By A Correspondent| On Saturday, the whole of Zimbabwe was made to believe that former President Robert Mugabe’s corpse is inside the expensive casket, sealed and buried in broad daylight and filmed at the family homestead in Zvimba.

But “(Zvimba) chiefs are buried in caves and the burial is secretly conducted at night,” Mugabe’s nephew Dominic Matibiri told AFP, standing outside his late uncle’s rural house.

‘Not just a president’

A prominent Zimbabwean traditional healer, Benjamin Burombo Jnr, detailed the cultural beliefs and superstition surrounding the deaths and funerals of chiefs.

“When a chief such as Mugabe dies, he is not a person that can be buried at Heroes Acre, that is forbidden. He should be buried in a cave,” Burombo told AFP.

“Mugabe was not just a president, but he was the embodiment of the spirit of Kaguvi,” he added, referring to one of Zimbabwe’s revered spirit mediums and pre-colonial nationalist leader.

When a chief died, often his body “would be dried”, his teeth “extracted” and his fingernails and toenails “ripped off”, Burombo said.

He said the body would then be wrapped in skin hides before burial, and could even be swapped with a token such as a goat’s head to be buried instead.

“You can build that monument, but it doesn’t mean that is where the remains of Mugabe will be buried… it’s just for people to continue remembering him.”

These statements were published on the 20th September and a day later, Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration suddenly moved to seize the late president’s farm properties in Mazowe. READ MORE ON IT HERE

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