Cyprus-based Zimbabwean designer Pambayi Kapenzi continues to scale to greater heights since the launch of his label in August 2015. The brand, called “Legacy” and now internationally recognised, has a collection from haute-couture to ready-to-wear.

The label is seen on hoodies, T-shirts and bottoms and is causing a stir in countries like Canada, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Cyprus among others and is based on African print.

In an online interview recently, affectionately known as K-Pay, said he chose the name “Legacy” because of an identification crisis.

“My plan is to make ‘Legacy’ the biggest African label in the world. "I came up with the name ‘Legacy’ because I wanted to create something that will last forever and this can be achieved by making clothes of a high quality and which are different. I have always been fascinated with the thought of designing my own clothes. I was sick and tired of going into shops and looking for things to match my style so I decided to design my own,” he said.

K-Pay, a third year student at Cyprus International University studying advertising and public relations, said so far the challenges he faces is demand due Zimbabwean celebrities abroad.

“I am happy that the label is growing by the day. Demand is high for a clothing label coming up so it really strains. I am working on opening a shop back home this year 2016. So far people can only buy online. ‘Legacy’ has been featured in numerous blogs by bloggers in Tanzania, Cyprus, South Africa, Canada and Australia,” he said.

Asked who his role model was he said he was inspired by societal settings. “My role model is my mother although sometimes I am inspired by societal settings to come up with a design. She is my pillar of strength. I have learnt not to give up from her. I also like Kanye West because he is daring, loves to be different and does not stick to one lane,” he said.

“I started ‘Legacy’ clothing in August 2015, designing my own clothes. My friends later asked me who I was wearing and this gave me the desire to venture into the business. I started making T-shirts and soon the demand got too high that I moved on to making a winter collection which has been highly successful in different parts of the globe,” he said.

He said the main reason he was making it big was the uniqueness of his style. “Fashion is an in-born thing and to me it is just like drinking water. My sense of style has made me go so far. I am happy that the designing industry is growing but most designers lack depth. They should do research on styles and be creative so that they don’t imitate others. Looking closely, clothes are the same but they need that unique touch to create a brand,” he said.

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The Cyprus International University Zimbabwean society elections will take place on the 28th of November in (Amfi 3) Cevik Uraz Conference Hall from 1300hrs to 1600hrs.

The Cyprus International University Zimbabwean society elections will take place on the 28th of November in (Amfi 3) Cevik Uraz Conference Hall from 1300hrs to 1600hrs.

Credit: CIU International Center

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Zimbabwe Students Society, Cyprus cordially invite you to the 2016 edition of "Zimbabwe Independence Day Celebration and Award Night"

More details below:

Date: 23rd April 2016
Venue: Rauf Raif Denktas Culture and Congress Center,
Time: 7:30pm

***(Buses leave Main Gate and DAU2 at 7:30pm)

NOTE: Red Carpet starts at 7:40pm.  THIS IS A FORMAL BLACK-TIE EVENT

More Information, Text or Call 05335749188

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The elephant might have been in the room but it was not on the menu, after all, at Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s 91st birthday party at the Elephant Hills hotel in the country’s premier tourist attraction, Victoria Falls, on Saturday.

Although Zanu PF supporter Tendai Musasa, who farms on disputed game land in the area, had promised to shoot a couple of elephant, buffalo, possibly a crocodile and other game for the dinner, none arrived at the hotel in the end.

That might have been because hotel management had said they did not have enough refrigeration for elephant meat.

So good Zimbabwe beef was the main meat on the menu. Plus sadza, the local name for pap. It was raining, but that did not seem to dampen enthusiasm for the party.

All 1060 hotel rooms were booked well before the festivities and the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe said “a couple of hundred” more rooms in the bed and breakfast lodges and rooms in private houses were also booked.

“This is our low season, when we have the fewest number of tourists, so this birthday party is really good for our businesses,” said Trything Mutyandasvika, chairman of the association.

The dinner began on the hotel’s golf course for 100 children who share a birthday with Mugabe, then moved indoors for a banquet for 500 of those nearest and dearest to the long-serving leader.

