THOUSANDS of distinctly jovial Zimbabweans thronged Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera to celebrate President Robert Mugabe’s 90th birthday last Sunday.
Thousands of equally cheerful Zimbabweans flocked to his election rallies in all the provinces as the President campaigned for the July 31 harmonised elections.
The overwhelming victory of ZANU PF in the subsequent elections was a clear demonstration that the crowds were genuine.
We can even go back to 1980 when Zimbabwe Grounds burst at the seams to welcome the youthful ZANU leader as he came home after leading a successful armed struggle.
Like what happened at last year’s polls, the enthusiasm demonstrated at welcoming then Cde Mugabe was again replicated at the first democratic elections in 1980.
What does all this mean?
President Mugabe is loved by Zimbabweans today just as much as during the days of the liberation struggle because he is a principled leader.
However, the 90th birthday celebrations for the President brought to the fore another dimension.
That he has lived for 90 years enjoying good health is a sure sign that President Mugabe is also loved by the Almighty.
Mouthpieces of the West who have been at the forefront spreading rumours of his imaginary ill health and sometimes even his death, when he was in his late 80s were also there at Rudhaka Stadium last Sunday.
They were there not necessarily to wish the President well, but to find out what angle they could conjure up to manufacture fresh lies.
Most probably, they were filled with awe as they saw a vibrant 90-year-old.
From looking at him as someone at the point of death as they often did, they are now going to see him as someone supernatural.
For once, the West should realise that there is a power that supersedes their imagined right to dictate events.
They might dislike the President, but God loves him.
What the West must accept once and for all is that President Mugabe is loved because he is a principled man who has his people and country at heart.
He told the gathering at Rudhaka Stadium: “We don’t hate the British, we only love our country.”
That sovereign right to love one’s own country is what the British and the West don’t like to hear.
For a former colony to put its own interest ahead of that of the former coloniser is considered heretical.
But President Mugabe’s unwavering belief in the supremacy in the sovereignty of his country can still be sighted when in 2003 the British wanted to use membership of the Commonwealth to blackmail him over the Land Reform Programme.
“If the choice were made, one for us to lose sovereignty and become a member of the Commonwealth or remain with our sovereignty and lose membership of the Commonwealth, I would say let the Commonwealth go,” was President Mugabe’s response.
In the 60s “ivhu ngeredu” became a byword as our nationalist leaders, among them President Mugabe, fought for majority rule.
To this day, the principled Cde Mugabe has stuck to his word.
When the British continued to pester us over our Land Reform Programme, this is what President Mugabe had to say addressing the United Nations in 2002:
“We have fought for our land, we have fought for our sovereignty, small as we are, we have won our independence and we are prepared to shed our blood … so Blair keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe.”
President Mugabe is admired for his principled stance on unity both among Zimbabweans and the African continent.
As early as 1962, he is quoted as saying;
“Africa must revert to what it was before the imperialists divided it.
“These are artificial divisions which we, in our pan-African concept will seek to remove.”
No wonder President Mugabe is a darling among Zimbabweans, the Southern African Development Community and the African Union.
His unwavering principles can be traced back to his early life as a nationalist.
Long live the President.