Photographers attending a public address by Robert Mugabe in Harare were forced to delete pictures after the president lost his balance while walking down a set of steps.

The Zimbabwean president, 91 this month, spoke upon his return from the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, where he was elected chairman of the organisation.

On the way down from the stage, he lost his footing and stumbled, before quickly being helped up by his security guards.

Mugabe has been a highly controversial figure in African politics, due to his election tampering, seizure of white-owned property, and hyper-inflation which resulted in Zimbabwe abandoning it's currency for the US dollar.