A second coffin has been lying in state at the house where only Mugabe’s latest number one blue eyed boy Julius Malema was allowed to take pictures standing next to.
Paul Nyathi|Following a highly disputed ZimEye.com exposè that Former President Robert Mugabe was buried at his rural Zvimba home last week, the Mugabe family has finally come out open on the matter but claiming that the former ZANU PF hardman will only be buried this weekend at the precise place mentioned by ZimEye.com.
Somewhat to conceal the exposè the fault revealed that Mugabe will only be buried this weekend with a private ceremony which certainly no-one will be able to confirm taking place.
According to the latest revelation, Mugabe’s body was expected to leave his Borrowdale Blue Roof home on Thursday for a Saturday burial.
A second coffin has been lying in state at the house where only Mugabe’s latest number one blue eyed boy Julius Malema was allowed to take pictures standing next to.
The surprise development comes as the government had drawn up plans to construct a mausoleum for Mugabe at the National Heroes Acre.
Sources claim that the Mugabe family which is seeking mercy from the Zimbabwean public considered the cost of the mausoleum on the taxpayer; the time it would take to complete and shock new revelations that government engineers had been instructed to construct a single ‘Presidential Mausoleum’ which would contain graves of former presidents, not just Mugabe’s.
“President Mugabe did not want to be buried at the Heroes Acre to stop those who tormented him in his final days from pontificating over his dead body,” a relative said. “It would be unconscionable to have him buried next to the man whom he held most responsible.”
Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before he was ousted in a military coup in 2017, died in a Singapore hospital at the age of 95 on September 6.
Mugabe’s widow, Grace, and children Bona and Robert Junior together with some of the former president’s nephews, among them Patrick Zhuwao and Walter Chidakwa changed heart on the Heroes Acre burial insisting that the former president had expressly communicated his wish to be buried in Kutama.
But the family had finally yielded, with some reluctance, to the government pressure which reportedly included threats to repossess some properties belonging to Mugabe but registered in Zanu PF’s name.
Signs that the family was again shifting its stance came on Monday when South African opposition leader Julius Malema travelled to Harare and met Mugabe’s widow.
“If the current dispensation here believes in President Mugabe, they should protect his legacy. Part of protecting his legacy is first and foremost to respect his last wishes and to respect the wishes of his family,” Malema said.
The Economic Freedom Fighters leader added: “It’s an absolute nonsense that you think declaring a person a national hero takes away the right of the family over the deceased. The family, especially the surviving spouse, has got the last word.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have declared a person a national hero or whether you are doing a state funeral. Every little detail of what you want to do around a dead body should be consulted with the family, particularly when we are Africans.
“There’s a very strong surviving spouse here who’s not easily shaken by arrivalists, so they ought really to respect her and respect the family’s wishes.”
Additional reporting ZimLive