Harare –Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was reportedly not bothered by the recent demonstrations calling for him to step down.

According to a New Zimbabwe.com report, President Mugabe was enjoying mealies and discussing history with an unnamed friend when thousands of protesters took to the street on Saturday.

"He was talking about his school days in the 1930s and anthropology and how it impacted on the colonial perception of Africans and their intellect. In the midst of such a highly charged intellectual conversation, we were munching maize. Oh my god, he was very upbeat and chatty," Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba was quoted as saying.

Charamba maintained that Mugabe was not going to step down. He argued that the plotters of the "coup" were not after the veteran leader but a young generation of "ambitious Zanu-PF members who were isolating Mugabe from his war time friends".

He said that the military chief Constantino Chiwenga still respected his "boss" and was not challenging his authority.

In an address to the nation on Sunday, it was widely believed that Mugabe – who has been held under house arrest by the military in Harare since last week – would resign.

But the 93-year-old announced during his speech, which was televised on state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), that he was still in power.

"The (ruling Zanu-PF) party congress is due in a few weeks and I will preside over its processes," Mugabe said, plunging the nation into further uncertainty.