Mugabe: A revolutionary icon who lost his way?

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe turned 91 on Saturday and his ruling Zanu PF party plans to hold a lavish party - replete with musical concerts - in his honour.

In power for more than three decades, the aging leader is seen by many analysts as a revolutionary leader who went astray after leading his country's struggle for independence from Britain.

"No doubt, he is a revolutionary icon who lost his way," political analyst Takura Zhangazha told The Anadolu Agency.

"He made many gains in the education sector, attaining the highest literacy rate in Africa, as well as providing health for all, which crumbled in the early 1990s," he said.

"His populist policies were his undoing. They have left millions of Zimbabweans in abject poverty. Others have left the country because of this, along with his bad human rights record," Zhangazha added.

Mugabe has been in power since 1980 when Zimbabwe won its independence from Britain.

Born in 1924 to a Christian family in the Zvimba rural district, Mugabe says he is a devout Catholic.

Though he has visited the Vatican several times, Mugabe's religious credibility was tainted when he was involved in an adulterous relationship with his secretary, Grace Marufu, who gave birth to his first son in 1990.

In 1996, Mugabe married Grace, who is now being touted as a possible successor to the presidency.

Mugabe had married his first wife, Sally Hayfron, in the 1960s, when he was working as a teacher in Ghana.

After their marriage, Mugabe returned to Zimbabwe and joined the country's struggle for independence from Britain.

In 1980, he became the country's prime minister until 1987, when he assumed the post of executive president and abolished the premiership.

In his first years in power, Zimbabwe achieved the highest literacy rates in Africa while his government provided free basic healthcare to all citizens.

However, in 1997, the Zimbabwean economy began to collapse.

Critics blame Mugabe's land reform program, which saw almost all white commercial farmers expelled from their land and replaced with peasant farmers, for the deterioration of the country's agro-based economy.

The situation worsened in 2000, when Zimbabwe became largely dependent on food hand-outs and imports to avert starvation.

Mugabe and his supporters, however, have blamed climate change and western sanctions for Zimbabwe's economic woes.

Wonder of Africa

Despite the country's economic ills, Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party is planning a lavish party to mark the president's birthday.

"He is a statesman, grandmaster par excellence, king of politics. He is a wonder of Africa, so we decided to hold the bash near one of the wonders of the world," senior party official Innocent Hamandishe said on state television.

"I owe everything I have to him," Hamandishe added.

According to the party official, "sister liberation movements" from African countries – including Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa – will attend the birthday celebration.

Hamandishe said Zanu PF was approaching various individuals and companies for contributions to finance the lavish party.

Until earlier this month, when Mugabe tripped at the Harare International Airport as he left a podium, Mugabe had appeared to have defied his advanced age.

He would often speak for hours at a time, chronicling history as far back as 1900.

A few years ago, Mugabe said he owed his long life to a "disciplined life" characterized by frequent exercise and abstention from drinking and smoking.

At the funeral of his sister last year, Mugabe said he owed his long life "to God."

The aging leader has also defied claims released in 2012 by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks that  former central bank governor, Gideon Gono, had told US diplomats in 2008 that Mugabe had prostate cancer and would die by 2013.

"I have died many times – that's where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and was resurrected once," Mugabe told journalists in 2012 upon his return from Asia, following rumours that he was on his deathbed.