The family of Zimbabwe’s former President Robert Mugabe has opposed plans by the government to bury him at the National Heroes’ Acre affirming that he will be laid to rest at his Kutama village instead.
"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 news agency on Thursday.
The family made the decision on the burial site a day after the body arrived at the country’s main airport on Wednesday from Singapore where Mugabe died.
There was a discord between Mugabe’s family and the government on where he should be buried. The state preferred the National Heroes’ Acre in Harare.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was at the forefront of the 2017 military coup that ended Mugabe’s 37-year rule, had declared Mugabe a national hero after his death, indicating he should be buried at the national monument.
According to reports, some family members are still bitter over Mugabe’s ouster and the role his former ally Mnangagwa played.
Zimbabweans are expected to view the body and pay their last respects for the next two days at Rufaro Stadium, where almost 40 years ago, Mugabe raised Zimbabwe’s flag of independence ending years of white-minority rule.
As Mugabe will be laid to rest next week, Zimbabweans are still divided on whether to celebrate Mugabe as a hero who inspired the independence of Zimbabwe or a villain who ruled with an iron fist that plunged the country into dictatorship. ?
