Mugabes' £1m party as millions face starvation

"It will be a classy, royal-like occasion," a government source said in Harare. "The Mugabes will be driven from a church service at Kutama Mission outside Harare where they were married in August 1996 in an open Rolls-Royce with horses in front. That's how they want it."

The wedding anniversary party will reportedly cost close to 1m. It will be preceded by a Mugabe family trip to an as yet unnamed country with close ties to Zimbabwe - possibly Libya.

Plans for the lavish celebrations in August have been confirmed as millions of Zimbabweans face starvation. This year the country was forced to import millions of tons of grain, most of it corn from neighbouring countries.

The all-day party will be partly paid for by President Mugabe - one of Africa's wealthiest men - partly by impoverished Zimbabwean taxpayers and partly by local companies seeking to stay in business at a time when the words "ethnic cleansing" are never far away from the lips of European, Asian and middle-class African businesspeople.

Grace Mugabe is 40 years younger than her husband. The couple met when President Mugabe was still a married man.

His first wife, Ghanaian-born Sally Mugabe, died in 1992 and 40 days of national mourning was declared. Then rumours started that the austere Catholic-educated Mugabe had been having an affair for years with a State House security operative, Grace Marufa.

Robert Mugabe fathered two children with her - Robert Jnr (now 18) and Bona, who is 16. The children were presented to almost 30,000 wedding guests at the end of August 1996. Since then the couple have had a third child.

They will have a 10th wedding anniversary celebration next year. "It will probably be held at Mugabe's multi-million-pound palace in the suburb of Borrowdale," said a source in the ruling Zanu-PF party.

"This year's anniversary will be huge. Next year's will be colossal," he said.

The father of Prince Harry's girlfriend has defended himself against allegations that his business dealings help "sustain" the Zimbabwean regime.

Wealthy safari operator Charles Davy said he was "in business not politics" after his dealings with Webster Shamu, the minister responsible for policy implementation under President Mugabe, were disclosed.

Davy said his daughter Chelsy's relationship with the Prince had caused a "spate of rubbish" to appear about him in the media.

"I have decided to put the facts on the table in the hope that you will either leave me alone or at least write the truth and limit the adverse impact of all these untruths on my children."

He added: "I am in business with Mr Shamu and have been for five years. We have an excellent and honest business partnership. Why should this change? I am in business not politics."

Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change said yesterday that Davy's involvement with Shamu meant he was "sustaining" the regime.