Musasa had also promised to shoot a lion and mount it as a present for Mugabe. However, it was not clear before the event if he intended going ahead with this strange gift as he didn’t answer his mobile phone for a few days. But few believed he would have been able to shoot a lion legally on the land he claims near the Falls.

National Parks and Wildlife officials in Harare said they were monitoring the situation and that no one would be allowed to shoot animals for any party without a permit.

It all seemed like just an obsequious Zanu PF supporter going overboard to please Mugabe.

“We had very heavy rain on Friday night, but today it is guti, (mist) and that will be okay, it will be a great festivity,” said a hotel worker at the Falls before the party started.

Mugabe and his young wife Grace arrived at Victoria Falls late Friday.

To get back to that elephant in the room, which is when is Mugabe ever going to get too old for the job? Mugabe did refer to it, obliquely, when he told state media that he, not Grace, was in power in Zimbabwe.

He denied she controlled the politics of Zimbabwe, ever more divided as Zanu PF has been split since the party’s congress last December.

“She is not the power behind my throne,” said Mugabe of his 49-year-old wife. “She has come into politics in her own right.”

Grace Mugabe burst on to the political stage last year by holding a series of rallies last year in which she denounced then vice-president Joyce Mujuru, saying she was greedy for power.

Mujuru was later sacked along with 17 senior Zanu PF members who were her supporters in the Cabinet and senior civil service positions.

Some suspect Mugabe is grooming his wife to succeed him, others that Mujuru’s arch-rival, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced her as vice-president, used Grace to bump Mujuru out of the race to succeed him.

Mugabe said the former national chairman, Simon Khaya Moyo, was also suspected of being a Mujuru supporter – and so the party chairman’s position had been axed and he, Moyo, former long-time Zimbabwe ambassador to South Africa, was slotted into the more junior post of party spokesman.

“I told SK that, no, he was viewed by many as close to Mujuru… so we abolished the chairmanship thing,” he told State journalists.

Zanu PF’s former spokesman, Rugare Gumbo, was sacked, and so too was the party’s administration secretary, Didymus Mutasa.

No one suspected of being close to Mujuru has been invited to the Victoria Falls party, apparently being funded mainly from the presidential budget.

“There has been advance payment for all of this,” said a clerk in the billing department of one hotel at the Falls.

Some pics below:

Watch video below:

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Source: http://www.iol.co.za/

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If you missed the PART 1, CLICK HERE - 

[Continued...] ... The queues were energy draining, moving slow. Eventually, it was my turn, greeting the lady behind the counter with a high energetic tone, and then she bombarded me with some Turkish words which at that time felt like a blast to my face, looking at her other work mate, she replied in something that I did not understand, remained still, with my shoulders and head raised, she went mute. Fortunate enough her counterpart then asked how can I help you, everything lightened up during that moment, and the good part about it she then gave me the flexibility to choose the nationality of the roommates that I wanted to live with, since some were just being chosen randomly, and with that fear of at the current time living with people who you literally cannot communicate with made me to choose a room which had my fellow brothers from Zimbabwe, this had taught me a lot in terms of making pivotal decisions regarding what I want to venture in. Yurt ‘dorm’ 4, room 408, she wrote it on the paper which I had to present to the dormitory officer.

I vividly remember thanking her a lot since it gave relief to both my mother and sister Patience Kanombirira who i was communicating with during that period because the registration period was somehow straining to me however everything was settled. I had to transfer all my bags to the new room that was on the fourth floor. We took time to get to know each other, get to know our neighbors since it was helpful in adjusting to the prevail.

Keith Kanombirira

Lectures had already started but were not yet on a high tone as what it does in the middle or towards the end of the semester, the first lecture which I attended was chemistry, the teacher was a Turkish lady, very energetic and strict as compared to the other lecturers, upon arrival of every student she highlighted that she does not tolerate late comers or those who use mobile phones in her lectures in a way that inflicted fear like no one other including much older students. Her accent, i struggled to clearly get it since her English was inclined to the Turkish tone, but with time I was absorbing it all.

