Harare - Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will attend a lavish birthday celebration for President Robert Mugabe this weekend, his spokesperson said on Thursday."He was invited and he is attending. It’s courteous on (the part of) his party and it’s in the spirit of national unity," Tsvangirai’s spokesperson James Maridadi said.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, turned 85 on February 21, and his supporters are throwing him a gala public party on Saturday in the town of Chinhoyi, north of the capital.
Last year Tsvangirai railed against Mugabe’s birthday celebration as "a gathering of the satisfied few" in a nation crippled by food shortages.
The annual event is organised by the February 21st Movement, a youth movement in Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, and attracts hundreds of people.
However, this year they appear to be struggling to collect on promised donations to fund the party, in a nation battling against world-record hyperinflation and one of the worst cholera epidemics on record.
Organisers resorted to running an advertisement in the state-run Herald on Thursday, urging benefactors to pay up on their pledges.
News24/AFP
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