On the eve of crucial general elections in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe extended an unexpected invite to local and foreign journalists for a rare press conference where his press secretary George Charamba said they could 'ask anything'.

For an hour, a relaxed Mugabe was at his humorous and enchanting best, giving as much as he got from the reporters. "He isn't throwing any bombs," the New York Times' Lydia Polgreen said on Twitter, "He's being the funny, charming, wily Mugabe'.

Here are excerpts of Mugabe's exchanges with the reporters. The questions have been paraphrased:

MUGABE: I'm not campaigning here; I'm just greeting you and giving you an opportunity to ask questions and to ask you also, in return, to answer my questions.

Q: Is it fair to say he and the Zimbabwe state and Zanu PF as a party have become conflated during n your time in party?

Mugabe: We're a people's party, and you must remember that there is no other party that has conducted a revolution to redeem the country from the colonial grip that was on it for nearly a century, from 1890 to 1980. Our people were then under colonial rule, and that was quite a period of oppression. It took a party like Zanu PF, now combined... earlier on we were ZANU/ZAPU, and previously when we started we were ANC in 1957, then the National Democratic Party from 1960-61, thereafter ZAPU alone then a split came, ZANU-ZAPU. But it was the same objective - redeeming the party, fighting for self determination.

Zanu PF is the people's party; it's not like other parties. We've parties that were hatched in Britain, we were not that. Those who criticise are not members of the party naturally, or outsiders like those who in Europe and America who don't know much about us except that we're subjects for their oppression.

Q: If you lose, will you stand down?

Mugabe: That's a normal thing. If you go into a process and join in a competition where there're only two outcomes: win or lose, you can't be both. You either win or you lose. If you lose, then you must surrender to those who have won. If you win, those who lost must also surrender to you, and this is it. We would do so, yah, comply with the rules

Q: On British-Zimbabwe relations and thoughts about current government

Mugabe: I say very little about David Cameron, I say quite a lot about British imperialism and colonialism. I worked with Margaret Thatcher very very, shall I say sincerely on my part, and she too was sincere. The Conservative party mind you, she was. We got our independence during the time she was Prime Minister but we went along very well. I invited her to come here, she invited me to Britain, that was the relationship. Then came of course Major, the Conservatives we still worked very smoothly, we hosted the Commonwealth here in 1991 and we worked very well with Major. But then came the defeat of the Conservative party by Labour.

We had worked very well with Labour as a liberation movement. They had invited us each year to their conferences, I attended as an observer obviously ... but then a man called Mr Blair took over then the trouble started. He seemed to come from some wilderness, or is it some street of London. He didn't seem to know what had transpired. He wanted to reverse the land reform programme which we had agreed to with the previous British government at Lancaster House. We had spent close to three months from October to December in 1979 and the main issue there was not just freedom and independence, it was freedom and independence plus the return of our land. But there was Blair now saying no to the land reform process. We said fine, the compensation you're supposed to pay if you no longer are able to pay it, fine, keep your money but Zimbabwe and its land belongs to us, we'll keep our land and you keep your money. That was the quarrel; it was this one man we quarrelled with.

But who was he after all? Look at him as he follows Bush to go and attack an innocent man, Saddam Hussein, accusing him of having weapons of mass destruction which he didn't have. They said he had them, well knowing he didn't have them, telling lies to the rest of the world, to the United Nations and going there even without the go ahead from the United Nations. 'With or without the United Nations I will go there', said Bush, 'and so will I,' said Blair. So the two of them went and attacked this innocent man, killed him in the process, yes they pretended he was tried... they killed him. Thereafter, they declared 'oh no, he did not have weapons of mass destruction' having told that gigantic lie.

It's the same with us, you see, 'there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe, there is no democracy, there is violation of human rights', which was a lie. We had differed with them on this issue of the land I made reference to, and of course he (Blair) wanted us punished for defying him as we acquired the land from the white farmers here and gave it to our own people. That is that.

We're not there to make enemies, we're there to make friends and if the British people are open to friendship, we don't hate them, we actually like them. We've said nothing about Her Majesty the Queen, she came here during the Commonwealth conference in 1991 and had an occasion to reminisce over the period when she had visited in 1947, and I was invited to London and taken to the Palace there. We have great respect for the Queen; we have great respect for Prince Charles and the other princes there, and princesses.

We'll have that friendly disposition, that readiness to work together with those who imposed sanctions on us yesterday provided they remove the sanctions of course. So we're not a hostile people, never.

