The ageing Mugabe told his Zanu (PF)’s National Consultative Assembly that elections would only be held after a new constitution had been adopted, but that it must be by March.

“We cannot go beyond March next year. I will definitely announce the date. Once I announce the date, everyone will follow. I have the constitutional right to name an election date with the GPA or no GPA,” he said.

This declaration on elections comes after reports that Mugabe is suffering from terminal cancer and is expected to die within two years. The latest Wikileaks documents reveal that Mugabe was diagnosed with prostate cancer and warned by doctors in 2008 that he had only five years to live.

The MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed Mugabe’s talk on elections, saying only after consultations with other partners in the unity government can a date for elections be announced.

Douglas Mwonzora, spokesman for the MDC-T, said on Monday that what Mugabe was trying to do is set an agenda ahead of his annual people’s congress.

“He usually does these things to divert people’s attention and make people focus on wrong things. As the MDC we want an election to take place in this country to get rid of this GNU. But we’ve always said we want free and fair elections,” Mwonzora said.

He explained that for an election to be held in Zimbabwe there must be mechanisms in place to ensure the poll produces a leader who is legitimate.

“It is no use to have an election that will bring us back to GNU number two or an election that everyone will condemn,” he said.