Zimbabwe’s long-serving President Robert Mugabe gave short shrift to a journalist’s question about who could succeed him during an interview to mark his 92nd birthday.

“Why do you want a successor?” He asked the interviewer. “You want me to hit you so that you fall down for you to feel that I’m still here?”, the state-owned Herald newspaper quotes him as saying.

Mr Mugabe, who’s been in power since 1980, said that he’s not going to retire in the middle of this term, which began in 2013.

“Why would I accept the office if I had an ailment or I am sick or I can’t do it?” he asked.