Harare – President Robert Mugabe has surprised many and skipped attending a Russian Economic Forum which begins on Thursday after courting controversy for spending over $3.5 million recently to charter a plane to Singapore and Mexico.
The jet setting Mugabe arrived in the country on Friday after spending a week at the Mexican resort of Cancun where he attended a 3-day Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction conference.
However, in a first for the 93 year old leader who has never missed an opportunity to fly-out of the troubled country, Mugabe has dispatched his deputy, Phelekezela Mphoko to Russia to beg for a financial bailout.
Mphoko will attend the 21st St Petersburg International Forum which begins on Thursday, ending on Saturday.
“We will be strengthening the economic and investment ties between Zimbabwe and Russia, and we want to show our level of commitment and hope to come back with tangible deals,” Tabeta Kanengoni-Malinga, the minister of State in VP Mphoko’s office told state media.
“VP Mphoko will attend a plenary session with President (Vladmir) Putin, and the Vice-President will talk about issues to do with investment opportunities in Zimbabwe and strengthening bilateral ties between our two countries.”
In 2015, Mugabe visited Russia for the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany at President Putin’s invitation in his capacity as then African Union Chair.
Reports say Mugabe has spent a staggering 77 days outside the country since January 2017, compared to the 69 he has stayed in Zimbabwe, earning the moniker the “Visiting President.”
Mugabe has turned out to be the only head of state at some international seminars and summits he has attended, earning ridicule from a cross section of Zimbabweans, notably the opposition.
