Zimbabweans bid farewell to late Mugabe at first public funeral service in Harare

Grace Mugabe, the widow of the late former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, on Thursday led thousands of Zimbabweans in viewing the body of the late leader at Rufaro Sports Stadium in Harare, marking the first of a series of public funeral services lined up until Saturday.

Youth carrying a portrait of Zimbabwe's late former president Robert Mugabe sing as they wait at the historic Rufaro stadium in the capital, Harare, for the arrival of his body where it will lay in state for members of the public to view on September 12, 2019. [Photo: AFP/Tony Karumba]

The mourners, comprising senior government and ruling ZANU-PF officials and ordinary Zimbabweans drawn from five of the country's 10 provinces, thronged the stadium, a venue that has great historical significance for the nation as it is where the late Mugabe assumed office as the country's first democratic leader at independence in April 1980.

Earlier, President Emmerson Mnangagwa had led members of the ZANU-PF politburo to the late Mugabe's Harare home to pay their condolences to the Mugabe family.

Mnangagwa and the former First Lady Grace Mugabe held a meeting at the residence to discuss Mugabe's burial place and date. Mugabe was declared as a national hero.

The meeting between the two came amid unconfirmed reports that in his last days, Mugabe indicated that he wanted to be buried at his rural home in Zvimba, and not at the Heroes Acre where ordinarily national heroes and heroines are interred.

According to a government program, Mugabe is due to be buried on Sunday after public funeral services in Rufaro Sports Stadium on Thursday and Friday and another one in the giant National Sports Stadium in Harare on Saturday.

The Saturday event will be graced by foreign heads of state and government, foreign dignitaries and members of the diplomatic community, among other distinguished mourners.

A spokesperson for the Mugabe family Walter Chidhakwa told mourners Thursday morning that the burial place for Mugabe, who died last Friday in Singapore at the age of 95, will be announced at the weekend.

Mnangagwa also said at the Mugabe residence that the Mugabe family will have the final say on where the late founding leader of the nation will be buried, and that government will respect the decision.

Amid the sweltering heat on a Thursday afternoon, a somber mood engulfed the stadium as ordinary Zimbabweans lined up to pay their last respects to the late leader who has been described by many as a pan-Africanist and liberation icon.

At some point, security personnel battled to control the grieving crowd which was itching to view the body, before order was restored.

After the body viewing which lasted for nearly two hours, Mugabe's body was flown to his rural home in Zvimba where it will lie in state before it is taken back to Rufaro Stadium on Friday for another funeral service for Zimbabweans from the country's remaining five provinces to pay their last respects.