There are unconfirmed reports that the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who will turn 90 next month, has collapsed in Harare.
The Zimbabwe Mail stated that security at the State House had been increased after concerns about the leader’s health had been raised.
The paper stated that rumours about Mugabe’s collapse had been posted on Facebook by an insider in the ruling Zanu-PF party known as Baba Jukwa.
The reports come at a delicate time for Zimbabwe, with an estimated 2.2 million people at risk of hunger.
The country is importing 150,000 tonnes of maize from neighbouring South Africa to guarantee food supplies before the April harvest.
Zimbabwe has been facing perennial food shortages prompting the government to import maize from neighbours to augment local production.
Poor food production has been blamed on land reforms which saw the seizure of white-owned commercial farmers under President Robert Mugabe’s land reforms for redistribution to landless blacks.
The government says poor rains in recent years are to blame for the drop in food production.
Some reports have gone on further to suggest that Mugabe’s collapse has eventually led to a sudden death. This is not the first time that the Zimbabwean President has been alleged to be dead such that at one time he made a joke of it claiming that he had resurrected in more times than Jesus when it came to the issue of death and resurrection.
