HARARE – Zimbabwe is set to mark the inaugural Munhumutapa Day on Monday, a new commemoration that coincides with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s birthday on 15 September and has drawn sharp criticism as an attempt to elevate his personal milestone to a national occasion.
Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe clarified that the date has not been declared a public holiday.
“We have not been given that instruction. The day was never declared a holiday; should there be a proposal for the day to be a holiday, normal procedure will be followed,” Kazembe said.
“But it is a day set aside to remember the Munhumutapa Day.” According to government statements, the day is intended to honour the historical Munhumutapa (Mutapa) Kingdom, a powerful Shona empire that thrived in present-day Zimbabwe and parts of Mozambique between the 15th and 17th centuries.
Critics, however, see a different motive. They argue that aligning the celebration with Mnangagwa’s own birthday allows the president to cast himself as a modern-day Munhumutapa, echoing the grandeur of the 16th-century Shona kings to justify an extended grip on power.
Although Mnangagwa has publicly said he will respect the constitutional two-term limit ending in 2028, senior ZANU-PF officials are actively pushing what they call the “2030 agenda,” which seeks to delay elections and prolong his tenure.
Provincial executives are expected to advance this proposal at the party’s annual conference in Mutare from 13–18 October. A similar resolution was controversially endorsed during the party’s Bulawayo conference last year. Opponents point to the stark contrast between the prosperous Munhumutapa Kingdom and modern-day Zimbabwe, beset by economic decline and political turmoil under both Mnangagwa and his predecessor Robert Mugabe.
They argue that kingship—hereditary and absolute—cannot be equated with an elected presidency founded on constitutional accountability. Analysts warn that institutionalising Munhumutapa Day risks “lionising and monumentalising” Mnangagwa’s rule, an approach they describe as out of step with democratic principles and “an aberration in a constitutional democracy.”
