Mbuya Mary Shamu, mother to Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu, has died. She was 90.

Mbuya Shamu died on her way to a see a doctor in Harare yesterday morning.

Acording to a medical report, she succumbed to "unstable congestion cardiac failure as a result of dilated cardiomyopathy".

Cardiomyopathy is the measurable deterioration of the function of the heart muscle for any reason, usually leading to heart failure.

Mbuya Shamu had been in and out of hospital for a long time, but her condition worsened around 5am yesterday.

She was born on July 22, 1922 at Mt Selinda Hospital in the Gwasha area in Chirinda, Manicaland.

Mbuya Shamu will be buried at Plot Number 32, Musengezi on Saturday.

She is survived by five children. Mourners are gathered at Number 418, Brook Lane, Borrowdale, in Harare.