Former president Robert Mugabe’s family yesterday said the
nation should now just celebrate the life of the former Zanu PF leader and stop
mourning him as he lived a long life.
“We must stop mourning and start celebrating his life,” family
spokesperson Leo Mugabe (pictured) said of his uncle, who died at the age of
95.
Mugabe, who was declared a national hero at the
announcement of his death, will be buried in about 30 days at the National
Heroes’ Acre. A low turn-out characterised the funeral service in Harare
yesterday.
Several bays at the giant National Sports Stadium were
empty in sharp contrast to the huge turnouts at Rufaro Stadium on Thursday and
Friday where there was a stampede to view Mugabe’s body.
Yesterday’s ceremony was attended by several presidents and
former leaders from Africa.
“A giant tree of Africa has fallen,” eulogised President
Emmerson Mnangagwa of the man he called a mentor and father figure, before
their fallout.
He said: “…The bold, steadfast and resolute revolutionary,
Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, is no more.”
Mugabe’s widow and former first lady Grace Mugabe, dressed
in black with a veil covering her head, did not address the gathering, but has
been present at all occasions, accompanied by
her children.
The foreign heads of state in attendance included South
African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. Former presidents who attended included Kenneth
Kaunda of Zambia, Festus Mogae of Botswana and South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and
Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa was heckled by the mourners when he took to the
podium to deliver his speech.
He apologised for xenophobic attacks where Africans,
including Zimbabweans, have been targeted in South Africa.
Ramaphosa described Mugabe as a friend of South Africans
who was instrumental in that country’s liberation.
“President Mugabe was a friend of the African National
Congress, and the people if South Africa and he stood by us in our darkest
hour,” he said.
“He was unwavering in his support for our liberation. Under
his leadership, Zimbabwe and especially Zanu PF gave both moral and material
support at a time when our leadership was
forced into exile and out people were suffering under the
yoke of apartheid.”
Mugabe’s body will be flown to Murombedzi in Zvimba, his
rural home, today where he will lie in State. Standard
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