President Mugabe Reads The Wrong Speech

Robert Mugabe has delivered a month-old speech by accident during the opening of Zimbabwe's parliament.

The 91-year-old president delivered the speech for the first time last month as a state of the nation address - his first in eight years.

At the time he was booed by opposition MPs, but Mr Mugabe was met with silence from his audience as he rattled off the same address on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Falls Down Stairs

He delivered the speech from start to finish without realising his error.

Opposition MPs say the gaffe shows Mr Mugabe is "too old" to rule the country effectively. "We have a 91-year-old president who has a fading memory, who, if he had sharpened up his memory would have immediately picked it up that this speech was actually a stale speech," said Obert Gutu, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change.
"But the mere fact that he went on and on and on up until the very end, reading an old speech, shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Robert Mugabe is too old.
"The rigours of his presidential office are too much for him, and ... at the advanced age of 91 (he) should do the honourable thing and step down from office."

A spokesman for Mr Mugabe said a mix up at the president's office led to the president reading the wrong script.