabe has appeared increasingly frail in public, sometimes requiring a golf cart to move around. However public debate about the 87-year-old's condition ' like discussion of almost anything to do with Mugabe ' has been stifled, Cross says, "because of the atmosphere of fear surrounding Mugabe."
If the WikiLeaks cable allegations are true, how long might Mugabe have to live? "If Mugabe's doctor gave a five-year prognosis, it sounds like the intent is palliative," says Professor Mohamed Haffejee, head of urology at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand, using a medical term for relieving and preventing the suffering of a patient who cannot be cured.
Source - time
