Harare (ANTARA News/AFP) - Zimbabwe`s President Robert Mugabe has flown to Singapore for a medical check-up, his seventh journey to see doctors in the Asian city-state this year, an independent weekly newspaper reported Sunday.

"He went for a review following an eye operation he had earlier on. He will be back tomorrow (Sunday)," information minister Webster Shamhu was quoted as saying in The Standard weekly newspaper.

Mugabe, 87, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, has prostate cancer, according to US diplomatic cables released by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.

The leaked cable alleged that Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told the then-US ambassador James McGee in 2008 that Mugabe has prostate cancer that has metastasized and "that will cause his death in three to five years."

"According to Gono, Mugabe`s doctor recommended he cut back on his activities," the leaked cable said.

Gono has denied the WikiLeaks report.

Mugabe has not commented on the WikiLeaks reports, but in the past he has scoffed at reports that his health is deteriorating.

The veteran ruler is in a coalition government with his long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, after 2008 elections failed violently. Mugabe has already been nominated by his ZANU-PF party as its presidential candidate in elections, expected possibly next year. (*)