Zimbabwe building mausoleum for Mugabe, burial postponed

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday said the government is building a mausoleum for his late predecessor Robert Mugabe at the National Heroes Acre.

A supporter of the late former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe waves a piece of cloth bearing his image as mourners break into song and dance during a public send off at the Rufaro stadium in Harare on September 13, 2019. [Photo: AFP/Zinyange Auntony]

A mausoleum is a stately or impressive building housing a tomb or group of tombs.

There will be no burial on Sunday, the president told journalists at the State House soon after meeting with visiting Equatorial Guinea leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who came to pay his condolences.

"We are having a memorial service tomorrow at the National Sports Stadium. We are building a mausoleum for our founding father on top of the hill at Heroes Acre, it will not be finished, so we will only bury him after we have completed construction of the mausoleum," Mnangagwa said, without revealing when the burial will take place.

The confirmation ended the speculation that had gripped the country about Mugabe's burial place since his death last Friday. He died at the age of 95 in Singapore where he had been receiving medical treatment.

The uncertainty had been fuelled by reports that the former leader had told his family in his last days that he wanted to be buried at his rural home in Zvimba, next to his mother.

A formal funeral service will be held on Saturday at the National Sports Stadium, which is expected to be attended by 11 heads of state and government from the continent.

Mugabe resigned in 2017 after 37 years in power.