Outrage over Mugabe holiday bills

He and his family left Harare for an unspecified Far East country on December 14. His personal spokesperson, George Charamba, told The Zimbabwean “He will come back when his annual leave is over. Period.”

There had been speculation that he would return last Saturday, but that did not happen. Besides his family, Mugabe took with him a large entourage of security, medical and other personnel who are understood to be accommodated at expensive hotels.

Respected economist John Robertson said the long stay was bleeding the fiscus. “Although we don’t have the exact figures, experience will tell you that he, his family and the dozens that he usually takes with him are living in expensive hotels, eating expensive food and getting handsome daily allowances for their leisure,” said Robertson.

A quick internet check showed that top hotels in Far Eastern countries cost as much as $800 a night, while presidential suites are likely to be far higher.

If the Mugabe family takes up four suites for the parents and three offspring (Bona, Robert Junior and Chatunga) while accommodating 20 other members of the entourage, the cost could be around $20,000 a night for the whole team on accommodation only. Food and drink could gobble over $5,000 a day.

“Imagine how many old people’s homes and orphanages could survive on what Mugabe is spending a day. It’s absolutely outrageous,” said Robertson.

Mugabe is suspected to use his time of the country to undergo costly medical routines as he is reported to be suffering from prostate cancer and eye problems and other ailments associated with old age.

Unconfirmed reports in the past have indicated that the medical bills during a single trip run into millions of dollars.

Obert Gutu, the MDC-T national spokesperson, accused Mugabe of holidaying at the expense of suffering Zimbabweans. “Mugabe has completely abdicated his core responsibility of steering the country out of a long drawn crisis. “He generated a crisis by firing almost a whole cabinet, put impostors in their place and ran away,” he said.