Mugabe’s Birthday Bash

Zimbabwe is a country with 94 percent unemployment, 7 million citizens on international food aid, and a rampant cholera outbreak, but it seems the biggest event on President Robert Mugabe’s horizon is his own 85th birthday bash later this month. According to The Times of London, Mugabe is soliciting donations for his birthday party, and the registry includes “2,000 bottles of champagne (Moët & Chandon or ’61 Bollinger preferred); 8,000 lobsters; 100kg of prawns; 4,000 portions of caviar; 8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates; 3,000 ducks; and much else besides.” Those preferring to give cash donations have been invited to deposit $45,000 to $50,000 into a U.S. bank account controlled by Mugabe’s political party, Zanu-PF. Mugabe’s 80th birthday party brought 20,000 guests together in a soccer stadium and “featured giant cakes, children in brightly coloured sashes mingling with the ‘elite’ and”—charming—“a speech by the President denouncing homosexuality.”