For the first time in 37 years there will be no fire and brimstone on Independence Day in Zimbabwe
Harare — For the first time in nearly four decades‚ Zimbabwe will celebrate its birthday without Robert Mugabe on Wednesday. Until five months ago Mugabe had been the only president that Zimbabweans had known since it achieved independence from the UK. In November Mugabe was forced out of power after 37 years via a military intervention dubbed Operation Restore Legacy. Now at the helm is President Emmerson Mnangagwa‚ who was appointed state security minister by Mugabe in 1980 at independence. Mnangagwa is the only member from the inaugural cabinet ushered in by black majority rule who is still in government. Independence Day in the past was Mugabe’s forte. Like the late Fidel Castro of Cuba‚ he would take the country down memory lane for hours with a history lesson about the liberation war. He would also use the occasion to lash out at the West and opposition politicians‚ namely the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T). Last year Mugabe was steadfast in what had become his yearly ...
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