Robert Mugabe's 85th birthday was fêted at a lavish party in Chinhoyi, north-west of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.  His ZANU-PF party spent a whopping 250,000$ USD on the celebrations.  This comes only days after Mugabe demanded that his African neighbours pony up 2$ billion USD in aid.

And at his party, Mugabe came out swinging.  There will be no turning back on the seizure of farms from white farmers in the country, and he lambasted the South African Development Community tribunal in Namibia for trying to intervene (in November, the SADC tribunal found that Zimbabwe's seizures of the farms was illegal and should be immediately halted).  Remember, these are the same people Mugabe is demanding aid from.  This also contradicts what Prime Minister Morgan Tsvingirai has to say on the matter.

And now Mugabe is of the opinion that all foreign firms operating in Zimbabwe should be under majority Zimbabwean ownership.  Oh, brother.

Meanwhile, 3,900 people have died of cholera in recent months, there are 84,000 reported cases of cholera according to the WHO, 90% of adults are unemployed, and over half the population needs direct food aid.

Very nice that Mugabe can celebrate his birthday and spend a quarter of a million dollars.  Just think of what else that could have been spent on.  It boggles the mind.