By Staff Writer
THE family of late former president Robert Mugabe, who would have turned 100 years old last week, held a private ceremony on Saturday to posthumously celebrate his birthday in Zvimba.
He was born on February 21, 1924.
The liberator-turned-authoritarian leader died on September 6, 2019, aged 95.
He had been receiving treatment in a hospital in Singapore following his ouster in a military coup in 2017 after 37 years in power.
One-time Mugabe family spokesperson and relative, Jealous Mawarire, confirmed close family members and associates gathered at the late former Zanu PF strongman’s rural home.
“Attending President Mugabe’s posthumous centenary birthday celebrations today, 24th February 2024, in Kutama, Zimbabwe, Mashonaland West Province,” wrote Mawarire on X without elaborating.
Notable among attendees was Mugabe’s long-time close security aide only identified as Wonder.
The former president was praised for broadening citizens’ access to health and education for the black majority.
But later years were marked by violent repression of his political opponents and Zimbabwe’s economic ruin.
To some, he was an evil dictator who should have ended his days in jail for crimes against humanity while to others, he was a revolutionary hero, who fought racial oppression and stood up to Western imperialism and neo-colonialism.
According to some political commentators, he was an undoubted success having delivered independence for his country after decades of white-minority rule.
However, his greatest undoing was refusing to anoint a successor and choosing to remain in power for 37 years— outwitting his greatest enemies and arch-rivals such as Joshua Nkomo and Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
