A state-appointed commission running Zimbabwe’s fifth largest city of Mutare has ordered property owners in the city to repaint and renovate buildings because the city must look beautiful when it hosts President Robert Mugabe’s 82nd birthday celebrations next week.
Although Mugabe’s birthday is not a formal state occasion, it is however celebrated nationwide by both the government and the veteran president’s ruling Zanu-PF party.
The 21st February Movement, named after Mugabe’s date of birth in 1924 -‒ holds a public music and entertainment gala every year to mark the president’s birthday.
Mugabe’s speech to the youth, which is the highlight of the celebrations, is broadcast live to the nation on state television.
The birthday galas are rotated from province to province and this year’s gala will be held in Mutare in the eastern province of Manicaland.
In a notice published in local newspapers this week, town clerk Morgan Chawawa ordered residents to spruce up their properties at their own expense to ensure Mugabe ‒- the only ruler Zimbabweans have ever known since independence 25 years ago -‒ will find the city in a pleasant state.
Chawawa said: ”Notice is hereby given in terms of Section 31 of the operative, Mutare Town Planning Scheme Number One, that all owners of buildings in a state of neglect in the city are required to either repaint or renovate their buildings to improve external appearance of the buildings at their own expense.
”The city of Mutare is expected to be in a pleasant state in preparation for hosting the 21st February Movement event.”
The town clerk did not say what punishment would befall those who failed to make the city of more than 500 000 beautiful ahead of Mugabe’s visit.
Both Chawawa and chairperson of the commission running Mutare, Kenneth Saruchera, could not be reached on Wednesday for comment. Saruchera’s commission is running Mutare after the government fired the elected opposition-led council.
Business leaders from Mutare who spoke to ZimOnline were however unhappy that they would have to incur huge and unbudgeted costs renovating their properties simply because Mugabe would be visiting the city for a few hours. The business leaders said they have also been asked to contribute 10-billion Zimbabwean dollars to cover the cost of hosting the birthday.
”They must just tell businesses to improve their premises not because the city is hosting Mugabe’s birthday celebrations but as normal practice to have a good image of the city,” said Garikayi Mawoko, a Mutare businessman.
Zanu-PF provincial youth chairperson Enock Porusingazi has in the past few weeks sent circulars to business owners requesting them to donate cash to fund Mugabe’s birthday party.
Business people have learnt to quietly comply with such requests as failure to do so will result in one being labelled a supporter of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party and therefore liable to retribution by Zanu-PF militias.
Mugabe, who founded Zimbabwe from the ashes of the British colony of Rhodesia in 1980, has maintained an iron grip on the nation since then. But his rule has come under increasing pressure in recent years as the country grapples with its worst economic and food crises to date. Critics have blamed the crises on repression and wrong policies by Mugabe. He denies the charges.
Mugabe looks physically fit and foreign diplomats based in Harare who have met him recently testify that his intellect and grip on facts remains sharp. But doubts about the president’s health have remained since he collapsed in November 2000 at a public function in Malaysia. – ZimOnline