27 presidential guards suspended over Mugabe fall
Some 27 members of Zimbabwe’s presidential security and advance team who failed to act as President Robert Mugabe tripped and fell down at Harare International Airport have been suspended.
Zimbabwe’s The Standard, quoting sources, reported that the guards were handed suspension letters Friday.
An investigation has also been launched into the embarrassing incident.
However, Presidential spokesperson George Charamba dismissed the reports of a shake-up in President Mugabe’s security team as a fallacy.
“There is only one hand that shakes up and that hand has not shaken-up (anything). What is there to shake up? The last time you heard about a shake-up it was from us and not from media reports,” Charamba told the newspaper.
The newspaper said new faces were seen at the State House Friday afternoon where the head of state was hosting newly elected Zambian leader Edgar Lungu.
Mr Mugabe tripped and fell on all fours last Wednesday night at the airport on his return from Ethiopia where he had just taken charge as the new chairperson of the African Union.
He had just addressed hundreds of Zanu PF supporters.