Court Orders Exhumation of Robert Mugabe Remains for Reburial

A Zimbabwean court on 10 September has confirmed a traditional chief's ruling that former President Robert Mugabe's remains must be exhumed for reburial at a national shrine. Mugabe's children had challenged Chief Zvimba's controversial ruling, arguing he acted outside his jurisdiction when he found former First Lady Grace Mugabe guilty of violating tradition by burying Mugabe at his homestead.

The former First Lady was ordered to facilitate the exhumation of Mugabe's remains for reburial at a national shrine for luminaries of the country's 1970s liberation war. She was fined five cows and two goats. Mugabe died in September 2019 at age 95 and was buried at Kutama, his rural home despite vigorous attempts by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration to have him interred at the National Heroes Acres in Harare where a lot of other nationalists are buried. Following his death in Singapore in 2019, a standoff ensued between the government and his family over his final resting place, stretching for nearly three weeks.