For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Images of Robert Mugabe spectacularly falling down a flight of stairs on his return to Zimbabwe from Ethiopia captured the heart of the internet when they first surfaced in February.
Despite the best efforts of his security team to force journalists to delete the evidence, the photograph quickly went viral. Pretty soon, the 91-year-old President found himself falling everywhere from Harry Potter ’s Quidditch pitch to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” .
He sacked his guards for failing to divert the embarrassment . And he’s unlikely to be particularly thrilled by his latest accidental photographic gaffe – one that appears to show the African leader wearing a wig and a pair of earrings, thanks to a well-positioned woman standing just behind him.
Mugabe was standing outside the Union Building in South Africa on 8 April when the shot was taken.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe falls after addressing supporters
(AP)
Mugabe fell on his return from an African Union meeting in Ethiopia
(AP)
Mugabe, 90, was elected chairman of the African Union and is set to celebrate his 91st birthday on 21 February
(AP)
Of course, the President did have a far more serious reason to be in the country on his first state visit in 21 years – lambasting Western involvement in African affairs.
Speaking during a televised press conference alongside South African President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria, he said: “We want a political environment in which we are not interfered with by outsiders and we become masters of ourselves in Africa.
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Show all 29 1 /29Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe takes part in the 1974 Rhodesia conference in Geneva, jokingly puts up his fists as he encounters newsmen
AP
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe Robert Mugabe, 1976
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures In 1976 Robert Mugabe was the Patriotic Front leader
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Mugabe meeting Thatcher, 1980 Mugabe said he thought he could 'trust' Thatcher but didn't believe anything Tony Blair said
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe and Indira Gandhi Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the Summit of Non Aligned in New Delhi, 1983
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe and David Lange Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Robert Mugabe (R) welcomes his New-Zealand's counterpart David Lange at Harare airport, 1985
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe receives the Hunger Project award Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe holds up the Hunger Project award as recipient of the Africa Prize for Leadership 15 September in New York, 1988
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Deputy President of the African National Congress Nelson Mandela, center, and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, far right, greet the crowds at the start of the new Zimbabwe public holiday, Mandela Day, in Harare in 1990
AP
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe and Fidel Castro Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (L) is greeted in Havana by Cuban President Fidel Castro, 1992
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe and Bill Clinton US President Bill Clinton points to items of interest on the White House grounds to President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe during his visit, 1995
AFP
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe married Grace Marufu in 1996
AP
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures On Blair's criticism, 1997 "So, Blair keep your England, and let me keep my Zimbabwe"
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe with his wife and Queen Elizabeth Britain's Queen Elizabeth with President Mugabe of Zimbabwe and his wife, pose for photographers after being the Queen's guest at Buckingham, 1997
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe with Nelson Mandela and Sam Nujoma South African President Nelson Mandela, centre, and his counterparts, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, left, and Namibia's Sam Nujoma, shake hands after a joint press conference in Pretoria, 1999
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe prays Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe prays at Harare Catholic cathedral church during a special requiem prayer for the late the country's founding father and liberation war hero Joshua Nkomo, 1999
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe greets then Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2001
Reuters
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe and Idriss Deb Presidents Idriss Deby of Chad (L) and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe attend a tree-planting ceremony on the African Union (AU) square in Ouagadougou, 2004
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures On the West "Countries such as the U.S. and Britain have taken it upon themselves to decide for us in the developing world, even to interfere in our domestic affairs and to bring about what they call regime change"
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures On voting "Our votes must go together with our guns. After all, any vote we shall have, shall have been the product of the gun. The gun which produces the vote should remain its security officer - its guarantor. The people's votes and the people's guns are always inseparable twins"
EPA
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures On food aid "We are not hungry... Why foist this food upon us? We don't want to be choked. We have enough" 1.5 million people were starving in 2005, especially in the drought-stricken south. Food aid became politicised
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Mugabe celebrating his 89th birthday He spent £400,000 on his celebrations. Mugabe and his supporters tucked into an 89kg cake and 89 cattle were presented to him from the country's central bank. A lot of his country are starving
Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures On power "It may be necessary to use methods other than constitutional ones"
AP
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, lights a flame at celebrations to mark 32 years of independence of Zimbabwe in 2012
AP
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe with his family Zimbabwes President Robert Mugabe (R) and his wife Grace (L) with their 24-year-old first-born child and only daughter Bona Mugabe (C) pose after the convocation at MDIS-University of Wales graduation ceremony in Singapore, 2013
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe votes Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (L) casts his vote by his wife Grace and daughter Bona (R) at a polling booth in a school in Harare, 2013
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe at the Kremlin in Moscow in 2015
Reuters
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Robert Mugabe, then President of Zimbabwe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly General Debate at the United Nations in New York in 2016
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Mugabe’s interests and those of the majority of Zimbabweans drifted far apart. In mid-November 2017, the issue was brought to a head when the army took power in Zimbabwe. On 21 November he conceded and resigned, after 37 years in power.
AFP/Getty
Robert Mugabe: Zimbabwean independence leader in pictures Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses media during a surprise press conference at his residence "Blue Roof " in Harare, on the eve of the country's first election since he was ousted from office a year previous
AFP/Getty
“We don't think we are getting a fair deal at the United Nations.
“The five countries there who are permanent members... Control the entire system.”
He further called on the rest of the developing world to take a stand against the United States, France and Britain, saying the governments' “messy, reckless, brutal approach” to foreign affairs has left the Arab world “torn apart”.
“African resources belong to Africa. Others may come to assist as our friends and allies but no longer as colonisers or oppressors, no longer as racists.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies