美国国家公共电台 NPR Nearing 93, Robert Mugabe Shows No Sign Of Stepping Down

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe turns 93 tomorrow. He's the world's oldest leader. Exactly two years and two months older than runner up Queen Elizabeth. Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain 37 years ago, and he's criticized for making a once prosperous African nation poor. All the same, he will again be his party's presidential candidate in elections due next year. But that has not stopped would-be successors jostling for power position and authority as NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports.

OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE 1: A political tussle 2 ballooned on social media in Zimbabwe recently. While President Robert Mugabe was on his annual extended holiday, photographs were circulating showing Vice 3 President Emmerson Mnangagwa, acting 4 president during Mugabe's absence, posing with a huge mug saying, I'm the boss. It caused a stir and a war of words. Another minister, Jonathan Moyo, retorted with a tweet decrying 5 what he called a power grab narrative 6, adding, one boss at a time, please. Political commentator 7 Pedzisai Ruhanya of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute says it's a sign of things to come.

PEDZISAI RUHANYA: People are talking about the succession politics because any reasonable person would see that it's 92 turning 93. The future of the president is in the cemetery 8. So it is that age, not by anyone's willing, but by the will of God, a time when they fizzle out, when they naturally can leave this world.

QUIST-ARCTON: Mugabe has been his country's only leader since independence in 1980. In December, he criticized fellow governing Zanu-PF party members for plotting to oust 9 him and told them to rein 10 in what he called unbridled ambition. Mugabe warned against infighting and ordered his subordinates to stop using Twitter and Facebook to air their rivalries 11. Zanu party central committee member minister and Mugabe supporter Supa Mandiwanzira says the president is their leader, and that's that.

SUPA MANDIWANZIRA: We have no problem with him. President Mugabe says, I'm still here, so my position is not up for grabs. I've a mandate 12. Allow me to serve my term, if you are also interested. Number two - don't jostle for power. We have more important things to do. And the important things we want to do to address the concerns of the people, to deliver on the expectations of our voters. And those are things we should focus on - addressing our economic challenges.

QUIST-ARCTON: Anti-Mugabe demonstrators criticized the lamentable 13 state of Zimbabwe's economy in widespread street protests last year. Among their complaints - the shortage of cash and the estimated $800,000 reportedly spent on the president's lavish 14 official 92nd birthday celebration in 2016.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) Happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you.

QUIST-ARCTON: Giant cakes were served in a drought-stricken area suffering food shortages. But political analyst 15 Pedzisai Ruhanya says forget about birthday parties and focus on the...

RUHANYA: The military factor.

QUIST-ARCTON: Ruhanya says he believes Zimbabwe's military, which has its own wing of the party, will designate Mugabe's successor when the time comes.

RUHANYA: President will not be removed from power by anybody. I think the president will die in office. And when the president dies in office, they faction 16 in Zanu, that is, the control of the military will took over the affairs of the state.

QUIST-ARCTON: But last Friday, Mugabe's wife, who's said to be positioning herself as a possible successor, accused some governing party officials of plotting to seize power. Fifty-one-year-old First Lady Grace Mugabe says even if her husband dies in office before Zimbabwe's vote next year, he's so popular and so well-loved, he should run as a corpse 17. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Johannesburg.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE BUDOS BAND SONG, "T.I.B.W.F.")