Poking the enemy in the eye

Sinqobile Tessa
FEISTY: Grace Mugabe
I wonder why they are provoking the former first lady, Grace Mugabe.

She has been out of the limelight for some time now. Since the death of her husband and former statesman, Robert Mugabe, Grace has kept a relatively low profile, ‘eating’ her inheritance in Singapore which has reportedly become her second home.

In fact, the Asian nation long became the Mugabe’s favourite as that is where they spent most of their time and got high-end medical care.

Mugabe breathed his last there while their daughter, Bona gave birth to her first son in one of the top Singaporean hospitals.

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Anyway, enough of the former first family and their life in Singapore as that is not even the main issue of the day.

Grace has been dragged back into the news and it remains to be seen if she reacts.

A traditional court in Zvimba, Mugabe’s home village, this week ordered Grace in absentia to pay five cows and two goats for having buried Mugabe inappropriately.

She is accused of having buried the late former leader, who died aged 95 in September 2019, at the courtyard of his rural homestead in Kutama.

Chief Zvimba, whose jurisdiction includes Kutama, said he received a complaint from a Mugabe clan member over the way the long-time President was buried.

Making the ruling, the Chief said Mugabe was supposed to have been buried at the National Heroes, a shrine for renowned war veterans.

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The re-burial, according to the Chief must be on July 1.

However, Mugabe, who died a bitter man as he was deeply hurt by the actions of his former allies who kicked him out of power in 2017, made it clear he did not want to be buried at the shrine.

The question really is, why are they bothering Grace with the issue of exhuming and re-burying Mugabe as if it has any significance?

What value will this have, who stands to benefit and why waste tax pay payers on exhuming the remains of a man who was buried where he wanted to be buried?

Of course, the understanding, as claimed by some members of Mugabe’s family, is that President Emmerson Mnangagwa wants to use the former’s remains for occult and juju purposes.

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We will surely end up believing the rumours because of this apparent obsession with digging up and re-burying Mugabe.

Meanwhile, Mugabe’s nephew, Leo Mugabe was quoted in a local online news site saying Chief Zvimba ‘should go to hell’, a response which could also easily come from Grace.

Time will tell if this judgment would hold. If Grace stood her ground in 2019 and buried Mugabe in Kutama what would make her change her mind now?

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