Former president Robert Mugabe maybe down but he is not yet out.
His birthday, on 21 February, has been declared a national holiday which means Zimbabweans will have to remember him for eternity.
Mugabe led the country to independence and presided over it for 37 years first as prime minister and for 30 years as president.
He was forced to resign on 21 November, exactly three months before his 94th birthday, but Emmerson Mnangagwa who took over said Mugabe’s role in liberating the country has to be “lauded and celebrated for all times”.
Speaking at his inauguration, Mnangagwa said: “(Mugabe) led us in our struggle for national independence, and assumed responsibilities of leadership at the formative and very challenging time in the birth of our nation.
“That is to be lauded and celebrated for all times. Whatever errors of commission or omission that might have occurred during that critical phase in the life of our nation, let us all accept and acknowledge his immense contribution towards the building of our nation.
“To me personally, he remains a father, mentor, comrade-in-arms and my leader. We thus say thank you to him and trust that our history will grant him his proper place and accord him his deserved stature as one of the founders and leaders of our nation.”
Mugabe’s birthday has been celebrated as the 21st February Movement since 1986.
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