Zimbabwe ex-President late Robert Mugabe is still causing division even in death as both his family and the government are yet to agree on his burial ground and the funeral date.
Mugabe died in Singapore last week at the age of 95, leaving Zimbabweans torn 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.
Tensions erupted after President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government proposed a burial for the former guerrilla fighter at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, while the family said he would be buried at a private ceremony, possibly in his 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’s government of trying to strongarm them into a public funeral against Mugabe’s final wishes.