Since it was the first time everyone from different nations took it as an opportunity to greet each other and at that point one could hear different tones and styles, the way people from the other hemisphere greet each, from the famous “how far” which is done by Nigerians to “selam” by Arabs which mostly were people from Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Dubai, lastly “merhaba” by our host country. This subject was easy to me since it was basically revision of what mostly I had done during my years in high school. The physics lecturer hauled all the way from Italy though he had been teaching in Istanbul for some time before he decided to come to Cyprus, so he was more familiar with being in a Turkish environment. His accent was more Italian, I met resistance in this subject because of the way it was being dished out.

Trying to adjust, the lecturer advising us to rub of all the knowledge we had acquired from high school emphasizing that university was much more different henceforth what you previously know cannot be applied with respect to the context to be covered. I agreed to fall into this trap, which made me have a mark that was mediocre out of bound of my mark band, furthermore I had not adequately studied hard for that exam since it was my first, having little knowledge of the typical questions which are set. Even though a few days before the exam, I had talked to a few of my Nigerians doing engineering who were somehow reserved and just said it all depends with the teacher, some are hard while some are easy which now I understand what my brothers from the west were trying to imply. All he wanted to do was to cover the syllabus but on the expense of the other students who faced tough challenges, it all soon began to flow smoothly on my part. Moving on to the mathematics, which I can say it was my best course, which i attribute the lump sum of it all to my lecturer Mr Abba Auwalu from Nigeria, who was very patient with us as the students since he took every principle from the ground and taking his time to add the flesh to the bone, moulding it like plasticine.

On my part I excelled excellently with help of the teacher stamped with the enormous hard work that I had to put in day in, day out. In a nutshell I continue to swim in this sea of adventure full of 'un-expectations', continuing to unlock the different phases of life as I build my journey of a tourney since there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel for those who are willing to burn the mid night oil and go an extra mile with that affinity to achieve inching them towards their main goal .

****

Written by Keith Kanombirira (NEU)

Contact me on:
FACEBOOK ---- www.facebook.com/keith.kanos
INSTAGRAM---- www.instagram.com/keithworldwide
TWITTER— twitter.com/keithworldwide
EMAIL---- keithtawanda@gmail.com
PHONE MUMBER----- 05338845839

****

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My name is Keith Kanombirira, 19 years old, all the way from Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, Currently doing my bachelors in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Near East University.

My life is Cyprus has been filled with highs and lows from meeting new people, a new culture above all being soaked in a place that offers a new twist to life, when I first reached Ercan the airport it looked small and they was little activity as compared to the other airports that is Dubai international airport which is one of the world busiest airports we walked around the port went in into the different stores just to mention a few, the second port was Ataturk airport in Istanbul Turkey.

When we boarded the flight to the island of Cyprus it was a much smaller plane the facilities in that plane where different from the Emirates airplane speaking from a perspective of a person who had used Air Zimbabwe back in 2010, the plane was called Atlas jet, it was filled with students who were dreaded and drunk with sleep because of the two days of flight that we had been going through, regardless of that high hopes had already been instilled in us when we left the mother land Africa-Zimbabwe.

Mr. Keith Kanombirira

When the airplane touched down, we were escorted by the immigration officers as they guarded us into the processes that perspire at the airport. After finishing all the ones and twos at the airport it was time for us to head to the school, they were a lot of buses to pick us up at the airport. The street lights were lit, and that feeling of excitement that finally we have arrived in Cyprus kept tingling in my mind thereby raising my adrenaline thinking of everything I am going to do.

Upon arrival at the school we were received by warm hands since it was a batch of international students who knew nothing but just that we are at Near East University. We were assigned to our temporary rooms for the night until we settle, I got my place at the top a bunk bed which to me was comfortable, to my surprise when I went to use the bathroom, the tap water was salty, this itself heavily hit on me thinking maybe it was a current water problem not knowing that it was a permanent state that I had to adjust to, one of the good thing is we came in during a religious holiday so it was a four day break for everyone, this gave us time to rest after two days of flight, amongst the bad is that the school, did not provide meals for us during the stay in the guest house.

