{"id":7896,"date":"2026-09-17T11:56:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T11:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1307007.us31.myftpupload.com\/?p=7896"},"modified":"2026-09-17T11:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T11:56:52","slug":"fact-check-did-zimbabwe-president-declare-his-birthday-an-annual-public-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/fact-check-did-zimbabwe-president-declare-his-birthday-an-annual-public-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT-CHECK: Did Zimbabwe President declare his birthday an annual public holiday?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim:<\/strong> Zimbabwe declares the President\u2019s birthday an annual public holiday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/strong> News reports, social media <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdict: <\/strong>Misleading <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researched by Alfa Shaban<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Multiple news portals reported the promulgation of a new public holiday in Zimbabwe, tying the official declaration of September 15 as the latest public holiday to President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The headline from Nigeria\u2019s Premium Times portal<\/a> read: \u201cZimbabwe declares president\u2019s birthday an annual public holiday,\u201d with Kenya\u2019s Standard Newspaper<\/a> and South Africa\u2019s News24<\/a> carrying headlines that read: “Zimbabwe names President Mnangagwa\u2019s birthday public holiday\u201d and \u201cOutcry as Zimbabwean President Mnangagwa declares his birthday a public holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Fig. 1 – News headlines and flyers about the claim<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On social media, multiple news platforms and users shared articles and flyers of the reported claim (here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>). Zimbabwe\u2019s main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa<\/a>, posted on X and said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c#JustImagine if every president had made his own birthday a public holiday, America would be celebrating presidents instead of being productive and fulfilling the national goals. In Zimbabwe, we need a new direction!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Platform users on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, X and WhatsApp shared posts with the claim (here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>), drawing humorous and critical reactions and comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FactSpace West Africa decided to fact-check the claim because of its virality and the headlines most news portals used in their reportage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact-check<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

FactSpace West Africa reviewed the Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026 [CAP. 10:12] dated September 9, 2026 and titled: Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business (Declaration of Public Holiday) Notice, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The publication referred to the President\u2019s powers to invoke holidays, adding: \u201cIt is hereby declared that the 15th of September every year henceforth, shall be a public holiday to be known as Munhumutapa Day.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked a fellow fact-checker with ZimFact, Cris Chinaka, about the viral reports; he responded: \u201cThe government statute which set September 15 as a public holiday to mark Munhumutapa Day made no reference to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s  birthday.\u201d<\/strong> He added, \u201cBut of course the date is curiously coinciding with Mnangagwa\u2019s birthday, fueling a political debate on the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Fig. 2 – Zimbabwe government gazette announcing the new holiday<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The new holiday is officially tied to Zimbabwe\u2019s history and the Munhumutapa Empire, which fell between the 12th and 15th centuries. It is regarded as one of Africa\u2019s great civilisations and is the source of what is known as \u201cGreat Zimbabwe\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A history of presidential birthdays as public holidays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the second time a Zimbabwean President\u2019s birthday is being marked as a public holiday. Chinaka pointed to how the country\u2019s first President Robert Mugabe\u2019s birthday (February 21) was also made an annual public holiday in 2017<\/a>, shortly after Mugabe was forced to resign under pressure from the military.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinaka said: \u201cThe media coverage is justified on account of the coincidence, which falls in line with Zimbabwe\u2019s previous experience with former President Robert Mugabe. The birthday of the southern African state\u2019s first independence leader, February 21, was declared a national holiday during his tenure under the flag of \u201c21st February Movement<\/a>\u201d for youth. It was later renamed \u201cNational Youth Day\u201d and remains a public holiday today.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verdict<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While September 15 is President Mnangagwa\u2019s birthday, it only coincides with the commemoration of Munhumutapa Day; therefore, the claim that the President declared his birthday a public holiday is misleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: Zimbabwe declares the President\u2019s birthday an annual public holiday Source: News reports, social media  Verdict: Misleading  Researched…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,50],"tags":[114,450],"coauthors":[504],"class_list":["post-7896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-politics","tag-social-media","tag-zimbabwe"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":41,"label":"Featured"},{"value":50,"label":"Politics"}],"post_tag":[{"value":114,"label":"social media"},{"value":450,"label":"zimbabwe"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Zimbabwe-emmerson-mnangagwa.png",694,411,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Shaban Abdur Rahman Alfa","author_link":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/author\/shaban-abdur-rahman-alfa\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":41,"name":"Featured","slug":"featured","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":41,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Featured posts","parent":0,"count":144,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":41,"category_count":144,"category_description":"Featured posts","cat_name":"Featured","category_nicename":"featured","category_parent":0},{"term_id":50,"name":"Politics","slug":"politics","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":50,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":19,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":50,"category_count":19,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Politics","category_nicename":"politics","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":114,"name":"social media","slug":"social-media","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":114,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":12,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":450,"name":"zimbabwe","slug":"zimbabwe","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":450,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7900,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7896\/revisions\/7900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7896"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enspirefx.com\/royale\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}