'We must undo this disgrace’ – Robert Mugabe (BBC)

Former Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe has delivered his first TV interview since he was ousted from power in November, 2017 claiming he was removed through military force.

Speaking to South African broadcaster SABC, he also criticised the country’s new leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, for turning against him.

Mugabe spent much of his first press conference since being ousted reflecting on the illegality of last November's "coup d'etat," and on the personal sense of betrayal that clearly still preoccupies the 94-year-old.

But while some Zimbabweans, and historians, may find much to ponder in Mr Mugabe's enduring sense of victimhood, and in the dramatic details he provided about his allies' escape, under gunfire, from Harare, the real question for the country is what - if anything - this carefully choreographed media intervention means for the future.

Above all, it means working out what Mr Mugabe meant by the phrase "we must undo this disgrace" - in reference to the coup - and whether anyone will now take him seriously.

It is easy, and tempting, to conclude that Zimbabwe has moved on; that Mr Mugabe's tetchy claims that the man who ousted him, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is "improper… illegal" as nothing more than sour grapes, to be quietly ignored by a nation, and an international community, that has overwhelmingly accepted the legitimacy of the new president.