The following day I and my Zimbabwean roommates went on to the market to get some food stuffs, we could hear people speaking in Turkish, but didn’t know the impact it came along with to the foreign students. When we went to the till, I asked “ how much is it?” holding a bottle of 100% orange juice and the ayrani (a turkish yogurt blended with water and salt) which has presently became one my favourites, she then replied in Turkish which at that time it sounded loud ,funny and fast, thinking she would at this time use English I went on to ask again but she then replied in her language, my friends burst in laughter thinking that she is doing it intentionally but she was not, actually she didn’t understand the queen’s language at all, which we as Africans view English as an international language.

We went on to a certain place called Chicken house which sells fast food burgers, fries and all that, we ordered beef burgers but the taste itself was different from the original beef we knew, but after a moment we then read it’s a type of beef they eat as an alternative to the original one which then left unanswered questions in our minds as no one could answer them because of the language barrier.

It is said every new day brings its own twist to life, days passed by while we took shelter in our temporary dorms waiting for registration. The day finally arrived when we were supposed to register, in my mind I thought it was easy as ABC, but I faced a lot of challenges, to break them down, I woke up went to the shower with my soap my mother had packed for me, little did I know when I turned on the shower the salty water did not react well with the soap to produce lather but it made the mixture to clot, scientifically the salts, the ions in the salty water could not react with the soap, since no one had shared such information with us from the start I continued with my bath but facing problem indeed there was a “problem var” as the Turkish would say, I then applied my lotion and put on amongst my best outfits since it was a new day that I was going to different offices.

Before I went out of our temporary room, on that same fateful day the guard came and gave us a notice that we should be fixing our accommodation papers and vacate since these rooms you are using are reserved for other people who had booked them in advance so they might need to move in anytime as soon as they reach the university. This actually sent shockwaves around my whole body, asking myself what am I going to do? I do not even know any single person here, what if they kick us out, what if the owners of the room suddenly come tonight? I then went out of the dormitory with a confident posture, along the way I met a Turkish guy and with a bright face so as to ask directions on where I can find the international office, before he even finished hearing my question, waving both of his arms he went on to say no English.

I looked left and right trying to find any of my African brothers and sisters I couldn’t find one since the school had not started still on the last semester break, now with a confused face that the next person I might ask again might say the same thing, luckily I then met a Nigerian a guy called Emedu, at first we did not understand each so well since it was my first time speaking to someone from West of the Africa with a totally different tone , he then walked me to the office pointing out the need to learn Turkish language and at the same time telling me the names of the building, assuring me that with time I will get the grip of the new school, the walk seemed long, and it was so hot, the kind of weather which makes one feel drained and deeply thirsty for a liquid.

Upon arrival at the office I then discovered there was a long line, new students also awaiting to register and senior students with those fancy hairstyles that you see on the television. People were just displacing after they asked the last person their number so that, I quickly hold onto a number, not yet satisfied of the number I got and the authenticity of the whole process of getting a number from someone, I went into the office and when I was about to get to the table where a certain Nigerian lady who works in the international office was sitting she then asked with a loud voice have you taken your number, I assume the loud voice was because she got frustrated by being asked the same thing over and over, and the level of disorganization that had filled the place. I politely asked her what I was supposed to do and she responded to me nicely and in a moment I got a grip of what was supposed to be done, I waited for a form where I had to fill in my details and surrender my certificates.

At that moment I was told there are some certain fees that i didn’t pay that included health insurance, social activity so I had to go to the Near east bank, did I know where it was, I did not! I then asked a Zimbabwean who was near and she did not know the place she was new, I looked around asked a senior student, another brother from the west and he properly directed me. It was now time to walk to the place when I stepped down the stairs, the thirst intensified and what it need was to be quenched, I thought to myself where am I going to get the water in the middle of the school like this, walking down the i then saw a cafeteria, went in put out my 100 United States dollar and the lady responded in some Turkish words which I cannot remember but I knew it meant a no because of her body language.

