Mugabe defends sale of foreign firms to locals

“Our indigenisation policy, like the land reform programme, is meant to correct historical imbalances in the ownership of our resources,” Mugabe told thousands at the celebrations in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo, south west of the capital.

The huge party at an exhibition centre was attended about 7,000 people including Mugabe's ZANU-PF supporters, party officials, government ministers, diplomats while no prominent partners in the inclusive government were present.

The organizers said they raised 300,000 dollars for the party, falling short of the target of 500,000 dollars.

The party was preceded by an all-night music bash with performers including Jamaican reggae star Sizzla Kalonji who performed a rendition of Bob Marley's song, Zimbabwe, as well as artistes from South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia.

Hotels reported brisk business with the majority of them fully-booked as guests arrived in their hundreds in the usually-serene city.

Jovial party supporters stuck their heads out through windows and sang as they arrived in buses from the country's 10 provinces, while officials drove to the venue in luxury cars. Three large cakes were at the centre-stage with banners saying: “Long live our President.”

The feast was held as the country struggled to recover from a crisis which saw inflation peaking at 321 million percent and supermarkets running out of food.

The crisis forced Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai to form a power-sharing government to mend the economy and ease political tensions in the aftermath of a presidential run-off election in which Mugabe was sole candidate.

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