Everytime you see Robert Mugabe looking like he’s sleeping in public, he’s only ‘resting his eyes’.

This is according to his spokesperson George Charamba, who told the state owned Herald newspaper that this is due to his aversion to bright lights.

“The president cannot suffer bright lights,” Charamba is reported to have told the newspaper.

“I feel like a failure when there is this reading that the president is sleeping in conferences – no [he’s not]” he added.

Mugabe, 93, as been spotted ‘sleeping’ at several public events over the years, but it has been occurring more frequently in recent times.

According to Charamba, Mugabe’s eyes are just sensitive to light and he has to occasionally rest them.