Zimbabwe's state-run media lavished praise on veteran President Robert Mugabe on the 83rd birthday of Africa's oldest-serving leader on Wednesday while stores in the capital, Harare, ran out of bread. "President an unparalleled visionary," read the headline of the Herald newspaper, which dedicated 16 pages to pictures and congratulatory messages to the man who has ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1980.The Defence Ministry took out a half-page advert in the same paper in which a procession of
| Military chiefs lined up to laud Mugabe for his "heroic guidance and leadership during and after the liberation struggle". |
But as constant refrains of the song God bless President Mugabe rang out on state radio, the impact of the economic crisis being presided over by the president came into focus as bakers halted bread production. A lavish party is due to be held on Saturday in the city of Gweru to celebrate Mugabe, but critics say the traditional birthday bash is particularly ill-conceived this year with much of the population now forced to skip meals. With inflation running at nearly 1600% and much of the public sector on strike, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is sniffing the opportunity to capitalise on unrest with the country's founding father.
| Mugabe struck a familiar note by insisting that there was no vacancy at the top. "There are no vacancies because I am still there. Can you see you any vacancies? The door is closed." |
And in a shot across the bows of any potential successors within his own Zanu-PF party, Mugabe also denounced his Cabinet. "It's in regard to the issue of honesty that I find many of them deficient," he said.
Mugabe has previously said he would step down at the end of his current term in 2008 but his ruling party last December passed a resolution -- still to be approved by the central committee -- to extend his rule by another two years in order to have concurrent presidential and parliamentary polls.