Success Majaramhepo:
President Emmerson Mnangagwa administration yesterday finally bowed down to the Mugabe family demands to have the late former President Robert Mugabe buried at his rural home in Zvimba despite the State having committed millions to build a mausoleum at the National Heroes Acre for his interment.
Mugabe would be buried this Saturday more than three weeks after his demise, according to family members.
Mugabe’s final burial place has been shrouded in controversy since the ailing former leader succumbed to death over undisclosed ailment in Singapore on September 6. The family insisted that Mugabe was a traditional leader and therefore was supposed to be buried in Zvimba according to their customary rites.
Information secretary Nick Mangwana yesterday confirmed the climb down in a statement that Mugabe would now be buried in Zvimba according to the family wishes.
“The family of the late former President Robert Mugabe has expressed its desire to proceed with his burial in Zvimba. In line with government policy to respect the wishes of the wishes of the families’ deceased heroes, government is cooperating with the Mugabe family in their new position,” he said.
He added that the government will render all the necessary support to give the late former president a fitting burial as led by the family.
The government climb down follows a rapping from firebrand Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema earlier this week when he visited the Mugabe family to pass his condolences. Malema took a swipe at the Mnangagwa administration for trying to gain political capital from Mugabe’s death.
Malema then admonished the regime saying conferring a heroe’s status on the late leader did not give the government rights to decide where he should be buried.
MDC official Maureen Kademaunga told the VOA Studio 7 that burial of the late former president will cost the nation huge sums of money as the mausoleum being built at the National Heroes Acre has been abandoned without proper consultation with relevant stakeholders.
“The Mugabe family had said they don’t want anything to do with the Heroes acre. This is something they were saying from the day he was declared dead. So, they just went ahead and did that thing. So they flushed money down the drain … Our members of parliament are going to be demanding accountability. We want to know how much money had gone into that project and how they are going to replace that money,” she said.
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