Civil servants urged not to donate towards Mugabe's birthday gig

OPPOSITION parties on Monday called on civil servants to resist any attempts by the ruling Zanu PF to force them to donate towards President Robert Mugabe's 92nd birthday bash slated for February in Masvingo.

The parties said it would be unfair for Zanu PF to expect generous cash donations from underpaid civil servants and ordinary citizens who are facing a severe drought.

Mugabe turns 92 on February 21, and the ruling party has announced plans to raise $800 000 for the main celebrations, which ironically will be held in the drought-stricken Masvingo province.

People's Democratic Party (PDP)'s Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Fortune Mlalazi said: "As a country, we cannot continue to bankroll lavish bashes for one person. Surprisingly, the party is being organised by Zanu PF youth league members, whose future has been destroyed by Mugabe.

"We encourage civil servants to steadfastly resist forced donations. How do you ask for donations from people whom you are not paying? The money to be raised should be channelled towards civil servants' pay and procurement of urgent drought relief."

Former Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo said the $800 000 being raised for the bash could feed thousands of villagers in the dry parts of the country.

"$800 000 could be used for a lot of things, importation of maize or even civil servants' salaries. Priority should be to address issues that people are facing and not have a bash. These people are not concerned about the majority, but the minority that benefit from their extractive policies," Gumbo, now interim spokesperson for People First movement fronted by former Vice-President Joice Mujuru, said.

"It is absolutely clear that he knows that he has a weak case and no judge will make a judgment in his favour, that is why he is intimidating judges,"

"It is absolutely clear that he knows that he has a weak case and no judge will make a judgment in his favour, that is why he is intimidating judges,"

MDC spokesperson, Kurauone Chihwayi said the birthday extravaganza confirmed Zanu PF's insensitivity to the plight of its electorate reeling under harsh economic conditions.

"To have a President luxuriating for a month in paradise while the country embarks on a season of massive pain was bad enough, but to have an $800 000 birthday bash thrown in his honour soon after is the biggest slap on the face to the suffering Zimbabweans," he said.

"It is clear that President Mugabe and his Zanu PF party have no compunction about draining the little that people still have in order for him, his family and the top chefs in government to live the life of royalty. It looks like the First Family and the top brass in Zanu PF and government are living a life quite detached from the daily realities of the suffering millions. This birthday bash would appear in some cruel twisted way to be the sad reincarnation of French King Louis XVI's wife, Marie Antoinette's famous proclamation, 'Let them eat cake…'"