Grace Mugabe Challenges Court Order to Exhume Husband’s Remains

Grace Mugabe, the widow of Zimbabwe’s former ruler, Robert Mugabe, has challenged a court order to exhume her husband’s remains for reburial.

She is opposing the government’s plan for a reburial which is to take place at the National Heroes Acre in Harare. A special mausoleum is reportedly being constructed for him.

The government wants Robert Mugabe to be buried at the National Heroes Acre because it is the resting place for heroes of the liberation struggle against colonial rule.

Mugabe is currently buried in Kutama, his rural home village of Kutama. He was buried in September 2019 after weeks of contention over where he was to be buried.

In May this year, more controversy arose when a traditional leader fined Grace Mugabe five cows and two goats for “improperly burying” Mugabe. The traditional ruler then ordered that Robert Mugabe’s body be exhumed and reburied in Harare. This decision was upheld by the magistrate court after the ex-president’s children appealed the chief’s orders.

According to the magistrate court, the children of the late president Robert Mugabe had no authority to challenge the exhumation of their father. Following this ruling, Grace Mugabe took over the case and proceeded to appeal at the High Court. According to Grace Mugabe, the magistrate court upholding the directive of the traditional chief was “grossly irregular and unreasonable”.

Robert Mugabe died at the age of 95 in a Singapore hospital on September 6, 2019. He ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before a military coup put an end to his rule.

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