Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, have reportedly been flown out of the country for “emergency” medical checks in Singapore.

The Mugabes left on Sunday on a flight chartered by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, New Zimbabwe.com reported.

Mugabe, 94, and Grace, 53, have “been struggling with poor health, regularly travelling to the southeast Asian country for medical attention”, the report said.

The development came a few weeks after Mnangagwa spent more than half a million US dollars to fly Grace home to attend her mother’s funeral.

At least $550 000 was used to charter a top-of-the range jet from a company in Qatar, said the private Standard newspaper.

“The money, it has been established, was sourced by a local business tycoon with vast interests in energy, mining and agriculture, who is close to Mnangagwa,” the paper said.

Grace was reported to be unwell and in Singapore last month. She was still there when her 83-year-old mother, Idah Marufu, died in Harare on August 30.