Mugabe’s family appeals burial ruling

The family of late former President Robert Mugabe has filed an appeal against the ruling by a Chinhoyi magistrate dismissing the application to nullify an order by a traditional court to exhume his remains and rebury them at the National Heroes Acre in Harare. A traditional chief from Mugabe's rural Zvimba region ordered that his remains be interred at the shrine in Harare, where the ruling elite and former fighters in Zimbabwe's 1970s independence war are buried. Mugabe's three children had appealed the decision in Chinhoyi. Magistrate Ruth Moyo dismissed the case, ruling Mugabe's children were not party to the proceedings by the chief. As a result, they had no right to launch an appeal. Family lawyer Fungai Chinwamurombe told New Zimbabwe that the appeal had been lodged at Chinhoyi Magistrate's Court and the High Court. ‘The process is that you file at the court of first instance, and then bring it to the High Court,’ he said. He added that the appeal was premised on the argument that there was ‘absence of jurisdiction, impropriety of relief granted, irregular service of summons and that the judgement was biased’.