Dalphine Tgawireyi
A Zimbabwean magistrate has ruled that the remains of the late Robert Mugabe must be exhumed, rejecting an appeal by his children in the latest twist over the former president’s final resting place.
Mugabe’s children opposed an earlier ruling in May by a traditional court that their father’s remains be taken for reburial at the National Heroes Acre.
The traditional court of Chief Zvimba can now carry out the ruling and exhume the late statesman’s remains for reburial at the national shrine.
Mugabe is currently buried in a sealed concrete and steel grave in the centre of his Zvimba homestead.
But the saga over Mugabe’s remains might not be over yet.
Magistrate Ruth Moyo said that the Mugabe children had no legal right to oppose the traditional court’s decision as only Grace Mugabe had been named as a respondent.
Grace Mugabe has also appealed the traditional court’s ruling in a case due on 21 September.
In April, Chief Zvimba ordered Mugabe’s widow to appear at the local court to explain why Mugabe was buried at his homestead and birthplace in Kutama village – and not at Heroes Acre. She failed to appear, and the Chief went on to make his ruling in May that the body should be exhumed.
