Thousands of people turned out on Sunday to wish happy birthday to Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who threw 90 balloons into the air to mark his 90th year and continuing hold on power.
Fresh off the plane from Singapore, where he had travelled for eye surgery last week, Mugabe was in typically defiant mood as he launched his birthday celebrations at Marondera stadium, east of the capital Harare.
“I feel as youthful and energetic as a boy of nine,” Mugabe said, before cutting his cake. Dressed in a black suit, red tie and white shirt, he moved around the venue on the back of a truck waving his fist to a crowd made up largely of school children bussed in for the occasion.