In real terms, there are two answers to this question - and they are just about as opposed to each other as possible…

At 86, Mugabe is now almost twice the expected longevity of male Zimbabweans, which is pegged at 46 years of age. Given that he lives in extravagant opulence, he is not going to be exposed to anything approaching the threats and hard times that normal Zimbabweans experience.

But that he should deem it normal and run-of-the-mill to subject all manner of Zimbabweans to the abject poverty that his rule has caused is inexcusable.

And this didn’t just start a few years ago - this goes back into the early 1980s.

Approaching independence and shortly thereafter, Mugabe was the ‘darling of the West’ and was met with amiable respect by all and sundry. And, as far as all could see, he was unable to put a foot wrong.

He was looked upon as the liberator of Zimbabwe, the man who almost single-handedly overpowered and out thought the Rhodesian government.

Much of the initial thoughts were shoved aside with the advent of the Gukurahundi in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the early 1980s.

“Everybody knew about it, almost everyone ignored it. Officially the brutal reign of terror throughout Matabeleland by Robert Mugabe’s troops in the days following independence never happened. In recent weeks a long-awaited report by the Catholic Commission for Justice cataloguing the outrage has been leaked. It was handed to Mugabe, who saw fit to keep it under wraps. But the truth will out. The South African press and, surprisingly, the independent press in Zimbabwe have quoted from the report at length. This one was published by the Mail & Guardian in South Africa.

The nightmarish story of how Mugabe’s Korean-trained troops put down an insurrection in the early 1980s has been detailed in a report drawn up by Zimbabwe’s Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. The shock findings were presented to Mugabe in March, but the country’s eight Catholic bishops have backed off a pledge to release it publicly. A copy has, however, been obtained by the Mail & Guardian. The report is based on testimony gathered from more than 1000 people over a five-year period. It sweeps aside a curtain of silence which has seen families being refused death certificates for corpses of their loved ones, because officialdom refuses to recognise their murders. Only one member of Mugabe’s Cabinet has ever expressed the slightest regret for the atrocities.”

Let’s put this into context. The Gukurahundi - as we know it, at least - finished in 1987 with the signing of the Peace Accord between ZANU and ZAPU - and then Mugabe’s party proceeded to gobble up Nkomo’s party.

Now the violence has not only returned to Zimbabwe, but ZANU PF refuse to admit that violence is perpetrated by their party, alleging that it begins and ends with the MDC.

That the vast majority of victims are MDC members seems to have escaped ZANU PF’s attention. They are unable to explain why the MDC would attack, kill and maim their own.

But their allegations are not only unfounded, but nonsensical.

Mugabe continues to rule with a fist of steel, brushes off any criticism, admonishes those that stand against him and deals with political opposition with violence and an ever increasing rate of oppression - specifically targeting the MDC.

To answer my initial question: Mugabe has surprising health for a man of his age, but whether his mental ability is equitable, is a moot point.

Robb WJ Ellis
The Bearded Man