Former President Robert Mugabe who passed on at the age of 95 last friday in the early hours of the morning remains powerful even in his death, with the world still waiting on the unveiling of the mystery of where he will be buried. The body of the late president, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before he was forced out of power by the army arrives in Harare on Wednesday before proceeding to his rural home in Zvimba.
Mugabe, whose chieftaincy is now suddenly being emphasised as a key determinant of where he will be buried, makes for wonders whether this is the sole reason there is a delay in informing the world where the world leader will be buried. Zimbabwe’s National Heroes Acre seems a befitting place for Mugabe, after all it is his leadership and his own that are buried there.
It is his comrades and friends from the liberation who are buried there. For the sake of this nation, Mugabe must be buried at the National Shrine. One wonders the value of that national shrine if he will not be buried there. It is also said that his former wife, Sally Mugabe’s grave is there, and an empty grave awaits Mugabe next to her.
Leo Mugabe, the nephew of the late former President and the Spokes Person of the family informed the nation that because Mugabe was a chief, it is the chiefs who will make the final decision on where the body of the African Statesman will be buried. Leo emphasises in all his conversations that ‘negotiations with the chiefs are on going’ on where the late will be buried, and one wonders why it is taking so long for the decision to be made of Africa’s icon’s resting place.
The nephew hinted that Mugabe maybe buried without the knowledge of the people or the presence of the masses who may only be informed of his burial place after it has taken place. He said that since Robert Mugabe was a chief, such can be a protocol in the African culture that the chiefs may choose.
While the argument of the culture makes some sense, Mugabe was a president to the millions of Zimbabwe, he is known largely as a president not a chief, and for that the chiefs in Zvimba need to acknowledge and just let the people know already where their icon will be buried?
After the forced removal from office, Mugabe is said to have hinted on refusing to be buried at the Heroes Acre, sighting that he felt betrayed by those who were supposed to guard and protect him. This is from a man who had just removed his trusted second and mentee of more than 54 years and had betrayed him too.
Robert Mugabe was forced out of office after firing his Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who during the time was reported to fear for his life with a hinted extermination risk. He is reported to have run to South Africa for safety. Through the fall out of the G40 which his wife Grace was part of, and the so called Lacoste which was said to be led by Mnangagwa, the relationship between Mugabe and Mnangagwa publicly reached an astonishing height in the last months leading to his removal in November 2017.
It is said that Mugabe never recovered from the removal. As Mnangagwa took office, he however tried to restore the dignity of Mugabe by providing care and support for him and his family, and publicly mentioning that he was an Icon of the liberation struggle and that he was to be respected.
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