Robert Mugabe turns 92

His political allies intensified calls to declare February 21 a national holiday but opposition parties dismissed the idea, warning against promoting a cult of personality.

A massive birthday bash costing US800,000 and featuring a 92kg cake is lined up for the south-western town of Masvingo next weekend.

Zanu-PF officials said the celebrations would proceed despite demands by opposition activists to cancel the party and instead use the money to feed more than three million Zimbabweans facing drought-induced starvation.

The Zanu-PF Youth League, rocked by factionalism of late, likened Mugabe’s birthday to that of Jesus Christ. Both were sent to “free” the people, gushed the league.

“The birthday is important, it is like the birth of Jesus Christ who was born to rescue us, the same way president Mugabe was born in 1924 to free all of us, including you journalists to start writing like you are doing now,” said league secretary Pupurai Togarepi.

The league said Mugabe was not to blame for the drought and therefore it was senseless to call for his birthday party to be scrapped.

Dozens of bankrupt state-owned companies placed advertisements in the government-controlled Sunday Mail and on Zimbabwe’s only television channel, congratulating Mugabe.

The newspaper’s front page read: “Thank you Bob. We now have a voice. Since 1980.”

Zimbabwe has known only one leader since independence in 1980.

It was not immediately clear where the companies would find the money to pay for the large-format adverts. Some of the parastatals, ruined by corrupt and incompetent managers, have not paid full salaries for years.

The weekly paper also published a lengthy interview with South African President Jacob Zuma, who described Mugabe as a “very astute” and “clear thinker”.

“President Mugabe’s vast knowledge, experience, and involvement in politics in Africa and the world at large makes him resourceful. There is so much to learn from him and the leaders of his generation who stood up, risked their own lives, defeated colonialism, and contributed to the liberation of the region and Africa,” Zuma was quoted as saying.

“President Mugabe is like a walking encyclopedia and historical archive for our region and continent. I have had a lot of memorable moments with him as current President of the Republic of South Africa,” Zuma reportedly said.

Political analysts say Mugabe has no clear intention of handing over power, worsening the economic plight of a country that has seen four million of its citizens flee to the diaspora.

His increasingly ambitious wife Grace, accused of fanning factionalism in Zanu-PF, is now touted as one of the leading contenders to take over. But she has denied coveting high office, saying Mugbe will continue ruling “even if I have to push him to work in a wheelbarrow”.

As the succession race intensifies, Grace is locked in a fierce tussle with one of the two vice-presidents, Emmerson Mnangagwa, a longtime Mugabe loyalist who was previously thought to be heir apparent but has come under withering attack from Mugabe’s wife who accuses him of disloyalty.

At last month’s African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Mugabe told fellow African leaders that he would continue as president “until God says come”.

On February 12, his wife announced that he is standing in the 2018 presidential elections, vying for his 8th term.