News / National
Grace Mugabe Collapses in Dubai
08 Sep 2016 at 06:55hrs | Views
First Lady, Grace Mugabe, reportedly fell down and become briefly unconscious in Dubai last Tuesday, as a result of recurring illness while visiting her son, Robert Junior, who studies there, Spotlight Zimbabwe reported.
The shock revelation, comes contrary to worldwide circulating reports last week, that President Robert Mugabe was the one on his deathbed in the Far East, bringing back to the fore the first lady's own deteriorating health situation after she was diagnosed with colon cancer, a few years ago.
Al Zahra Private Hospital in Dubai
According to media sources in Dubai, Grace was allegedly admitted overnight at a top notch medical facility, believed to be Al Zahra Private Hospital, which caters for high society patients, thus explaining Mugabe's abrupt cancellation of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Mbabane, Swaziland, on Monday last week.
"The first family from Zimbabwe enjoy a press blackout in Dubai and Singapore, that it why media outlets here never report about their activities when they are in the country," said a health correspondent with a private daily newspaper in Abu Dhabi.
"We gather that your first lady (Grace) fell ill and collapsed last Tuesday. It was not serious, but it certainly caused a lot of panic. This might have prompted Robert Mugabe to leave an important summit, so as to attend to his wife. There are also unconfirmed reports that their son, Robert Mugabe Junior, had also fallen in trouble with the local police, who reportedly took him in for questioning with a drug related incident."
Both Mugabe and Grace have become prominent medical tourists in Dubai and Singapore, with the latter fast becoming a home away from home for Zimbabwe's most powerful couple.
Worsening issues and fuelling speculation around the incident is the contradiction made by Mugabe's spokesman and press secretary, George Charamba, against his own boss while attempting to give a credible explanation, behind Mugabe's sudden trip.
Mugabe claimed he had travelled to Dubai on a family trip while Charamba said he had gone there on a pre-scheduled visit.
"I had gone on a family matter to Dubai concerning one of my children," said Mugabe to reporters at the Harare International Airport upon his return on Saturday, without giving details.
A cabinet source in Mugabe's administration yesterday confirmed that the first lady is the one who fell ill last week and that a good cover up job had been done by the State media machinery.
"Everyone was talking about the President being ill and that he was rushed to Dubai, and we all wondered how the press was getting it all wrong," said the official. "If you want to dig deeper into your story, just look out on whether or not the first lady, will be able to accompany the President to New York City, for the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly on September 13 next Tuesday, and if she will be looking fit."
Grace usually never misses the opportunity to make the U.S trip, and although Washington has a visa restriction confining the Mugabes, together with their travelling delegation to a 25-mile radius of New York City, that has never impeded her from making family shopping sprees.
The shock revelation, comes contrary to worldwide circulating reports last week, that President Robert Mugabe was the one on his deathbed in the Far East, bringing back to the fore the first lady's own deteriorating health situation after she was diagnosed with colon cancer, a few years ago.
Al Zahra Private Hospital in Dubai
According to media sources in Dubai, Grace was allegedly admitted overnight at a top notch medical facility, believed to be Al Zahra Private Hospital, which caters for high society patients, thus explaining Mugabe's abrupt cancellation of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Mbabane, Swaziland, on Monday last week.
"The first family from Zimbabwe enjoy a press blackout in Dubai and Singapore, that it why media outlets here never report about their activities when they are in the country," said a health correspondent with a private daily newspaper in Abu Dhabi.
"We gather that your first lady (Grace) fell ill and collapsed last Tuesday. It was not serious, but it certainly caused a lot of panic. This might have prompted Robert Mugabe to leave an important summit, so as to attend to his wife. There are also unconfirmed reports that their son, Robert Mugabe Junior, had also fallen in trouble with the local police, who reportedly took him in for questioning with a drug related incident."
Worsening issues and fuelling speculation around the incident is the contradiction made by Mugabe's spokesman and press secretary, George Charamba, against his own boss while attempting to give a credible explanation, behind Mugabe's sudden trip.
Mugabe claimed he had travelled to Dubai on a family trip while Charamba said he had gone there on a pre-scheduled visit.
"I had gone on a family matter to Dubai concerning one of my children," said Mugabe to reporters at the Harare International Airport upon his return on Saturday, without giving details.
A cabinet source in Mugabe's administration yesterday confirmed that the first lady is the one who fell ill last week and that a good cover up job had been done by the State media machinery.
"Everyone was talking about the President being ill and that he was rushed to Dubai, and we all wondered how the press was getting it all wrong," said the official. "If you want to dig deeper into your story, just look out on whether or not the first lady, will be able to accompany the President to New York City, for the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly on September 13 next Tuesday, and if she will be looking fit."
Grace usually never misses the opportunity to make the U.S trip, and although Washington has a visa restriction confining the Mugabes, together with their travelling delegation to a 25-mile radius of New York City, that has never impeded her from making family shopping sprees.
Source - Spotlight Zimbabwe
