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Mugabe Thugs Collect for Presidential Pig-Out

Starving country's ruling party gets tough to tackle champagne, caviar shortage

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 10, 2009 3:00 AM CST

(Newser) – Aggressive supporters of Zimbabwe's ruling party have been pressing the country's farmers and businesses for "donations" to fund Robert Mugabe's ultra-luxe 85th birthday bash, the Times of London reports. A wish list supplied to the Times includes 8,000 bottles of champagne, 8,000 lobsters, and 4,000 portions of caviar. It specifies "no mealy meal"—the ground corn staple that 7 million Zimbabweans on food aid count themselves lucky to receive.

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attends a meeting of heads of state in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last week. (AP Photo/Anita Powell)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, greet delegates at Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party's 10th annual Congress in Bindura, Zimbabwe, late last year. (AP Photo)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is helped by his aides to release balloons into the air at his 84th birthday celebrations in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, last year. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Village women receive aid from the charity organisation Oxfam International, at a distribution centre in Chirumhanzi, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday, Jan., 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

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It’s just appalling. It’s like they are either completely oblivious to what’s happening in their country, or completely impervious and just don’t care. - A Western aid worker in Zimbabwe

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Mugabe Thugs Collect for Presidential Pig-Out