At that point in time, I started feeling a bit dizzy because of the strong heat blaze, I found my way to the bank, the bank was organized as in one just doesn’t sit and wait in line as I had previously did back in Zimbabwe when I was making my bank account, but one had to first take a number from a number generating machine. My number was way above hundreds and they were a lot of people, I thought to myself is this what happens in European banks, the level of activity, suddenly my number popped up on the screens since I only wanted to make a payment into the school’s account.

Finally he then changed my USD dollar notes to Turkish liras and life wholly became normal at that moment since it now gave me flexibility. It was now time to register for my dormitory resident for the semester, with some peeps that I had came with preferring to go stay off campus which my mother had denounced and I was in the same boat with her considering the fact that being a new student, still a new place, coming from the so called dark continent to the white people infested area. The queues where energy draining moving slow, it was now time for my turn, greeting the lady behind the counter with a high energetic tone, and then she bombarded me with some Turkish words which at that time felt like a blast to my face, looking at her other work mate, she replied in something that I did not understand, remained still, with my shoulders and head raised, she went mute.

CLICK TO READ PART 2 of 'MY STORY' by Keith Kanombirira

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Written by Keith Kanombirira (NEU)

Contact me on:
FACEBOOK ---- www.facebook.com/keith.kanos
INSTAGRAM---- www.instagram.com/keithworldwide
TWITTER— twitter.com/keithworldwide
EMAIL---- keithtawanda@gmail.com
PHONE MUMBER----- 05338845839

****

To send your write-ups to us for publishing, email writers@scantygela.com or SUBMIT ONLINE | MORE INFO? Click Here . This service is FREE. 

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Just when you thought you had it all figured out, new Human Development Report throws up a few surprises.

The 2015 Human Development Report released Monday also confirmed that Zimbabwe - seen largely as a basket case in recent years - had the highest change on the Human Development Index (HDI) ranking on the continent, a 12-place jump, ahead of the Seychelles, Cameroon and Mauritius, data from the report showed.

In its similar index last year, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had showed that Zimbabwe, which has been beset by political divisions that have hurt its economy, had made some notable gains.

With regards to Zimbabwe, the UNDP among other factors highlighted a significant rise in life expectancy, at almost four times the sub-Saharan Africa average, and an increase in the expected years of schooling.

It also said the country’s gross national income per capital increased four percentage points faster than the sub-Saharan African average, from $1,442 to $1,662, or a 12% jump. While the body concedes the country’s HDI is below the continental average, it says it did grow at double the pace of the continent.

The Republic of the Congo, which has been in the headlines this year over a third term bid by its leader, also ranks in the top five, propped up by its oil resources, but the least improved country over the period was another oil-rich nation that has had a long-time leader, Equatorial Guinea, highlighting further that development conditions are country-specific.

Sierra Leone, despite its battle with Ebola, also ranks in the top five, as does Burkina Faso, which is only now looking to steady its ship following a year of political upheaval that included a short-lived coup. Another country that was ravaged by the fever, Liberia, also performs better than many African countries in changing the living conditions of its people.

Also surprising is the ranking of Eritrea higher than Botswana, Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia.

The UNDP says some two billion people have been lifted out of low human development in the last 25 years, and urges governments to focus on work to build on that progress.

Some 830 million people live on under $2 a day and are classified as working poor, while over 200 million, including some 74 million youth, are without work, it said.

[UNDP-HDR] Learn more »

Zimbabwe’s Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has said the law should be changed to allow castration of rapists.

Mphoko recently said at a rally in Masvingo: “About people who rape children from ages 1 to 15 years, such people should be castrated; 16 to 65 life imprisonment. (If they are aged) 66 to 100, castrate them,” New Zimbabwe reported.

“Let’s talk about this issue in the party until the problem ends,” he said.

According to The Herald, Mphoko suggested, “that little thing which makes him rape must go”.

However, the Vice President did not prescribe the course of action to be taken for female rapists.

