via Zanu PF plans US$1m Mugabe birthday bash 28/01/2014 NewZimbabwe
ZANU PF plans to raise up to $1 million for a grand birthday party for President Robert Mugabe who turns 90 next month and continues to lead the country 34 years after its independence.
“This is a very special celebration. Turning 90 is no mean feat,” Absalom Sikhosana, Zanu PF’s secretary for youth affairs told reporters Tuesday.
“You cannot turn 90 years when you are a womanizer, a drunkard or a chain smoker. We will be celebrating the life of a very special person on a very special occasion.
“Preparations are going on very well and we are grateful with the support we are getting from the business community. We will be holding a fundraising gala on 7 February.
“May we stress that no one other than the Zanu PF youths leadership will be allowed to spearhead the fundraising campaign.”
Sikhosana said the Zanu PF youth league, usually tasked with organising the celebrations, was targeting to raise between US$700,000 to one million U.S. dollars for the event.
Mugabe, born in 1924, has ruled the country since its independence in 1980.
He is now the oldest head of state in Africa and comes second in the world, only after Shimon Peres of Israel.
The octogenarian leader beat his long-time rival former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai in presidential election last July, winning a mandate to rule another five years.
He will turn 94 when his term of office ends in 2018.
Despite an advanced age, Mugabe appears to remain fit. He still delivers hours-long impromptu speeches at public gatherings and frequently flies out of the country for regional and international meetings.
Officials have repeatedly denied claims the president suffers from prostate cancer, maintaining that he only had mild eye ailment. The president had cataracts removed in Singapore in 2011.
Mugabe has also been successful to keep the public guessing on who will be his appointed heir in the ruling party.
But in interviews before the July 31 election last year, Mugabe said he did not have a favoured successor, insisting it is for the people to decide who will lead the country and the party after him.
COMMENTS
Hope they all choke
Enjoy. . Why not fund raise money for the millions of children who couldn’t afford to pay school fees.
Maybe this is going to be the last gathering , Who knows ?
Just get the bucks from all the CEO’s etc of the parastatals – they are loaded!!
Planning a Gukurahundi party!!
‘You cannot turn 90 years when you are a womanizer, a drunkard or a chain smoker’ but apparently you can if you are a racist, murderer and a thief !
If Mugabe was a real leader, one who really cared for his people, he would have stopped this waste long ago. He would have channeled all the donations and extortions to benefit disadvantaged children like orphans, the disabled and other national issues but alas, Mugabe is the most selfish shot little demagogue I have come across in my life. Ian Smith was no saint but he pales into oblivion when compared to Mugarbage, killer of 20,000 plus civilians, destroyer of an economy, the one who managed to bring a currency down in a country at peace and suffering no calamity but self derived. To me Mugarbage is the worst thing that ever happened to Zimbabwe and he knows it but alas he has no more control over it. The problem in the country has gotten out of control like the prostate cancer that is consuming Robert. A time will come when we will urinate on his grave, it will not bring us out of poverty but it will sure feel good.
I wish i could celebrate my own father s birthday,mind you we all have birthdays, WHO CARES.
A very special person? Yes he is. Who else could have destroyed a country with the magnificent infrastructure that, that Gukurahundi man took over. He is to afraid to die because the devil is waiting and he knows it. He will not have to wait much longer.
What a disgusting charade, some of us cant wait to celebrate his death! A pity there are no suiscide bombers in Zimbabwe, guess we are too civilised for that….hence we continue to suffer as a result.
You really think Mugarbage cares about the cost, and waste of money!!!!
Sikhosana,if you were asked to clean Mugabe’s bums,you would actual lick them instead of using tissue the way you worship the devil.