In the end, Grace Mugabe, Robert Mugabe's widow, prevailed.

The former head of state of Zimbabwe was buried in a small circle in September 2019, in a tomb in the middle of the family estate in his home region of Zvimba.

Previously, the funeral had led to strife between the widow, the Mugabe family, the government and traditional leaders in the region for days.

Claudia Bröll

Freelance Africa correspondent based in Cape Town.

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    A year and a half later, the last rest of the former president, who was adored by his supporters and hated by others alike, may already be over. According to press reports, the Mugabe family received an enigmatic summons from a traditional court. Grace Mugabe is due to arrive on Thursday. She is accused of not having buried the former head of state according to class and tradition. The corpse must be exhumed and reburied.

    Funerals and memorial services play an important role in Zimbabwe.

    It is also not uncommon to hold ceremonies a year or several later to bring back the good spirits of the dead.

    It's not just about ancestral cult, religions and maintaining tradition, says Joost Fontein, ethnologist at the University of Johannesburg.

    Political interests are always involved, especially with important personalities.

    Mugabe himself had mastered this "policy with the dead" brilliantly in order to cement his power.

    Burial in the Heroes' Cemetery

    Even the preparations for the funeral in 2019 turned into a political issue. For a long time it was considered certain that Mugabe would be buried in the Heroes' Cemetery in the capital Harare, which he himself commissioned. The “National Heroes Acre” is a monumental site where architects and artists from North Korea contributed. Seen from the air, it looks like two AK-47 assault rifles lying next to each other. Hundreds of former resistance fighters rest there, admittedly only those who should be honored from the point of view of the ruling Zanu-PF party. A seat was reserved for Mugabe next to his first wife, Sally.

    That must have displeased his second wife, Grace.

    But Mugabe himself no longer wanted to have anything to do with his own party and the heroes' cemetery, where he himself had given numerous funeral speeches, after the military ousted him from office in 2017 and his then Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa took over power.

    He did not want to grant the adversary the final triumph of burying him and using a state funeral for his own ends.

    Break with the Mugabe family

    In the meantime it looked as if the government had prevailed in the negotiations. She even commissioned a mausoleum for Mugabe for a million dollars, while some traditional "chiefs" insisted that he be buried in a secret cave. But the mausoleum was not yet finished when Grace Mugabe created facts in Zvimba. The incumbent president was not present at the funeral. "The fact that Mugabe was buried in the center of his estate and not in a secret location confirmed the Mugabe family's break with the local authorities and the ruling party," says Fontein. Rumors were already circulating in 2019 that Mnangagwa would not stand idly by the shame.

    There is now speculation in Zimbabwe about the background to the summons.

    Even the sender is unclear.

    The traditional leader, Chief Zvimba - real name Stanley Mhondoro - told a newspaper that he knew nothing about it.

    The letter is said to have been delivered by police officers and an employee of the President.

    A special steel coffin

    One of Mugabe's nephews accused the Zimbabwean government of being behind it on South African state television. The president wanted to get back a scepter that was supposedly placed in Mugabe's grave as an addition. He believed that only with this scepter would he be recognized by the traditional leaders and win the next elections. Government and party members brusquely rejected the suspicions and made fun of the nephew on social media. However, the belief in supernatural powers, ghosts and witches is deeply rooted in Zimbabwe and has always been encouraged and used by the government.

    What is certain is that the 55-year-old widow, once called "Gucci Grace" because of her joy in buying, will not appear at the court hearing on Thursday at 9.30 am. She now lives in Singapore. A year and a half ago, she and the rest of the family had made provisions in case the dispute over the tomb should flare up again. According to Mugabe, he was always afraid that his body parts could be used for occult rituals after his death. This is also not uncommon in Zimbabwe, where many relatives anxiously check graves for days after a funeral. To guarantee his last rest, Mugabe was buried in a special steel coffin in a cement grave.