Austere birthday for former ruler Zimbabwe

The 94th birthday of the Zimbabwean former ruler Robert Mugabe seems to pass relatively quietly on Wednesday.

The contrast with previous birthdays of Mugabe is great: in previous years often lavish parties were organized. His faithful feasted on, for example, elephant and buffalo meat. Newspapers appeared in newspapers in which government agencies and state-owned companies in the poverty-stricken country praised their leader.

Government party ZANU-PF spent a lot of money last year for a birthday party at the city of Bulawayo. A local bakery then donated a 96 kilo pie. That same ruling party left Mugabe as a brick later in the year. The president stepped under great pressure after the army intervened. After that his former second husband Emmerson Mnangagwa took over the helm.