Zimbabwe's President Declares His Birthday a Public Holiday

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proclaimed September 15, his birthday, a new public holiday, state-run Herald newspaper reports.

The new holiday was introduced through a new regulation, Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026, which declared 15 September an annual public holiday known as Munhumutapa Day.

Local media reported that a notice to this effect was published on Wednesday.

“His Excellency the President, in terms of section 2(2) of the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act [Chapter 10:21], hereby makes the following notice: 1. . This notice may be cited as the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business (Declaration of Public Holiday) Notice, 2026. 2. It is hereby declared that the 15th of September every year henceforth shall be a public holiday to be known as Munhumutapa Day,” the notice read, according to ZBC News, a Zimbabwean news outlet.

Mr Mnangagwa, who has ruled Harare for about 9 years, is expected to celebrate his 84th birthday on the same day his government has set aside as a holiday to celebrate the country’s “pre-colonial heritage.”

The public holiday shall be known as Munhumutapa Day to celebrate the Mutapa empire, a pre-colonial Shona kingdom that spanned across parts of modern-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

It will be observed every year henceforth, according to a government notice.

The holiday symbolises the link between the pre-colonial greatness of the Mutapa Empire and the modern development drive that has seen Zimbabwe achieve unprecedented milestones in infrastructure, food security and empowerment projects, the Herald newspaper reports.

“This declaration is a celebration of both historical and present greatness,” a senior government official is quoted as saying.

In July President Mnangagwa signed into law constitutional amendments that abolished direct presidential elections and extended his tenure and that of parliament from five years to seven.

Parliament approved the amendments which effectively extended Mnangagwa’s tenure to 2030.

The revised constitution scrapped public voting in presidential elections, with lawmakers now responsible for choosing the president.

Mnangagwa, 83, has ruled Zimbabwe since 2017, following the military-backed ouster of his predecessor, President Robert Mugabe, who died in 2019.