Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa, Uganda’s Museveni celebrate birthdays, reflect on past

Emmerson Mnangagwa (left) and Yoweri Museveni.

• Yoweri Museveni turned 79 while Emmerson Mnangagwa reached 81 on the same day this weekend.
• At his celebrations, Museveni said all wars that have been fought in Uganda could have been avoided.
• Mnangagwa thanked his deputy and wife for saving his life from ice cream poisoning in 2017.

Two of Africa’s oldest heads of state, Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, 81, and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, 79, share a birthday, and both leaders took time to reflect on their pasts in celebrations this month.

While Museveni celebrated his at Kololo Independence Grounds on 8 September, a week in advance of his actual birthday, Mnangagwa held his on his exact birthday, 15 September, with his wife, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, hosting a dinner for close friends and political allies at State House in Harare.

Both had a lot to reflect on.

In a statement to mark both occasions, Museveni said Uganda’s path could have been different, without the selfish politics that played out since the early days of independence.

“I am glad the bazzukulu [grandchildren] agreed with the idea to unite my 79 years of life celebration with our struggle.

“In this case, the battles of September 1972 and 1985,” said Museveni, referring to the coup that first unseated Milton Obote, and the Battle of Kampala that removed him again, after he returned to power, more than a decade later.

“All the past wars in Uganda were unnecessary because there was always another way of solving the problems peacefully,” he added.

As one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders at 37 years in power, some critics pointed out Museveni’s regime is not so different from that of Obote, when it comes to nepotism and sectarianism.

Mnangagwa, the ultimate survivor

Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa also came to power through a coup, though he was on the civilian side, unlike Museveni.

READ | Zimbabwe’s CCC has made its bed, now SADC gets to sleep in it, seminar hears

His birthday was rich in allusions to the disputed electoral victory he recently claimed.

That, he said, showed the ruling Zanu-PF was growing in power.

“We are getting stronger and stronger as Zanu-PF, and our detractors are getting angrier and angrier. I enjoy when our detractors are getting angry,” he said, addressing the party’s politburo.

At a more intimate reception later, Mnangagwa said in his 81 years, he faced death three times and survived.

First, he claimed to have almost been killed in Iringa in Tanzania and then, still in his teenage years, he said, he avoided the hangman’s noose because he was under 21.

He had been arrested for allegedly bombing a railway.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa inspects the guard of honour after being sworn in as President during an inauguration ceremony in Harare.

AFP Zinyange Auntony/AFP

To this day, Mnangagwa is a proponent of abolishing the death penalty. 

The last incident was in 2017 when he was poisoned through ice cream at a rally during internal power struggles in Zanu-PF.

He told those gathered he was saved by his now deputy, General Constantino Chiwenga, who would later execute the coup against Mugabe.

“I am here because of this young man [Chiwenga]. He and the first lady were able to rush me to South Africa, where I survived. They tell me how I travelled but I don’t know.

“I was sleeping on Chiwenga’s lap while I was unconscious,” he said.

There have been reports Mnangagwa and Chiwenga’s relationship had cooled, but the birthday celebration suggested otherwise.

Chiwenga is tipped to take over from Mnangagwa after he finishes his current and last term.

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