A traditional court in Zimbabwe has summoned former first lady Grace Mugabe to answer to charges of “inappropriately” burying former president Robert Mugabe.
A chief now wants Mrs Mugabe to exhume the body for reburial at a family grave site where his mother, Bona, was buried.
Mr Mugabe died aged 95 in Singapore in 2019, almost two years after he was toppled in a military coup after ruling Zimbabwe for 37 uninterrupted years.
He was buried at his homestead in Zvimba, a few kilometres from the capital Harare, with his family saying they wanted to respect his deathbed wish not to be buried at a shrine reserved for the heroes of Zimbabwe’s 1970s liberation war.
He reportedly said he did not want President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to preside over his funeral because of the manner in which they removed him from office.
Mausoleum
The government had started building a mausoleum where the country’s first black leader would have been buried before the dramatic falling-out.
Two years after Mr Mugabe was buried, the fight over his remains is still raging, with Chief Zvimba ordering his widow to appear before his traditional court next Thursday.
“You are facing charges of burying the late Robert Gabriel Mugabe at his homestead,” reads the summons from the chief dated April 21, 2021.
“This is unheard of in Chief Zvimba’s area. At the same time, you are accused of abandoning Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s property, which is scattered nationwide. All properties of the late Robert Gabriel Mugabe are supposed to be kept at his homestead and handled in line with our traditions.
