HARARE, Sept 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Robert Mugabe will be buried at a hilltop shrine reserved exclusively for Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, an official said Saturday, as the southern African nation began several days of official mourning.
No date for the funeral has been set, and it’s not clear when Mugabe’s body will arrive from Singapore, where he died Friday.
Mugabe, who was 95, will be buried at the National Heroes Acre, which has been set aside for Zimbabweans who have made huge sacrifices during the war against white-minority rule and who dedicated themselves to the nation, which emerged from the ashes of colonial Rhodesia.
We don’t have the date yet,” deputy information minister Energy Mutodi said. “That is still in the hands of the family and the president, but comrade Mugabe will be buried at the Heroes Acre. That is where he deserves to rest.”
Located on a hilltop, and built with the help of North Korean architects, the plot has a commanding view of Harare, features a huge bronze statue of three guerrilla fighters and boasts black marble and granite flourishes.
Mugabe is viewed by many as a national hero despite decades of rule that left the country struggling. He was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power in 1980 when Zimbabwe shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise.
Mugabe had been forced to relinquish power by a previously loyal military in November 2017. — NNN-AGENCIES