SEVERAL meetings held between government and former
President Robert Mugabe’s relatives have reportedly failed to resolve the
impasse over where the late nationalist leader would be buried, sources have
revealed.
Mugabe died on Friday last week in Singapore at the age of
95. His body is expected in the country tomorrow, the day the late
Major-General Trust Mugoba will be laid to rest at the National Heroes Acre.
According to a report by Reuters, a chartered plane carrying
Mugabe’s relatives and senior government officials left Harare at 9am yesterday
morning for Singapore to bring Mugabe’s remains.
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said Mugabe’s body
will lie in state at Rufaro Stadium on Thursday and Friday to allow citizens to
bid him farewell before a State funeral service on Saturday at the National
Sports Stadium.
Mutsvangwa said Mugabe’s remains will be interred on
Sunday, but could not disclose where the former President, who ruled the
country for 37 years until he was toppled by a military coup in November 2017,
will be buried.
Quizzed on where Mugabe will be buried, Mutsvangwa said: “We
will be giving you more updates. There are still some consultations going on,
but certainly, we will be coming back with more updates.”
But sources close to the issue told NewsDay that President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government was pressuring the Mugabe family to accept an
offer to have the late leader buried at the National Heroes Acre, but a
breakthrough is yet to be made.
“After several meetings, the family has told government
that the final decision lay with the relatives who are in Singapore and will
accompany Mugabe’s body back home,” a family source revealed.
A government delegation, led by Justice minister Ziyambi
Ziyambi, Mashonaland West provincial minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, Zvimba MP
Philip Chiyangwa, on Sunday visited the Mugabe family to plead on behalf of
Mnangagwa for Mugabe to be buried at the National Heroes Acre where he buried
many other liberation war stalwarts during his tenure.
But the family said no decision will be made before
Mugabe’s body arrives home, with the traditional leaders and the late former
President’s children, led by his eldest son, Robert Junior, expected to be key
in making the decision.
According to the source, the family wanted Mugabe to be
buried in Zvimba, his rural home where a decision will be made if he is to be
buried at the Kutama Roman Catholic Cemetery where his mother, Bona was buried.
Other family members laid to rest at the cemetery include
Karigamombe Mutengaderere, whose baptismal name was Johannes, Ganda Matibiri
and wife Hachina, Bridget and Donato Mugabe, as well as Theresa Matinetsa,
sister to Ganda Matibiri.
There is another burial site 10km away where most of the
Matibiri family members who were not Catholics, were buried. This is where
Mugabe’s father, Gabriel and his second wife, MaTshuma, Gabriel’s younger
brother Leo Matibiri, Paul Maketo Matibiri and Cletus Matibiri, father of the
former police boss Innocent Matibiri, were buried.
“It is likely that Mugabe will be buried at this Zvimba
homestead if the family manages to hold on to its guns that the late leader
should not buried at the national shrine,” the family source revealed.
“But things can go either way, if Grace (former First Lady)
and his children are to decide, they may end up compromising to have him be
buried at the national shrine in exchange for their security,” the source
added.
The Mugabe family is also demanding that Mugabe allies
scattered across the world after the coup be allowed to come and bury the late
former leader without risking arrest.
These include former Cabinet ministers Jonathan Moyo,
Saviour Kasukuwere, Patrick Zhuwao and others who fled persecution.
Sources told NewsDay that government had agreed to the
request and was processing the requisite legal documentation. This will likely
break the impasse and allow Mugabe to be buried at the national shrine on
Sunday.
At some of the meetings, the Mugabe family is said to have
presented a list of top Zanu PF members who they said were not welcome at
Mugabe’s funeral.
The list, the source claimed, included Foreign Affairs
minister Sibusiso Moyo, who announced the coup, Defence minister Oppah
Muchinguri and her deputy Victor Matemadanda, among the list dominated by some
top military personnel.
“The family members are bitter over some remarks made by
some people which they claim forced Mugabe to die early because he was a bitter
man,” the official said.
Family spokesperson Leo Mugabe was not picking calls
yesterday.
But the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’
Association (ZNLWVA) Mashonaland West chapter has come out guns blazing,
declaring that no one should be barred from attending Mugabe’s funeral.
Addressing journalists and his association’s district
representatives in Chinhoyi yesterday, ZNLWVA provincial chairperson Cornelius Muoni
said it was uncultured to preclude mourners from attending Mugabe’s funeral,
describing it as an indirect affront to Mnangagwa.
“Even a witch or wizard is mourned by everyone who cares to
grieve with the bereaved family. They (witches/ wizards) are also allowed to
mourn a fellow neighbour and console the bereaved family,” Muoni said.
“Now reports that we hear that some elements are
instigating that certain individuals should be barred from attending the
funeral of our late former President, if they are indeed true, are a direct
attack on individuals and an indirect attack on President Mnangagwa, Zanu PF
and the war veterans.”
He added the sentiments were emanating from quarters bent
on fomenting divisions within the ruling Zanu PF in a bid to achieve regime
change. “Our enemies are trying to destabilise the party by creating friction.
We should be wary of our adversaries as the war is still on,” he said.
Added Muoni: “We are praying that his soul rest in peace.
Mugabe was not perfect as he was human and bound to err. But we should weigh
the good deeds he takes to his grave versus the few undesirable things that are
attributed to him. Mugabe’s legacy is not in dispute. He led the liberation
struggle to its very end and we are indebted to him for the freedom and
democracy we enjoy today.”
Muoni urged war veterans to attend Mugabe’s funeral in
their numbers and mobilise others to mourn the former Zanu PF strongman.
Chief Secretary in the Office of the President Misheck
Sibanda yesterday said Mugabe will be missed by the generality of Zimbabweans,
describing him as a true son of the soil. Newsday
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