The casket of former president Robert Mugabe is carried by the presidential guard to an air force helicopter for transport to a stadium where it will lie in state, at his official residence in the capital Harare, Zimbabwe. Photo courtesy of Ben Curtis
HARARE, Sept 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabwe’s former President Robert Mugabe will be buried in the National Heroes Acre monument in Harare, his family says, following a row with the government over his final resting site.
Family spokesman and nephew Leo Mugabe says the date is yet to be determined.
Before that there will be a public ceremony at the shrine in the capital on Sunday, followed by a ceremony at Mugabe’s home village.
Mugabe, who was 95, died last week while being treated in Singapore.
His body is now lying in state at the Rufaro football stadium in the capital.
Before Sunday’s ceremonies, a state funeral will be held on Saturday. Heads of states of a number of countries are expected.
Leo Mugabe said that after Sunday’s public ceremony in Harare, Robert Mugabe’s body would return to his home village of Kutama to allow clan chiefs and the family to perform their own ceremonies there.
Mugabe would be buried at the National Heroes Acre monument only at a later date, possibly in a month’s time, Leo Mugabe added.
This, he said, would allow time for a shrine to be constructed at the National Heroes Acre monument.
He added that he took comfort in the way his uncle was being mourned, a sign, he said, that people continued to back Mugabe’s policies.
The family had earlier expressed shock at not having been consulted by the government about the funeral arrangements.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa had declared Mugabe a national hero after his death, indicating he should be buried at the national monument.
Mugabe’s family is said to be bitter over him being ousted by his former ally Mnangagwa two years ago.
In 2017 he was placed under house arrest and four days later, replaced as the leader of his party Zanu-PF by his former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Meanwhile, thousands of mourners have been queuing up at Rufaro stadium to pay their respects to Mugabe.
Rufaro Stadium is where Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s first leader in 1980. — NNN-AGENCIES
