Paul Nyathi|The family of the late former Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe, said the national hero was afraid that some top politicians would harvest his body parts for rituals if buried at the National Heroes Acre, is this a suggestion that Mugabe was aware that body parts go missing at the National Shrine?

Speaking from the Mugabe homestead at Kutama Village in Zvimba, Mugabe family spokesperson, Leo Mugabe said:

“You know some people have an inclination for rituals. We are afraid that some people are after his body parts or even his whole body and they want to use that for rituals.

Mugabe Family went further to assemble a very high security tamper proof coffin for him as if they knew something.

… the casket is tamper-proof and there is nothing unusual about that because we are trying to follow his last wishes which he confided to his wife before he passed on; he intimated that there were people who wanted to use his body for rituals.”

The family’s fears struck a final stroke when government revealed that it was building a mausoleum at the National Heroes Acre that would not be for Mugabe only forcing the family to immediately revoke the Heroes Acre burial.

“Someone within the family told Grace that the mausoleum would not be for Mugabe only but would house graves of other Zimbabwean presidents.

She was expressly against this and that was what pushed her to opt for the courtyard burial. She had also clashed with chiefs and elders from Mugabe’s home about where his body should be buried.”

Mugabe was finally buried on Saturday in Zvimba after his family rejected a government offer to have the remains buried in a mausoleum at the national shrine.

Pedzisai Ruhanya, of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, believes that Grace Mugabe may be persecuted for embarrassing the government. He said:

“Let the burial proceed and get done with and observe Zanu-PF vengeance thereafter. We know they won’t take it lying down. They feel disrespected by the Mugabe family.”