by Tawanda Musariri
President Emmerson Mnangagwa turned 76 on Saturday. Born on 15 September 1942 at Mapanzure Village of Midlands Province, The President joined the liberation struggle in his small teens, rising from rank to rank until reaching the pinnacle of his political ladder after 60 years of never relenting work for his motherland.
As the birthday came and went, the President went to the office as usual and laboured away. Meanwhile, birthday wishes tracked him to the office physically and on social media.
Sources close to the First Family say the President declined birthday festivities whose plans were afoot at the party. He went on to decline a party funded from the public fiscus, choosing instead to settle for a small private family event.
From home, his son Emmerson Junior paused with his dad handing over a 1970 beige vintage Mercedes Benz sedan as a birthday present.
One of the birthday well-wishers @olynelo came to Twitter and wrote: “Happy Birthday Our Lovely President! We love you and wish you well. I’m not Zanu PF but I’m proud to call you our President. I love your humbleness and I believe in you....”
Media mogul, Trevor Ncube of Alpha Media Holdings congratulated the President via Twitter saying, “Happy birthday President @edmnangagwa. A man of a few words, accessible and listener. I am persuaded that you are determined to positively change the fortunes of this nation. I pray wisdom, courage and a discerning spirit for the benefit of the people. #SeptemberBabies.”
Mr Ncube also posted a picture of him meeting with the President a day later.
In his humble response captioning his picture in Office wearing a light coloured checkered blazer, the President responded to the multitude of wishes on his micro-blogging Twitter account saying, “Thank you for your kind wishes. There is no greater present than to serve my fellow Zimbabweans. The work of rebuilding our country does not stop, even for a birthday.”
Zanu PF UK spokesperson Nick Mangwana was full of admiration for the President’s charismatic walk in power and opened up saying, “After accepting his presents from family and well-wishers, President @edmnangagwa spent the rest of his birthday at work attending matters of the State. This is a distinct work culture which is setting anew the pace for a new commitment to duty.”
It had been the trend in Zimbabwe that the President’s Birthday under then former president Mugabe was a huge spending day which brought business to a standstill. His last publicly celebrated birthday was at Matopos in Matabeleland South where a 93kg cake was presented to him. Government departments and all public bodies fell over each other to display their birthday well-wishes to the president.
Droves of people from across the country drove to the birthday venue which the former first family accessed by helicopter.
President Mnangagwa’s new approach has widely been received by the populace as befitting in a country with more pressing economic, social and political issues to respond to.
Lately the country is contending with kick starting the 9th parliament after successful elections won by Zanu PF with a landslide. Also beckoning is a cholera scare that has claimed 30 people, infecting but sparing thousands others.
