Mugabe’s children file appeal over reburial ruling

Former President Robert Mugabe’s children have filed an appeal seeking to block the exhumation of his remains from a grave in his rural village of Kutama following a traditional court ruling. A traditional court ruled that the remains should be exhumed and reburied by 1 July. The Zvimba traditional court oversees village matters and has jurisdiction in cultural, traditional and customary issues. Mugabe had told his family he didn’t want to be buried at Heroes Acre by ‘his tormentors’, as he had been ousted through a coup in November 2017. Bona, Bellarmine Chatunga and Tinotenda Robert claim 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 Nation reports that 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’.

Full report in The Nation