Mphoko has joined President Robert Mugabe who told lawmakers at a hotel in Harare this year: “You don’t take that which is not yours. The Muslims say Sharia Law if you steal, your hand must go,” “Now if you rape, what must go? You may make it a laughing matter but it’s being considered seriously,” Bloomberg reported.

Zimbabwe's First Lady, Dr Grace Mugabe has previously called for the castration of perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

In August, while officially launching the African Union campaign to end child marriages Zimbabwe chapter in Harare, the First Lady said: “Zvikange zvakuitikira mumba mako ndipo paunonzwa kurwadza kwazvo, zvekuti unotoritora bhemba kuti uende unodimura munhu.” (They must be castrated because their actions cause pain to others), the Herald quoted her saying.

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Officials from Girne American University are in Zimbabwe to assess prospects of building their African campus in the southern African country.

Girne American University General Secretary Dr Sualp Davut arrived in the country last weekend and was later met with officials from the Zimbabwean Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development.

IN HIS WORDS; “One of our top priorities in Zimbabwe is to share our plans to establish a campus in Africa and the country is a top priority for our investment drive.

“Zimbabwe is a priority country for our investment plans as we have campuses across the world under our franchising arrangements and we are now looking at Africa as our next investment destination,” Dr Davut said.

GAU presently has campuses in Turkey, Kent; United Kingdom, Washington DC, Hong Kong and Moldova.

“From that outlook, the university has campuses on five continents and the next target is Africa and we are strongly looking at the opportunity of establishing the African campus in Zimbabwe,” Dr Davut said.

Girne American University was founded in 1985 and has grown from its small beginnings to being a very strong university with more than 15,000 students.

The university is continuously expanding its partnerships, programs and campuses abroad. The tertiary institution is also targeting Zimbabwean students for its next academic year on 50 percent scholarship.

Dr Davut said Zimbabwean students would also gets extra scholarships, including an extra 50 percent scholarship for high academic grades, 50 percent extra scholarship for assistant-ship or a further 50 percent for students in sport teams.

“We have so many Zimbabwean students and we would want to have more since they have proved to be intelligent, peaceful and above all very hardworking.

“Zimbabwean students have actually helped us in the university being accorded high standards and we have raked high up there because of the students that have come from Zimbabwe.”

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During a speech at an international summit recently in Harare, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe gave a clarion call for Africans and African-Americans to forge closer ties so as to advance the cause of people of African descent

President Robert Mugabe drew on historical references to highlight parallels between the civil rights struggles of African Americans in the US and the fight for independence in African countries.

This summit takes place against the background of a world of growing globalization. It is therefore most imperative that we get to know one another even better than before – in order to fully appreciate the various circumstances under which we live. Africans and African-Americans need each other…  

There are well known historical and sentimental reasons why Africans and African-Americans must cooperate. These must form a basis for strengthening and deepening linkages between us – of a more substantial nature.

In this powerful address he mentioned legends such as Kwame Nkrumah who noted that the work of early pioneers of Pan-Africanism, all based abroad, had become precious African history.

He expanded on this by quoting Jamaican Pan-Africanist, Marcus Garvey who said, “Where is the black  man’s government? Where is his president, his country and his ambassador? His army, his navy, his men of big affairs? I could not find them. Then, I declare, I will help make them.”

Without giving too much away, watch this beautiful Video below.

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Eastern Mediterranean University hosted Zimbabwean Ministry of Higher Education Undersecretary Dr. Machivenyika Mapuranga, Director of Higher Education Programs Martha Mugiti and Higher Education Quality Agency Director Godfrey Gurira between 13 and 17 July 2015.

During their stay, the guests visited faculties, laboratories, EMU Beach Club, Rauf Raif Culture and Congress Center and Famagusta. During their visit to EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Osam on 14 July 2015, the visitors expressed their fascination with EMU. Stating that he had a chance to get together with students from Zimbabwe, Dr. Mapuranga put forth that students are happy with their education and they have no problems here in Eastern Mediterranean University.

EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Osam stated that the university has adopted a modern approach in education, making the university a pioneering institution in the higher education sector. Highlighting the importance the university gives to accreditaitons, Prof. Dr. Osam stated that a considerable number of faculties and departments hold prestigious accreditations. Prof. Osam also added that the university gives special importance to production along with education.

