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President Mugabe

TOMORROW, all roads lead to Victoria Falls where the main celebrations for President Robert Mugabe’s 91st birthday will be held. It is a momentous occasion and thousands of youths from all over the country will join Cde Mugabe and the First Family in commemorating the life of a living legend.

The celebrations come almost two years after the President led his party Zanu-PF to a landslide victory in the July 2013 general elections in which he pulverised his main opponent — Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change — and consigned him and other opposition elements to the dustbin of history. The victory reinvigorated the vanguard party and today it stands stronger and more resolute to tackle the economic challenges facing the nation.

The 21st February Movement — the body tasked with organising the President’s annual birthday celebrations since 1986 — has declared its readiness for tomorrow’s festivities which will be held at the picturesque Elephant Hills Resort Golf Course. This has set the stage for a day of fun-filled activities which will culminate in the President addressing the gathering largely made up of youths, the Zanu-PF leadership and other invited guests.

This year’s celebrations are especially important coming as they do after numerous speculative reports from the Western and local private media about the President’s health. When Cde Mugabe took his annual leave soon after the conclusion of the 6th Zanu-PF National People’s Congress in December last year, the Western media went into overdrive with puff pieces about his alleged deteriorating health. As is customary, each time the President goes on his annual sabbatical, Presidential spokesman George Charamba had a torrid time fielding inquiries about his boss’s reported failing health.

Cde Mugabe is on record as saying he has died more times than Jesus Christ due to the international media’s fixation with his health. Perhaps this is due to his larger than life character that has seen stories about his alleged failing health sensationalised.

Recently, Cde Mugabe tripped on a poorly laid carpet at the Harare International Airport, sending the private and Western media into a frenzy. To them, this was a sign of failing health. But the President continues to confound them. Lately, Western think-tanks such as the Cato Institute for Global Liberty and Prosperity in the United States — have been coming out to declare their fight against Zimbabwe and Cde Mugabe a failure and describing their support for Tsvangirai as misplaced as he has dismally failed in their project to effect regime change.

“It is true that they (West) have abandoned (Mr) Morgan Tsvangirai,” said Cato Institute senior policy analyst Marian Tupy.

“It is very sad, but it is very true. It is like putting your money on a horse in a race hoping that he wins and if he fails, you may do it a couple of more times, ultimately you decide that the person is unconversant”.

She added: “A lot of people have looked at the way Tsvangirai was regrettably outmaneuvered not because he does want to, but because he simply did not have ability to prevail.”

President Mugabe has been the bane of the West since Zimbabwe embarked on a land reform programme at the turn of the millennium where it acquired farms owned by white commercial farmers and redistributed the land to the black majority population. Since then, he has been vilified with some Western media outlets going as far as calling him the “Black Hitler” and other derogatory names. But he has stood firm and unshakeable and taken on the might of Britain and the US head on as such fora as the United Nations and other platforms. His principled stance has won him admiration from the weak and downtrodden people of the world and to them, he is the leader they never had.

Tomorrow, as he celebrates a life well-lived, the President is an epitome of a revolutionary icon and youths are better advised to emulate his selfless dedication to duty and commitment to the ideals of the struggle for independence.

Cde Mugabe, who according to reports, exercises regularly, has led an exemplary life free of alcohol and tobacco. This could be the secret to his longevity and the young should draw inspiration from his healthy lifestyle. As the nation celebrates his birthday, we pay tribute to his astute leadership skills and stewardship in steering Zimbabwe over the past 34 years.