Grace Mugabe challenges reburial ruling

Former Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe has challenged a court order to exhume her husband's remains for reburial at a national shrine, court papers revealed. Her husband, Robert Mugabe, was buried in his rural home village of Kutama, about 90km west of the capital Harare, in September 2019 after weeks of wrangling over his final resting place. A report on the News24 site notes that his family had opposed government's plans to bury him at the National Heroes' Acre in Harare, where it had started constructing a special mausoleum for him. However, a traditional leader in May fined Grace five cows and two goats for improperly burying Mugabe and ordered his exhumation and reburial in Harare. Mugabe's children then appealed the chief's directive. However, a magistrate court last month confirmed that order, saying the ex-President's children had no legal authority to challenge the exhumation of their father. The papers reveal that Grace said the magistrate's order upholding the directive of the traditional chief was ‘grossly irregular and unreasonable’.