FIGHT OVER MUGABE
…Mugabe's children rush to court as row over exhumation deepens
HARARE
- The children of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe have gone to court seeking to block the exhumation of his remains from a grave in his rural village of Kutama following a recent controversial ruling by a traditional court.
Chief Zvimba last month hauled Mugabe’s widow, Grace, before his village court on accusations of breaking local customs by burying her late husband in the courtyard of their rural home.
The former first lady was ordered to facilitate exhumation of the long serving ruler’s remains for reburial at a national shrine in Harare set aside for luminaries of the country’s 1970s liberation war.
She was fined five cows and two goats. Ms Mugabe, who is said to be indisposed and seeking treatment in Singapore, was tried in absentia.
The traditional leader said he was “giving 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 before July 1, 2021.”
But Mugabe’s three children - Bona, Bellarmine Chatunga and Tinotenda Robert - have filed an appeal at a local magistrate court arguing that
“Chief Zvimba erred at law by making an order that overturns a burial order in respect of the burial of the late Robert Mugabe when the chief had no judicial authority to interpret legal acts from superior legislation to his jurisdiction.”
The siblings say the chief made a mistake by “making an order that affects property rights of a party that is not part of the proceedings.”