Mugabe made the remarks, in his 2-hour traditional birthday interview with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings on Wednesday.
Why would I need a house. Ndiri mwana wevhu (Iam a son of the soil)
said Mugabe croutching to the ground and picking some soil granules, in
the snippets of the interview which will be beamed Thursday night.
International media have been awash with the reports that Mugabe bought
a USD 5,8 million mansion in Hong Kong, where his daughter, Bona, is
attending university. Some of the media even published picutres of the
alleged mansion.
The London Times said the mansion was purchased by a middleman through
a shadowy company whose registered office is in a run-down block. It
said when a reporter and a photographer called at the house last week,
they were attacked by the Zimbabwean occupants. The assailants were
questioned by the police.
The acquisition came to light during a Sunday Times investigation into
the Mugabes' financial interests in Asia, where a web of associates has
helped them to spend lavishly on luxuries and stash away millions in
bank accounts.
In Zimbabwe, meanwhile, inflation has reached 231 million percent,
although this figure is believed to be much more than that,
unemployment stands at 94 percent and 3 467 people have died in recent
months from cholera.