President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared September 15th a national public holiday to be known as Munhumutapa Day. The date is also his birthday.
The declaration was made through Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026 under the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act, published in the Government Gazette Extraordinary on September 9th 2026.
The notice reads: “His Excellency the President, in terms of section 2(2) of the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Act [Chapter 10:21], hereby makes the following notice: 1. This notice may be cited as the Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business (Declaration of Public Holiday) Notice, 2026. 2. It is hereby declared that the 15th of September every year henceforth shall be a public holiday to be known as Munhumutapa Day.”
First announced in 2024, Munhumutapa Day will be celebrated on September 15th every year with the country’s 10 provinces taking turns to host festivities that will be held on President Mnangagwa’s birthday.
This was after the Zanu-PF Youth League decided to honour the President for his visionary leadership, which has pivoted Zimbabwe on the path towards Vision 2030.
Munhumutapa was the title given to an eminent pre-colonial ruler of the Mutapa Empire, the land that now encompasses modern-day Zimbabwe, and was credited for inspiring the building of the imperious and historic Great Zimbabwe monument.
The Great Zimbabwe monument was, at some point, the capital of the Munhumutapa empire.
Munhumutapa, which loosely means the “one who conquers,” is credited with building the Great Zimbabwe monument using the ubiquitous granite rock that was joined without mortar using local expertise.
