MDC slams Mugabe’s birthday party

[European Knight]

http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/iol-pic-feb2-hands-ethiopia-mugabe-au-1.1813208!/image/3945070066.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_300/3945070066.jpg

February 18 2015 at 03:48pm Harare

President Robert Mugabe's 91st birthday party is an “obscene jamboree” and should be cancelled, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Wednesday. The Morgan Tsvangirai-led party said while it wished the Zimbabwean leader a happy birthday, he was “way past his prime” and should no longer be in power.

“No matter what his Zanu-PF spin doctors might want to say, Mugabe has seen better days and he is now a big liability to the generality of the people of Zimbabwe for as long as he remains as the county's head of state and chief executive,” spokesman Obert Gutu said in a statement.

Mugabe turns 91 on Saturday. His supporters are organising a huge party for him on February 28 in Victoria Falls - even though Zimbabwe's economy is again teetering on the brink of downturn. According to press reports Zanu-PF is trying to raise $1 million for the event, although the ruling party has not confirmed this figure.

“All the money that has been collected to bankroll this obscene jamboree should be immediately channelled towards rehabilitating the collapsed public hospitals, clinics and rural schools in Matebeleland North province where Victoria Falls is located,” said Gutu.

“Any food items and other materials that have been donated for Mugabe's birthday bash should be handed over to the Jairos Jiri centre and other orphanages in Bulawayo.” A farmer living near Victoria Falls has already donated two elephants and other game to help feed the 20 000 delegates likely to attend the event, to be held on the golf course of the plush Elephant Hills resort.

Mugabe has been in power since independence in 1980. His fall earlier this month while descending a podium at Harare International Airport made global headlines. His party insists a bump in the carpet was to blame, not his advanced age.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/mdc-slams-mugabe-s-birthday-party-1.1820301

[European Knight]

http://www.iol.co.za/polopoly_fs/two-elephants-1.1821735!/image/967188722.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_300/967188722.jpg

Mugabe under fire for plan to kill elephants

Harare - President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 35 years, celebrated his 91st birthday on Saturday as supporters prepared a party at Victoria Falls at which two elephants are to be slaughtered.

Several parties are planned for the president, including one Saturday night in Harare. The main event, however, will be next Saturday at a luxury hotel and golf course at the falls, on the border with Zambia. About 20 000 guests are expected at the event.

“We are going to ensure that the wonder of Zimbabwe celebrates his 91st birthday where one of the wonders of the world is,” Innocent Hamandishe, an official in Mugabe's Zanu-PF party who is leading the celebrations, told state television. Mugabe has long faced criticism for repression of the opposition, economic mismanagement and heading one of the most corrupt governments in the world, according to Transparency International.

But the ritual in his honour involving the slaughter of elephants at the party have drawn further fire. Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, described the plan as “totally unethical.”

“I am totally disgusted by the news,” he said. “We claim to have the best conservationist policies in the world, but our president does not set a good example. How can he talk of anti-poaching when he is allowing this to happen?”

Tendai Musasa, who heads the Woodlands Conservancy in Victoria Falls, said he donated the elephants for slaughter because “it speaks volumes about how I hold the president in high esteem.” Mugabe's birthday fell a day after the European Union extended a travel ban and asset freeze against the man who has led Zimbabwe since its 1980 independence from Britain.

Africa's oldest leader and his wife, Grace, have been under EU sanctions since 2002 when Brussels accused him of human rights abuses and rigging elections. Mugabe has dismissed the accusations, accusing the West of trying to blacken his rule and policies, which include the confiscation of white-owned farms.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/mugabe-under-fire-for-plan-to-kill-elephants-1.1821736