HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 on Tuesday (Feb 21), has no plans to give up power, saying he has no "acceptable" successor in place.

"The call to step down must come from my party, my party at congress, my party at central committee," Mr Mugabe said in excerpts from a radio broadcast that will air this week and that were printed in the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper. "But then what do you see? It's the opposite. They want me to stand for elections."

"The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, a successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am," he added.

Mr Mugabe, who has kept an iron grip on power since Zimbabwe declared independence in 1980, has repeatedly denied reports of health problems.