via President in carpet mishap | The Herald February 5, 2015
PRESIDENT MUGABE yesterday tripped over a poorly laid-out carpet at Harare International Airport, but remarkably managed to break the fall before walking to his car, evidently unscathed.
The African Union chairman had just addressed thousands of jubilant party supporters who gathered to welcome him and celebrate his election as AU chairman.
Speaking off the cuff for slightly over 43 minutes following a four-hour flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he spent a busy week chairing AU plenary meetings in addition to meeting African leaders, President Mugabe turned to leave the podium and was walking down a flight of steps when he tripped over.
Remarkably, the President broke the fall and landed on his knees.
Aides helped him to his feet and he walked to his car.
Last night, the incident was attracting excited headlines around the world, with many linking it to his age and alleged poor health.
Ironically just seconds earlier, the President had admonished the media for making issues out of non-issues.
“Do not be writers who always criticise. When they (journalists) fail to get something to write they look for non-existing issues. We do not want that. We want the truth, teaching our people the truth.
‘‘I appeal to you journalists to be people with knowledge of policies happening in various countries. Reporting on the progress that we achieve and this must constitute new steps for us to make further progress until we achieve our objectives. That is what we want,” President Mugabe said before winding off his address.
Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Prof Jonathan Moyo who witnessed the incident first hand said the real news lay in the misrepresentation of the incident by malcontents in the media.
“The misrepresentations and morbid celebrations of the incident by malcontents is the real news here and not the alleged fall as there was none.
‘’What happened is that the President tripped over a hump on the carpet on one of the steps of the dais as he was stepping down from the platform but he remarkably managed to break the fall on his own. I repeat that the President managed to break the fall.
‘’Nobody has shown any evidence of the President having fallen down because that did not happen. The hump on which the President tripped was formed by two pieces of the carpet which apparently had not been laid out properly where they joined. And to be honest with you, even Jesus, let alone you, would have also tripped in that kind of situation. In the circumstances, there’s really nothing to write home about the nonsensical celebrations by malcontents who are imagining a fall that never was since it was actually broken by the President himself,” he said.
This is not the first time a poorly laid out carpet has caused a head of state and/or government to stumble.
Former Australia prime minister Julia Gillard fell face first near the Ghandi Memorial during an official visit to India in October 2012.
Former United States President George Bush, missed a step while watching the Athens Olympics in 2008, and required the help of aides to stop him from an ignominious fall.
Five years earlier, In 2003, Bush was left bruised after falling head-first from a Segway – a stand-on scooter designed to make motorised travel user-friendly.
Queen Sofia of Spain, stumbled at the White House, with President Bill Clinton coming to the rescue, as she ascended steps during visit to Washington in 2000.
In 1975, US president Gerald Ford tumbled down the Air Force One stairs while visiting Austria.
These are just a few examples of high-profile incidents where leaders fell down with the stories hardly speculating about the health or ages of the people concerned.
COMMENTS
Kana vadonha vadonha zvekuti vananhingi vakambodonha zvine basa rei?
Kana vadonha vadonha zvekuti vananhingi vakambodonha zvinebasa rei? Vakuru vadonha.
That was not a carpet mishap mugabe fell full stop this shows hw Zimbabwe is being led by an oldman who can not even walk on his own. Why is he still on the chair when age is advanced?
These politicians like Jonathan think everyone else if a fool, how can he try to defend such plain incident and people need not be told anything as evryone can judge for themselves what the witnessed and given a million trips to singapore for treatment and the advanced age, how can one rule out that the man can’t cope anymore.
that fall has absolutely nothing to do with the carpet
I watched the video on the incident a number of times and it is clear that Mugabe’s descent from the stage was on the first two steps jerky and on the third step he consequently mised it and fell down.
The carpet story is an invention made to stop talk about the difficulties encountered by Mugabe. The carpet had nothing to do with it.
Its sad to see how the Herald and Moyo try to cover up the fact that Mugabe fell. There is a video on the incident and people can see for themselves the fall and make their own judgement.
The fact that Mugabe is turning 91 cannot be denied and the video clearly shows that his walking those stairs is highly exaggerated to cover up his weaker body and I can see a lot of those falls coming especially if he continues to walk unaided.
I wonder what Moyo will say if he was to die.
Its a pity he did not fall flat onto his face . Then we definitely would not have seen his repugnant mug for a while.
I think what is remarkable is the fact that the Herald article echoes Moyos take on the incident word for word. Breaking your fall has never been an instinctive thing. Wrestlers and certain other sports including parachuting actually teach those doing it how to break their fall ie avoid falling with the greatest impact and pretty much lighten the fall. Mugabe is an old man who thinks his body is still as sharp as his brain hence the statement we always hear “I’m fit as a fiddle”. I personally think he has fallen a few times that we do not know about. The body can sometimes deteriorate faster than the mind. The truth of the matter is the more they try to hide the state of Mugabe’s health the more clear it becomes.
Mr J Moyo I thought you have the intelligence to know that Jesus Christ would never had fallen or tripped because he could commend nature to do what he wanted eg he walked over water and stopped violent sea storm which none of us can do.
The greatest scientists around the world are now accepting through human DNA information studies that some force with superior intelligence than ours created it.The information within a human being DNA intelligence is more complicated than our best computer soft ware,therefore never deceive yourself that any mortal being can be equated to Jesus.
very true
Was there a nasty stain on the carpet afterwards? I think we should be told.
At the age of 90 soon to be 91 the bones of a person are very fragile -looking at the picture his feet seemed swelled up which is the norm for a person his age – goodness sake use a walking stick like Kamuzu!
havanyari vana jonathan moyo kupupura nhema akadonha zve thas all imagine 91 years.
he,s old enough this old madala