Robert Mugabe Will Not be Buried at Heroes Acre

Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe will not be buried at National Heroes Acre in Harare as earlier planned, the government announced.

Mugabe will be laid to rest in his hometown of Zvimba, located in the outskirts of the country’s capital, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information said in a statement.

“The family has expressed its desire to proceed with the burial in Zvimba. In line with Government policy to respect the wishes of families of deceased heroes, Government is cooperating with the Mugabe family,” the Ministry said.

Details of his new burial location come two weeks after African leaders, including Kenyan President Kenyatta and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, attended his State funeral at the national stadium in Harare.

Al Jazeera this week reported that Mugabe’s family was not comfortable with burial at National Heroes Acre.

The family stood its ground that their patriarch is buried beside his mother and brothers in the village where he grew up, according to The Telegraph.

This week his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa said the 95-year-old succumbed to cancer after his chemotherapy treatment was stopped.

President Mnangagwa indicated that Mugabe’s doctors stopped treatment due to his age and also because cancer had spread and it was not helping anymore.

“Treatment had stopped, doctors had stopped treatment, chemotherapy, one, because of age and also because cancer had spread and it was not helping anymore,” Mnangagwa told ruling party supporters in New York where he is attending United Nations General Assembly as quoted by Herald.

Mugabe passed away on September 6th in Singapore, where he had been in the hospital for several months.