Masire, Mogae, guests at Mugabe�s P40 million wedding

Correspondent | Monday March 17, 2014 15:45

 

It is estimated that the wedding cost US$5 million or P40 million.

As Mogae and Masire dined and wined at the US 5 million event, ordinary Zimbabweans affected by floods, needed US$20 million to be rescued, as the Zimbabwean government claimed there was no money to help them.

The Zimbabwe Independent reported on Friday that Mogae and Masire were  among the likes of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Michael Sata of Zambia and Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, while  another  former head of state Jerry Rawlings of Ghana also attended the  wedding.

The glitzy wedding of Mugabe’s only daughter Bona, was held at Mugabe’s private Chinese-style mansion located in the upmarket Borrowdale Brooke area, where 5,000 guests attended.

Bona’s wedding, President Mugabe’s 90th birthday party and other costs associated with both celebrations reportedly gobbled up a staggering US16 million (P128 million) of government funds. His birthday party was attended by amongst others 500 school children who danced for Africa’s oldest President as he cut a 90kg birthday cake.

Part of the US$ 16 million was also spent on erecting giant statues of Mugabe to be built by North Korea that commemorate his uninterrupted rule since 1980, and his status as father of the nation, according to one Zimbabwean news outlet,

Mugabe’s birthday bash on February 23,  where the president cut a cake in front of 10,000 people at a stadium in Harare, and where 90 beasts were killed, cost more than US$1 million (P8 million).

After the wedding, plans leaked out that Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) government clandestinely signed a deal with North Korea, one of its old friends, to build two statues of Mugabe at an estimated cost of US$5 million. (Christian Science Monitor)