News / National
Zimbabweans to commemorate Mugabe's birthday with public holiday
20 Feb 2019 at 23:04hrs | Views
Zimbabweans will on Thursday mark former President Robert Mugabe's birthday through a public holiday which was first commemorated in 2018.
The holiday was mooted by the ruling ZANU-PF youth league to honour their then icon, whose birthday had since the 1980s been celebrated as the 21st February Movement.
Mugabe led the Zimbabwean government for 37 years, having started off as Prime Minister in 1980 and becoming Executive President in 1987.
His last Cabinet approved the holiday in August 2017, just three months before he was toppled by Mnangagwa in a military-assisted operation.
On the day he was inaugurated as the country's new leader on Nov. 24, 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa gazetted the Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day, which falls on Mugabe's birthday on Feb. 21.
Mugabe in 2018 reportedly snubbed ZANU-PF youths who had wanted to visit his private home in Harare and sing for him and will most likely treat the day as a private family affair again on Thursday.
The public holiday has been met with mixed feelings from the general public, with some supporting it while others say it is unnecessary and disrupts business operations at a time the economy needs to be more productive.
The holiday was mooted by the ruling ZANU-PF youth league to honour their then icon, whose birthday had since the 1980s been celebrated as the 21st February Movement.
Mugabe led the Zimbabwean government for 37 years, having started off as Prime Minister in 1980 and becoming Executive President in 1987.
On the day he was inaugurated as the country's new leader on Nov. 24, 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa gazetted the Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day, which falls on Mugabe's birthday on Feb. 21.
Mugabe in 2018 reportedly snubbed ZANU-PF youths who had wanted to visit his private home in Harare and sing for him and will most likely treat the day as a private family affair again on Thursday.
The public holiday has been met with mixed feelings from the general public, with some supporting it while others say it is unnecessary and disrupts business operations at a time the economy needs to be more productive.
Source - Xinhua
