World’s Oldest President, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Turns 92 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe turned 92 this month. Public domain photo by the U.S. Air Force.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, nicknamed ‘Uncle Bob’, turned 92 on February 21. He is the world's oldest president, holding office since 1987. His time in the upper echelons of Zimbabwe's government isn't limited to his 30-year stint as president; he also was Zimbabwe's prime minister from 1980 to 1987.
According to human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Mugabe's government regularly mistreats opposition politicians and their supporters, journalists, civil society activists and human rights defenders.
Human Rights Watch's World Report 2015 pointed out that, “The government of President Robert Mugabe continued to violate human rights in 2014 without regard to protections in the country’s new constitution. An expected legislative framework and new or amended laws to improve human rights in line with the constitution never materialized.”
Mugabe is also accused by Zimbabwe's opposition and the international community of systemic electoral fraud.
Online, Twitter users have been sharing facts about and quotes from a man known for his oratory skills, brashness, sense of humor, homophobia and hatred for the West.
“I have died many times. I have actually beaten Jesus Christ because he only died once.” Robert Mugabe. Happy birthday uncle
— Sammy Netsh (@Sammy_Livhu) February 21, 2016
Mugabe made the above comment on his 88th birthday in reference to constant rumors about his death.
“We did not chase away whites, we just took our land” President Robert Mugabe
— Sivuyile Fanatic (@MndaweSivuyile) February 21, 2016
Mugabe chased white Zimbabwean farmers from the country from the year 2000 as part of his land reform and black empowerment program. A total of 4,000 white farmers lost their farms.
I will continue Untill God says come-says Pres.Robert Mugabe upon his 92 birth day pic.twitter.com/gQ3T1xifF9
— Harunah Kiyemba (@harunahkiye) February 21, 2016
Mugabe made the observation after the United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged African leaders not to cling to power.
“Let me marry you first, if you want me to accept homosexuality in my country.” Robert Mugabe to Barak Obama.
— IG: AdvBarryRoux (@Barry_Roux) February 21, 2016
Mugabe is reported to have made the statement after US President Barack Obama called on African governments to give gay men and women equal marriage rights. In 2011, Mugabe referred to gay people as being “worse than dogs and pigs.”
‘The white man is here as a second citizen. The only man you can trust is a dead white man.’ ~Robert Mugabe
— AFRICAN HISTORY (@africanarchives) February 21, 2016
The quote is widely attributed to him by many sources online including a 2015 article by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
“The HQs of the UN is actually misplaced” 😂😂 Robert Mugabe Turns 92 today!
— Saddo Saddam YNWA (@saddamshab) February 21, 2016
Speaking at the opening of the annual African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last month, Mugabe said the UN’s headquarters in New York should be in a more populous country, such as China, India, or in Africa.
“So Blair, keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe”. – Robert Mugabe
— Runaway Slave (@StheOnline) February 21, 2016
Mugabe made the above comment at the Earth Summit while responding to former UK leader Tony Blair's criticism of his land reform.
Africa must establish its own International Criminal Court to try Europeans, says Robert Mugabe https://t.co/gkZNeRfMjA
— Vivian Jonathan (@VivianJonathano) February 22, 2016
Addressing journalists at the Harare International Airport, Mugabe said, “They [Western leaders] committed crimes, colonial crimes galore – the slaughter of our people and all that imprisonment… I have a case, why was I imprisoned for 11 years? We forgave them, but perhaps we’ve not done ourselves justice… You set up the ICC [International Criminal Court], we set our ICC to try Europeans, to try Mr [George] Bush and Mr [Tony] Blair.”
Fun fact: When Robert Mugabe was born the Ottoman Caliphate still existed. He's also been in power for 6 years longer than Steve Biko lived.
— Imran Garda (@ImranGarda) February 21, 2016
The Ottoman Caliphate was the last Sunni Islamic caliphate of the late medieval and the early modern era. The Turkish National Assembly abolished the Ottoman Caliphate on March 3, 1924. Steve Biko was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa who died in 1977 at the age of 30.
Robert Mugabe is the most academically honored President in the world. No other president has more university degrees than him. #factcheck
— p.Brobbey (@PrinceBaaRCa) February 21, 2016
Mugabe has got seven degrees. He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa, before getting four bachelor's degrees and two master's degrees through distance learning.