Mourners stampede after the arrival of the coffin carrying former President Robert Mugabe at the Rufaro Stadium in Harare, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019 where Mugabe will lie in state for a public viewing. Mugabe, the founder leader, made his final journey back to the country Wednesday amid continuing controversy over where he will be buried.
Mugabe's wife, Grace, sat on podium to the side of the sports field while Mugabe's casket was under a tent at the center of the field. The event was marked by singing. Mugabe will not be given a state burial on Sunday at the national Heroes' Acre site, family spokesman Leo Mugabe announced Thursday. The burial will be a private, family affair, he said to press outside Mugabe's Blue Roof house.
Instead of an interment on Sunday, Mugabe's body will be on view to the public at a place near Mugabe's birthplace in Zvimba district, said Leo Mugabe, who added that the family had not decided if he would be buried in Zvimba. The burial dispute has also highlighted the lasting acrimony between Mnangagwa and Mugabe's wife and other family members. Mugabe was deposed in November 2017 by Zimbabwe's military and his former ally Mnangagwa. Grace and other family members still resent his ouster, apparently resulting in their refusal to go along with state burial plans.
It has long been taken for granted that Mugabe would be buried at Heroes' Acre. Mugabe had overseen the construction by North Korea of the monument atop a prominent hill and featuring a grandiose towering sculpture of guerrilla fighters. Mugabe gave many speeches at the site and his first wife, Sally, is buried there next to a gravesite long reserved for the ex-leader.
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