“There is very little to celebrate for a 92-year-old who has presided over the collapse of the economy, reducing the country to a nation of vendors and beggars,” Takavafira Zhou, a political analyst at Masvingo State University, told AFP.
“There will be wining and dining at the venue while all around people are starving.”
Zimbabwe has suffered a series of food crises and hyper-inflation since Mugabe’s land reforms when farms were seized from white farmers for redistribution.
Despite his advanced age and recent speculation over his health, Mugabe has avoided naming a successor, fuelling infighting within ZANU-PF.
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is viewed as the likely next president, but in recent weeks he has been publicly criticised by Mugabe’s wife Grace in a sign of growing rivalry.
The president continues to give lengthy speeches, often lauching tirades against his Western foes, but he has become increasingly frail.
He courted ridicule in September by reading the wrong speech to parliament, unaware that he had delivered the same address a month earlier.
On Tuesday, scores of young supporters from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party staged a protest in Masvingo.
Protest placards read: “No birthday when children are starving” and “We want jobs, not bashes.”
Last year, Mugabe’s 91st birthday celebrations included a cake that weighed 91 kilogrammes (200 pounds).
Local media reported that party activists ordered teachers and villagers in the rural districts of Masvingo to make cash donations to help pay for this year’s celebrations.
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