Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence, with acute shortages of hard currency, food, gasoline, medicines and essential imports. The meltdown is blamed largely on disruptions to the agriculture-based economy after the often violent seizures of thousands of white-owned commercial farms began in 2000.

Annual inflation is the highest in the world, around 1,600 percent, and bread has all but disappeared from supermarket shelves in the capital Harare.

The economic crisis did not seem to put a damper on Mugabe’s birthday festivities.
President Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.

The campaign to raise funds for the birthday celebrations is being run by a youth organisation called the 21 February Movement, which was founded in 1986 in honour of Mr Mugabe.”We are looking to raise 300m Zimbabwe dollars ($1.2m at the official exchange rate; $65,200 at the unofficial rate) that will be used at the birthday celebrations in Gweru,” Emmanuel Fundira, chairman of the movement, told the AFP news agency.