Harare, Sept 13 : Zimbabwe ex-president Robert Mugabe’s family and the government appeared to be deadlocked on Thursday over his final resting place after relatives snubbed a plan for him to be buried at a national monument.
Mugabe died in Singapore last week aged 95, leaving Zimbabweans divided over the legacy of a leader once lauded as a colonial-era liberation hero, but whose autocratic 37-year rule ended in a coup in 2017.
After Mugabe’s death, his family and President Emmerson Mnangagwa appeared at odds over burying him at the National Heroes Acre in Harare or at a private ceremony likely in the family homestead of Kutama, northwest of the capital. “His body will lie in state at Kutama on Sunday night… Followed by a private burial — either Monday or Tuesday — no National Heroes Acre.
That’s the decision of the whole family,” his nephew Leo Mugabe told AFP.In a statement, the family accused Mnangagwa of trying to strongarm them into a public funeral against Mugabe’s final wishes. Some family members are still bitter over Mugabe’s ouster and the role played by Mnangagwa, a long-time ally from their days as guerrilla