Q: Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai accuses you of being a puppet of the military, and says you're clinging to power because of that

Mugabe: I thought I had accused him of being a puppet of Europe and the whites. He has dealt me one good one in return [laughs]. It's all over now, we can shake hands. We've worked together, but this was to be expected. Did you think he was not going to box me, and did you think I was going to open myself to being boxed without giving in return what I have learned in all these years? 89 years of boxing the British and imperialism gave me some experience.

Q: Reports of voter intimidation in rural areas where local chiefs are being manipulated, allegations that Zanu PF using chiefs to intimidate voters

Mugabe: You mean our chiefs are there to intimidate people? How can chiefs ever from their thrones intimidate the very citizens they rely upon for the respect that they get? They are there, you know, to serve the people and ensure that there is order. I don't know, have you got any examples, any real specific examples where it happened?

Reporter: In the rural areas

Ah... You know the rural areas have also lions and elephants you know, you might have mistaken them for chiefs.

Q: It's claimed voters roll only delivered yesterday because your party wanted to manipulate it, and is this your last term in office should you win?

Mugabe: The first part, No Sir, I only got my copy of the voters roll yesterday (Monday), and that could never happen, never. We don't do things like that, we have never done it. We're not going to elections for the first time, we've had elections before, democratic elections. The west might not have accepted them as democratic but our own people definitely know, we have never done no cheating, never ever. And we're also Christians.

Whether this is my last election, why do you want to know my secrets? Tell me?

Reporter: Some people say you're 89 and you'll not be in a position to campaign in five years.

Mugabe: I would've gone, is it? So they say. According to Europe, and perhaps America, I don't know how many times I died. But they never talked about my resurrection. I was dying and dying and dying. Even the dead dying again and again and again! But never did they say I resurrected. I'm not dead yet.

Q: How do you assess relations with President Zuma of South Africa?

Mugabe: Lindiwe Zulu was given to opening her mouth in an irregular manner. Our criticism was just of her and not South Africa. I'm glad she has learnt to zip her mouth.

Q: If result of election inconclusive, will unity government be continued to avoid situation like 2008. Could you continue governing with the MDC?

Mugabe: Could the MDC continue governing alongside Zanu PF, that's what you want to say isn't? Well, that circumstance is not envisaged this time. I don't think we'll have that same result, I think we'll have an outright result but if it's not outright we'll discuss. We cannot foretell what we'll do before we know the actual facts, let the actual facts be delivered to us by voters tomorrow and we'll know which way to go. It all depends on what we get from the voters, what the voters want you to do.

Q: Would you appoint MDC people to your cabinet?

Mugabe: If they're appointable, yes sure, why not? If they've good records, why should they not be appointed? They can be appointed. That is not to say I'm going to appoint them, Sir.

Q: What would be your priority if re-elected in terms of reforms or economic policy?

Mugabe: We've enunciated them, haven't we? The most important, you call them reforms we call them developmental plans, we've said as our theme indicated, our indigenisation process will be continued, our empowerment programme - those will be the guiding principles as we embark on the various sectoral development programmes.

We obviously want to ensure that the sectors we've not addressed in complete a way as we've done the land area, that is agriculture side which we're dealing with... we will look at mining sector and manufacturing sector.

At the moment we've a problem - a manufacturing sector which because of sanctions and the economic crisis that visited us has nearly collapsed. We'll look at the main players in that sector and see what we can do, if we can reinvest and get the companies back on their feet we'll do so. This certainly is an area which requires urgent attention and we'll give it that urgent attention.

We also have our financial sector, the banks and so on, those need to be invigorated, we need to ensure that they're made liquid. At the moment they suffer from illiquidity and so their incapacity to lend money inhibits borrowing and borrowing is important because our investment will depend on investors wanting to borrow money from financial institutions. If they cannot lend, then you cannot invest and if you can't invest we'll not get better productivity happening in the sectors, our development with not have an upward trend but a downward loop all the time.

It's all sectors really, but in each sector we'll have to look at the points which need greater emphasis. But as I say, at the moment we're more worried by the collapse of the manufacturing sector. The mining sector, there has been quite some vigorous activity there - the discovery of diamonds, the discovery of platinum, but we need to manage these much more competently than at present.

Our gold mining too has suffered in the process. Where once upon a time we used to produce close to 30 tonnes of gold a year we're now at about 13 tonnes which is not good enough for Zimbabwe which has depended on gold and tobacco, on those two as the mainstays of the country's economy.