Business and Economics Faculty, Business Department academic staff member Prof. Dr. Cem Tanova, Coordinator for Institutional Development and International Academic Relations Office Cahit Ezel, Coordinator for the International Office Murat Aktuğralı and International Office staff member Ahmet Kasım were also present during the aforesaid meeting, at the end of which Prof. Dr. Osam presented the visitors frames made of lefkara lace.

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“Does Zimbabwe have anything to offer today?” Yes, the country has an incredible history, and institutional strengths that can serve it well. Here we look at 10 things about Zimbabwe, some of which will surprise those who follow only its controversial political story:

1.   Zimbabwe hosted Africa`s first ever sponsored horse race, The Castle Tankard in 1960. This was two years ahead of Rothmans sponsoring South Africa`s famous Durban July. Aesthetically, Zimbabwe`s Borrowdale race course is considered to be one of the best looking tracks in the world.

2.   Zimbabwe`s “Great Zimbabwe” is referenced by Vasco da Gama`s squire Tomé Lopes as the location for the Biblical region of Ophir. King Solomon received cargo of gold, silver, pearls and sandalwood from Ophir, every three years.

3.   The third oldest stock exchange in Africa was established in Zimbabwe`s second largest city, Bulawayo in 1896, when the white settlers arrived in the country. This was after the Egyptian Exchange formed in 1883 and the South African exchange established in 1887.

4.   Zimbabwe is home to a sizeable population of the Lemba people, a community whom popular myth believes descended from seven Jewish men who left Israel 2,500 years ago and married African women. The Lemba refrain from eating pork or other foods forbidden by the Torah and wear Yarmulke-like skull caps.

5.   Cecil John Rhodes, a British businessman and co-founder of De Beers Consolidated Mines - one of the world`s leading diamond industry players – whose dream was to extend the British Empire from Cape to Cairo is buried at World`s View, Matopos Hills in Zimbabwe. Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Rhodes University in South Africa were named after him.

6.   Zimbabwe has a mobile penetration rate of 106.4%, which has helped improve the level of financial inclusion, through leveraging on mobile banking and mobile money transfers. Currently 77% of Zimbabweans are included in the financial system. Ecocash, Zimbabwe’s leading mobile money transfer service has cumulatively transacted over US$11 billion since September 29, 2011 when it was launched.

7.   Between 2013 and 2014, Zimbabwe spent approximately US$1.089 billion importing cars from various countries, with Japan being the most prominent source.

8.   Estimates put Zimbabwe`s total road network at 77,868km, comprising 18,338km of state roads; 5,290km of urban roads; 54,240km of rural roads. Of this stock of national roads, about 15,000km is paved.

9.  According to a recent survey by FinScope, approximately 70% of adult Zimbabweans reside in rural areas and 36% of adults in the country rely on money from farming. Farming is the main source of income for the majority of Zimbabweans.

10. Zimbabwe’s Boka Tobacco Auction floors are the largest tobacco trading floors in the world. The trading floors were built by former Zimbabwean banker Roger Boka.

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At 91 years of age, President Robert Mugabe's longevity seems to be yet another act of defiance against his naysayers. The world's most divisive nonagenarian seems to be nowhere near slowing down.

You would think that President Robert Mugabe, at 91, would’ve begun to slow down and enjoy the sunsets of the autumn of his years. Clearly that’d be expecting too much of the controversial leader.

Having just taken the position of Chairperson of the 54-nation African Union, he still maintains a strong grip on power – much to the dismay of his 'detractors' But challenges are still thrown his way.

Days before his birthday, the media went to town criticising the old leader for the lavishness of his planned birthday party where, according to reports, guests will feast on wild meat including elephant and buffalo.

On the eve of his birthday, the EU announced an extension to a travel ban on him and his wife, Grace for continued human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

What we do know is that President Robert Mugabe is, to many Africans, a symbol of resistance, integrity and courage. At 91 years old, he’s having his cake and eating it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUGABE!

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