He had been expelled from the country as Mrs Mugabe postured for the presidency, but was spirited back into the country with the help of the military, which had by then put the Mugabes under house arrest.

Mr Mugabe said his dismissal was a coup. "People must be chosen in government in a proper way. I'm willing to assist in that process, but I must be invited," he said. "I don't hate Emmerson. I brought him into government. But he must be proper. He is illegal."

Mr Mugabe said he was ready to engage with Mr Mnangagwa "to correct things".

He said he did not watch the street celebrations that marked the end of his reign. Speaking of Mr Mnangagwa's rise, he said: "[By] not wanting to be democratic [Mnangagwa] has betrayed the whole nation."

Mr Mugabe served a decade in detention along with Mr Mnangagwa when the white minority ruled the former Rhodesia. He came to power in 1980 after a ceasefire negotiated under Margaret Thatcher.

But within three years, violence began to erupt in the south of the country as several government officials and white farmers were killed, their land seized and put under new ownership.

Asked about his human rights record, Mr Mugabe said: "Some errors were done. They weren't that bad in comparison to other countries."

His 38 years in power turned Rhodesia from an affluent state into one of the poorest countries in the world. It abandoned its own currency in 2008 after years of hyper inflation.

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But Mr Mugabe denied ruining Zimbabwe. "There is greater prosperity," he said. "People have their land."

So far Mr Mnangagwa has said Mr Mugabe could live well in retirement and would be shown respect.

But the attitude has hardened. "He [Mugabe] has jumped into the fray, so I suspect he is fair game now," a source close to Mr Mnangagwa said.