Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe blamed foreign interference again for the infighting and succession battles plaguing his party as the world’s oldest leader celebrated his 92nd birthday at a lavish affair.
Thousands of party loyalists, representatives of foreign nations and members of the public watched as Mugabe released 92 balloons in the air, with songs and ululations ringing out around him.
Several cakes were on display at the public festivities yesterday, one in the shape of Africa (pictured), another a whopping 92kg replica of the party venue: the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a Unesco world heritage site built in the 13th century as the headquarters of the Munhumutapa empire.
Balloons and cake, however, did little to hide the infighting that has defined the ruling ZANU-PF party in the last year as Mugabe continues to avoided naming a successor, despite his advanced age and recent speculation over his health.
Mugabe, who turned 92 last Sunday, has ruled for 36 years during an era marked by vote-rigging, mass emigration, accusations of human rights abuses and economic decline.
On his actual birthday, state media poured praise on his leadership since independence from Britain.
In its 16-page special supplement, the Sunday Mail said on its front cover: “Thank You Bob, We now have a voice, since 1980.”
Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa is viewed as the likely next president, but in recent weeks he has been publicly criticised by Mugabe’s wife Grace in a sign of growing rivalry.
“Factionalism, factionalism and, I repeat, factionalism has no place at all in our party,” Mugabe told guests including senior party officials, government ministers, foreign diplomats and representatives of ruling parties from Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania. “It should never be allowed to exist ... We should remain united and use proper channels to solve our differences.”
The long-time leader also used the opportunity to launch into a characteristic attack on the West.
“The British and American in their cunning ways, as usual, have also utilised such opportunities to offer huge sums of money to individuals both within and outside the party to cause factionalism which has greatly affected the youth especially as of the recent past,” Mugabe charged.
The scale of the celebrations, costing a reported $800,000 this year, attracts annual controversy in Zimbabwe, which recently declared a “state of disaster” due to an ongoing regional drought and widespread food shortages.
“There is very little to celebrate for a 92-year-old who has presided over the collapse of the economy, reducing the country to a nation of vendors and beggars,” Takavafira Zhou, a political analyst at Masvingo State University, told AFP.
Zimbabwe has suffered a series of food crises and hyper-inflation since Mugabe’s land reforms when farms were seized from white farmers for redistribution.
On Tuesday, scores of young supporters from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party staged a protest in Masvingo.
Protest placards read: “No birthday when children are starving” and “We want jobs, not bashes.”
Local media reported that party activists ordered teachers and villagers in the rural districts of Masvingo to make cash donations to help pay for this year’s celebrations.
Mugabe has said no-one would starve as a result of a drought which has left 3mn people in need and prompted the declaration of a state of disaster in most rural areas.
But in a characteristic gibe at Western countries, he said Zimbabwe would not accept aid if it came with conditions that the country should accept gay rights.
“If aid, as I understand, is to be given on the basis that we accept the principle of gay marriages, then let that aid stay where it is,” Mugabe said during an hour-long speech at the birthday bash yesterday. “We don’t want it. It is rotten aid, filthy aid and we won’t have anything to do with it.”
Zimbabwe has appealed for nearly $1.6bn to help pay for grain and other food, but no aid organisation is known to have attached such a condition to assistance.
Mugabe’s lavish birthday parties have become an annual pilgrimage for loyalists and those seeking favours from the veteran leader, but this year’s celebration in the drought-battered Masvingo province proved particularly controversial.
In Masvingo, some 75% of the staple maize crop was destroyed by the parched conditions, making it the hardest-hit in the southern African nation in the worst drought since the early 1990s.
“The money that is being budgeted for this ill-conceived birthday bash should actually be used to import maize to avert the impending starvation in Masvingo province and other parts of the country,” Obert Gutu, a spokesman for the MDC, said in a statement.