Mugabe celebrates 83rd birthday despite chaos around him

By Lance Guma
21 February 2007

Robert Mugabe celebrates turning 83 on Wednesday but there is not much to cheer for the ordinary people in the country. Massive celebrations are being planned by Zanu PF for Saturday amidst accusations the ruling party sought over US$1,2 million to finance the bash. His birthday however could not have come at a worse time. Analysts say the country is on the brink of collapse with doctors, nurses, teachers and students on strike and an estimated 200 000 civil servants set to join the strikers in just a few days. Zimbabwe has the world’s highest inflation rate at 1600 percent while unemployment is pegged at 80 percent. Food, fuel, power and foreign currency are in short supply.

Just this past Sunday police used Israeli made water cannons and tear gas to break up a rally organised by Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. Although the party said it was launching its presidential campaign, security forces alleged it was a launch pad for anti-government protests. In Bulawayo the police also barred another rally organised by the Mutambara MDC.

Mugabe’s greatest enemy however seems to be the infighting within his own party. Two factions allegedly led by retired general Solomon Mujuru and another by rural affairs minister Emerson Mnangagwa are said to be fighting for control of the party which will determine who succeeds Mugabe. Plans by Mugabe to extend his own term via the harmonisation of the presidential election due in 2008 with the parliamentary one in 2010 have also met stiff resistance within and outside Zanu PF.

Highlighting just how deep the divisions have become Mugabe told the state radio and television on Tuesday that there are currently ‘no vacancies’ for his position and that he was not trying to cling to power. He blasted his cabinet colleagues as dishonest and preoccupied with enriching themselves through corrupt practices.

The opposition has meanwhile slammed plans by Mugabe to hold lavish birthday celebrations, ‘while the nation is in the middle of unprecedented starvation.’ Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the Tsvangirai MDC, says the money to be spent is enough for six months supply of HIV/AIDS drugs and could improve the salaries of doctors, teachers and nurses who are on strike. The MDC demanded an immediate end to what it called the exploitation of the young generation ‘through a dubious patronage system such as the 21st February movement,’ and that such celebrations are associated with ‘notorious tyrants.’