Ailing former President Robert Mugabe has brewed a major shocker after he requested that he be not buried at the National Heroes Acre in Harare when he dies.

Weekly newspaper The Zimbabwe Independent reports that Mugabe told his family members visiting him in Singapore where he is receiving medical attention that he does not want to be buried at Heroes Acre he so much adored in his time as President of the country.

According to the paper, Mugabe is said to have said that he does not want the current ZANU PF government to preside over his funeral.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently gave a state of the nation address indicating that his predecessor was in a stable condition in hospital in Singapore since April this year.

During the bloody November 2017 coup when ZANU PF moved a motion to impeach Mugabe at the behest of the military, war veterans threatened that if Mugabe should die, he not be buried at the Heroes’ Acre because he had become a sellout.

According to the Zimbabwe Independent, the former President is so bitter at the way he was removed from power by his former henchman President Emmerson Mnangagwa that he does not want to give him and his associates the platform to pontificate and preside over his funeral.

He has instead chosen to be buried at his rural home in Zvimba next to his late mother Bona.

Family members who spoke to the publication said,

“Mugabe has made it clear to his family that he does not wish to be buried at the National Heroes’ Acre anymore. He does not want to be associated with Mnangagwa and all those he now views as his betrayers and tormentors.”

“He has said he doesn’t want them to sing and pontificate over his dead body. He has informed relatives about his decision and this is known in the family; it’s also now known in government circles.”

Mugabe’s declaration is reported to have shocked Mnangagwa who had assumed that he was going to be buried at the National Heroes Acre next to his first wife Sally. As a result of the request, Mnangagwa is reported to have tried to mend bridges by sending a high powered delegation to Singapore to check on the President’s health.

The delegation included Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda, Central Intelligence Organisation Director-General Isaac Moyo and Mugabe’s former personal doctor Professor Jonathan

Matenga.

Sources who spoke to the publication said,

“Although officially the purpose of the visit to Singapore was said to be to check up on Mugabe, the most urgent issue was to build bridges with his family to get an opportunity to preside over his funeral.”