HARARE — Zimbabwe has declared September 15 an annual public holiday, a date that coincides with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s birthday.
The new holiday, known as Munhumutapa Day, was established through Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026 under the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act.
The statutory instrument states that September 15 “every year henceforth” shall be a public holiday known as Munhumutapa Day.
The date is also Mnangagwa’s birthday. He turned 84 on September 15, 2026.
The government has framed the holiday as a commemoration of the Munhumutapa, or Mutapa, Empire, a pre-colonial state whose influence extended across parts of present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
In a speech marking the first Munhumutapa Day celebrations, Mnangagwa said the kingdom represented courage, innovation, hard work, self-determination, trade and African statecraft.
“It is, therefore, in honour of this background, and for the immortalisation of our rich history and cultural inheritance that my Government resolved to declare 15th September as Munhumutapa Day and a public holiday,” Mnangagwa said.
The statutory instrument itself does not describe September 15 as the President’s birthday or say that the holiday was created to celebrate Mnangagwa. Fact-checkers have therefore cautioned against describing the legal declaration simply as the President declaring his birthday a public holiday.
ZimFact researcher Cris Chinaka told FactSpace West Africa that the government statute “made no reference” to Mnangagwa’s birthday, although the coincidence of the date has fuelled public debate.
Zimbabwe already has a public holiday that coincides with the birthday of a former president. February 21, the birthday of the late President Robert Mugabe, is observed as National Youth Day.
The 2026 public holiday calendar published in 2025 did not initially include September 15. The date was subsequently added through the new statutory instrument issued in September 2026.
The new holiday has also attracted criticism from opposition figures, including Nelson Chamisa, who questioned the decision to make the President’s birthday coincide with a national holiday.
