Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe's Remains To Be Exhumed, Reburied

The remains of late Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe is set to be exhumed and reburied following the order given by a chief in the nation.

CNN reports that Mugabe's remains will be buried for a second time at the National Heroes' Shrine in Harare after the late leader's wife was accused of breaking local custom by interring him at his rural home in 2019.

The traditional ruler who gave the order stated that he received a complaint from a Mugabe clan member who didn't like the way the nation's former leader was buried.

The late Robert Mugabe/Image Source: BusinessLIVE

Chief Zvimba presided over a village court last Thursday and yesterday, issued a ruling which found Grace Mugabe guilty of breaking the norms of tradition by burying her late husband in his courtyard.

The former first lady who was absent from the burial was subsequently fined five cows and a goat. A copy of the ruling in the local Shona language reads: "I give powers to those who are permitted by law to exhume the late Robert Mugabe's remains from Kutama and rebury them at the National Heroes Acre in Harare."

The ruling was rejected by Leo Mugabe, the spokesman for the Mugabe family, who said: "He (the chief) has no jurisdiction over Kutama. And even if the correct chief had made that ruling, we would have appealed to the court."

Zimbabwean chiefs do have jurisdiction over their local subjects it isn't often that families are ordered to exhume bodies to be reburied.