Munhumutapa Day in Zimbabwe Date in the current year: September 15, 2025

Emmerson Mnangagwa has been the president of Zimbabwe since 2017, when he came to power following a coup. He was born on September 15, 1942, in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia. Mnangagwa’s birth name was Dambudzo, but he adopted the name Emmerson after finding a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the school library.

While a student at Hodgson Technical College in Lusaka (present-day Zambia), Mnangagwa became an anti-colonial activist and joined the United National Independence Party. In 1962, he joined the Zimbabwe African People’s Union and became a guerrilla fighter for its armed wing, the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army.

The following year, he joined the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and its militant wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). He later co-founded a ZANLA guerrilla unit called the Crocodile Gang. In early 1965, Mnangagwa was arrested by the authorities and spent the next ten years in prison. While there, he became acquainted with Robert Mugabe, who would become the president of Zimbabwe.

After being released from prison in 1975, Mnangagwa was deported to Zambia, where he studied law and continued working for ZANU. Following Zimbabwe’s independence, he became Minister of State for National Security. Over the next three and a half decades, he held the posts of Minister of Justice, Speaker of Parliament, Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities, and Minister of Defense.

In late 2014, President Mugabe appointed Mnangagwa as First Vice President, seemingly confirming his position as Mugabe’s presumed successor. However, on November 6, 2017, Mnangagwa was dismissed from his post and fled the country.

Several weeks later, members of Mugabe’s party ousted him in a coup, and Mnangagwa returned to the country to be sworn in as the new president. After his first term, he was re-elected in the 2023 general election, defeating Nelson Chamisa.

Munhumutapa Day was added to the list of Zimbabwe’s public holidays in 2024. Although the holiday celebrates President Mnangagwa’s birthday, it is named after the Mutapa Empire, also known as the Munhumutapa or Mwenemutapa Empire.

The Mutapa Empire was an empire in present-day Zimbabwe that expanded to include parts of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. It was established around 1430 by the warrior prince Nyatsimba Mutota from the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, who founded the Nembira dynasty. The empire became a Portuguese protectorate in 1629 and disintegrated due to a civil war in the mid-18th century.

Munhumutapa Day was conceived by Zanu PF Youth League, the youth organization of the country’s ruling party. The celebration’s main goal is to honor President Mnangagwa for embodying the spirit of the great Munhumutapa and guiding the country’s progress. A different province hosts the celebration each year, rotating among the ten provinces of Zimbabwe.