We'll have to look at our currency also. We're using the American dollar at the moment. We'll see how we can introduce our own Zimbabwean currency. That will be done of course not hastily. We'll take time to adjust before we can introduce these modifications.

Q: How do you rate your chances in this election compared to previous elections. Maybe better than 2008 and not as good as 1990?

Mugabe: As good a chance as we had in 1980, as we began. The enthusiasm of the people, the crowds that we got, just marvellous. People have come back to reality, people have realised that all along they had lost their direction and they're back now to the revolutionary direction.

Q: On his meeting with Obasanjo earlier in the day.

Mugabe: We worked together in the past, many times before - in the Commonwealth and bilaterally. He was not a stranger to this country and I'm not a stranger to Nigeria and to him. We reminisced a bit, but he was not long it was just about 15-20 minutes and he said so far so good and he hoped the climate as he found it... the calmness and the peace prevails right up to the end. He was happy.

Q: What does he say about army generals who say they will not salute a leader without liberation war credentials?

Mugabe: You're putting it as if all generals said so. If one or two said so, it's just those one or two. They're not the army, and they're not the authority anyway. That was their own view and I thought it was corrected. They're law abiding people, very law abiding. There it's military discipline that they obey, not the discipline you and I are used to. We get up as we like, and do things as we like. It's 'Left! Right! About Turn! March!'

Q: Does he have power to manipulate results?

Mugabe: Do I have the power to manipulate? I don't have it. Do you want to give me the power now? [Laughs]. I keep the law my friend. I don't control the electoral process, I comply with it. I obey the electoral law. I move in accordance with the demands of the electoral process, that is moving in accordance with the law as set, that's the electoral law.

I'm very obedient, I'm a lawyer myself. I'm also a person who believes in order. I've been brought up obeying father and mother, obeying systems, obeying customs, obeying elders and that's it.

When it was said our election in 2008, the presidential run-off, was tarnished by violence - that was the view given us by others - we didn't believe the results were so tarnished to be completely ignored or set aside because in comparison with elections elsewhere in Africa and other developing countries we're much ahead, but we said well, that was the view. A view exerted on many of us by mainly the West, Europe and so on which wanted, naturally, to see regime change but we accepted that.

When Africa said we should redo the elections, that was obedience, compliance to the thinking of others. If the majority think we should redo our elections we agreed to redo them, and together we sat here to establish that inclusive government. We agreed to work together and we've been working together right up to the end. We're not law-breakers, I'm not a law-breaker.

Q: If he were to lose, how would he spend his time?

Mugabe: You're asking a man who's 89-years-old about how to spend his time? How did I spend all these years? I'll spend my time the same way I spent those years. You look at Zimbabwe you think there's nothing to do in Zimbabwe? I'm an educationist, I'm an economist, I can do that. I'm a politician, I'm also now a good story teller you know, I can spend my time telling stories or writing them.

Q: Europeans say they are the most credible and experienced observers and if they're not invited Zimbabwe won't have credible elections. What happens if Zanu PF wins?

Mugabe: First, their creed is not our creed. What they believe in is not always what we believe in. Their judgement of us is always the judgement of a superior who wants to impose his authority on you. That's what we fought. We're a revolutionary country, a revolutionary people. We make our own decisions; we're masters of our own destiny Sir. We don't listen to Europe and say 'what Europe says is what we do', quite the contrary.

We know from experience that what they say is always what we would never say or want to hear. We would say keep your views to yourselves, if you don't like how we do our elections, if you don't want the result of our elections, well it's up to you, we'll go ahead sanctions or no sanctions. If they want to be friendly, we're open. We have never ever said they're enemies; it's they who have made us enemies.

Q: Reporter asks about presence of Emmerson Mnangagwa at press conference and wonders if that means he has been anointed as successor

Mugabe: Your mind has run wild [chuckles]. You want me to tell you how he happens to be here? He had come to deliver a paper to me on something else and we were discussing. He asked why these people are here and I said I'm going to have a press conference, then he asked 'could he stay', then I said 'yes'.

He's not even invited, he has invited himself and I said you're welcome. In Africa we don't chase people when they visit you. He happened to have seen you gathered here and he wondered how you, even strangers, much more of strangers to me that he could be here. He's Minister of Defence, you can perhaps say he feared that you people gathered here were out to commit some mischief. He wanted to be present to defend me. You can see he sat here very mute, just listening to me and perhaps enjoying your questions.