The prominent investigative journalist in Zimbabwe, Hopewell Chin’ono condemned the move done by the Zimbabwean government to exhume and rebury the late former President Robert Mugabe’s remains.
Mugabe p@ssed away in September 2019 at the age of 95 in Singapore.
His buri@l at the Kutama homestead sparked tensions between his family and the government.
Through his social media X, Chin’ono wrote the following:
“The government of Zimbabwe must respect the personal wishes of the dead.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe did not want to be buried at the ZANUPF National Heroes Acre.
Why force his family to violate his wishes? Unless there are rituals that current ZANUPF leaders need to perform with his body, why spend five years pressuring the Mugabe family to exhume his body and bury it in Harare?
The Mugabe family must stand firm and refuse to take part in this gory exercise. Mugabe is neither the first nor the last person to refuse burial at his party’s Heroes Acre. Let him rest where he was born and where he wanted to be buried.
We know who uses courts to get his wishes, this is tragic and sad!.”
Chin’ono’s remarks comes after the Chinhoyi Magistrate Kudzanai Mahaso has granted village head Tinos Manongovere his request for an inspection in loco at the burial sites of the late former President Robert Mugabe
The dispute began when Manongovere approached Chief Zvimba’s traditional court, arguing that Mugabe’s burial at the family homestead in Kutama did not align with their customs. He requested that Mugabe’s remains be exhumed and reburied at Heroes Acre, where the government had constructed a mausoleum for the late leader.
