‘This man lives forever’: Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe buried in rural home

The former leader’s family chose a private farewell for one of Africa’s most divisive figures after a dispute with the administration

President Mnangagwa, who helped oust Mugabe from power, did not attend the service

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A priest walks past a portrait of Robert Mugabe during the burial of the former Zimbabwe leader. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:57pm, 28 Sep 2019Updated: 11:59pm, 28 Sep 2019

A priest asked God to take pity on Robert Mugabe as the family of the long-time Zimbabwean leader buried him on Saturday at his rural home. They chose a private farewell for one of Africa’s most divisive figures after a weeks-long dispute with the administration that forced him from power.

“This man lives forever,” declared the priest, to cries of approval. Mugabe died this month in Singapore at age 95 after leading the country for nearly four decades and being pushed into a shocking resignation as thousands danced in the streets. “I was ridiculed,” a relative said Mugabe told them.

His coffin, draped in the country’s flag, was carried by military pallbearers as his black-veiled wife, Grace, looked on.

Grace later stood motionless as the coffin was lowered into the grave and a choir sang “Remember me.”

Mugabe, who led the bitter guerilla war to end white-minority rule in the country then known as Rhodesia, was Zimbabwe’s first leader and ruled from 1980, overseeing a years-long slide from prosperity to economic ruin and repression. He was forced by the military and ruling party to retire in late 2017 after bitter political feuding centered in part on his wife’s political ambitions.