Court Orders Exhumation Of Ex-President’s Remains For Re-burial

Zimbabwean court on Friday upheld a traditional court’s ruling that the body of former President, Robert Mugabe should be exhumed and reburied at a national shrine in Harare,  the nation’s capital.

Gatekeepers News reports that Mugabe’s children had challenged the exhumation ruling made by the traditional chief of the Zvimba area, Mugabe’s rural home. Mugabe’s current grave in the Zvimba area is part of the chief’s jurisdiction.

In May, Chief Stanley Wurayayi Mhondoro ruled that Mugabe’s widow, Grace, had violated traditional customs by organizing Mugabe’s burial in the family home compound. Grace was also fined five cows and a goat for not carrying out the burial properly.

None of Mugabe’s three children attended the chief’s court hearing but appealed the ruling in June.

The family lawyer Fungai Chimwamurombe said the Chinhoyi Magistrates Court on Friday rejected an appeal by Mugabe’s children that the traditional court’s ruling should be ignored.

No date has been fixed for the exhumation but Mugabe’s family are likely to appeal the order in the High Court.