MDC says Zimbabwean president is 'totally out of touch with reality', amid rumours party will cost close to $1m
Food is running out, schools are short of books and typhoid is on the loose ? but still Robert Mugabe looks set for a near million-dollar birthday party when he turns 88 next week.
There were accusations of a "let them eat cake" attitude when details of the bash emerged on Friday, but it is the Zimbabwean president himself who will be treated to a giant birthday cake.
Each year Africa's oldest leader is treated to a lavish celebration organised by a youth group in his Zanu-PF party known as the 21 February Movement.
Three-course meals, a music gala featuring top Zimbabwean artists, a "Miss 21st Movement" beauty pageant and a football tournament dubbed the "Bob 88 Super Cup" are on this year's agenda, South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper reported.
For two months supporters across the country have been raising funds for the birthday party in Mutare, the paper said. It is rumoured that it will cost close to $1m (�630,000) ? as much as Zanu-PF's three-day party conference last December.
Like the national treasury, Zanu-PF is often said to be cash-strapped, but there are widespread claims that it is siphoning off profits from Zimbabwe's diamond fields in readiness for upcoming elections.
Despite his age and speculation over his health ? word is that he falls asleep during cabinet meetings ? Mugabe has declared himself eager for the polls. To relinquish power now, after more than three decades in power, would be "an act of cowardice", he said recently.
Not everyone will be celebrating the president's birthday. The largesse was condemned by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose power-sharing agreement with Zanu-PF is perpetually under strain.
"This is a total waste of taxpayers' money and typical of the attitude of Zanu-PF," said Douglas Mwonzora, an MDC spokesman. "Right now we are faced with a situation of food shortages in some parts of the country. This needs to be addressed and Zanu-PF isn't doing that. Instead they are spending a million dollars on the birthday of an 88-year-old president.
"The money could be spent on food and books. Mugabe is totally out of touch with reality. He has a bloated ego and he thinks Zimbabweans like what he is doing."
Mugabe's example compares unfavourably with that of other countries, Mwonzora said. "I think he is the only president in the world who spends so much money on his birthday. I don't think President Obama or Prime Minister Cameron do it. Mugabe is the president of a poor African country and should be condemned."
Civil society groups joined the criticism. Dewa Mavhinga, regional information and advocacy co-ordinator of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said: "It is the wrong way of deifying an individual: the belief that Mugabe is a supreme being while the country is suffering.
"We have an outbreak of typhoid in the capital. Zanu-PF does not have its priorities right. Mugabe is completely out of touch with what's going on. He should step aside and allow for fresh ideas. He is turning 88 and we already seeing the law of diminishing returns. There is an urgent need for leadership renewal in Zanu-PF and the country."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/17/robert-mugabe-88th-birthday-celebrations
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