Mugabe had been unwell for some time, although details of his illness have long remained a mystery.
Last month, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced that after a four-month stay in a Singapore hospital, the 95-year-old was still under observation.
Speculation about Mugabe’s health had been swirling amid his visits to Singapore for treatment, but it was the first time the government had disclosed how long he’d spent at the hospital.
“Unlike in the past when the former President would require just a month for this, his physicians this time around determined that he be kept under observation for much longer,” Mnangagwa said on August 5.