Eleven Heads of State and eight former Presidents from various African countries have so far confirmed their attendance at the late former President Robert Mugabe’s State funeral service set for Saturday. Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet in charge of Presidential Communications, Mr George Charamba confirmed the list of the Heads of State that will attend the ceremony in a statement this afternoon. The 11 are Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, DRC’S Felix Tshisekedi, Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo, Malawi’s Arthur Peter Mutharika, Angola’s Joao Laurenco, Saharawi’s Brahim Ghali, South Africa’s Cyril Rhamaphosa, Mozambique’s Felipe Nyusi, Zambia’s Edgar Lungu, Namibia’s Hage Geingob
ven in death, former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe remains an Achilles’ heel for his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa’s legitimacy. Since 1977, Mnangagwa has been on Mugabe’s side – first as his assistant, then as a body guard and then as a trusted minister from 1980, only to leave cabinet between 2000 and 2005, when he lost in parliamentary elections. Still, Mugabe kept him on the political radar as speaker of parliament, despite Mnangagwa plotting with Jonathan Moyo to effect “leadership change” in the Zanu-PF that would have resulted in a palace coup to remove Mugabe through the infamous Dinyane Declaration in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North. Despite spending all these years as allies, in his last days in office last year, Mugabe passed a vote of
The body of Zimbabwe’s founder Robert Mugabe arrived at the country’s main airport on Wednesday but his final resting place remains a source of mystery amid a dispute between some family members and the government. Mugabe, one of the last “Big Men” of African politics who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years until he was ousted by his own army in November 2017, died in a Singapore hospital five days ago. He is proving as polarising in death as he was in life, as the fight over where he will be buried threatens to embarrass his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and deepen divisions in the ruling ZANU-PF party. The former president’s body arrived at Harare’s Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport shortly at 15:00hrs. Crowds h
President Mnangagwa yesterday hurriedly summoned a section of members of Mugabe family at his Munhumutapa Offices where he is reported to have tried to get the group to convince the greater part of the family to allow him to lead the burial of the late former head of state Robert Mugabe. Speaking at national hero Major-General Mugoba’s residence in Harare yesterday where he had gone to pay condolences, President Mnangagwa disclosed that he had met with the members of the family and chiefs ahead of the arrival of Mugabe’s body today in the afternoon. "I am just coming from a meeting with traditional leaders from Zvimba,” he said. “They wanted to express their gratitude with the support Government rendered to our founding President from the time he has been u
President Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s final resting place has been topical since he sadly passed away on 6th September 2019. Charlatans who are seeking to hijack President Mugabe’s legacy for their own selfish reasons have been fueling this speculation for several weeks. Unfortunately, hijacking President Mugabe’s legacy for expediency will only provide transient relief to such grave robbers. One of President Mugabe most important, but yet to be fully acknowledged legacy resides in his direct off-spring; his children and grand-children. I know that President Mugabe was eternally grateful to his wife, Amai Grace Mugabe, for providing him with the opportunity to have his legacy live on through his children and grand-children. Makaita basa Mwenewazvo. Speculation around
The MDC was due to hold its 20th Anniversary on Saturday at Rufaro Stadium, Harare, as the day for the National Memorial Service for the late President Robert Mugabe. As MDC, being a Pan-Africanist and social democratic party, consistent with our values of ubuntu, solidarity and empathy we have decided to postpone our 20th Anniversary Celebrations to the 28th September 2019 so as to allow the funeral proceedings and events not to compete with our Anniversary celebrations. This is in line with our values of ubuntu, solidarity and empathetic leadership. We had our differences, which are well documented and recorded, with the late President Mugabe, but this is not the time to rehash those differences. This is the time to join the former President’s relatives an
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has called for patience among citizens, adding that reforms initiated by Government since late last year were beginning to show signs of economic transformation. He said it normally takes up to 18 months for economic recovery to become visible where austerity measures have been implemented. Prof Ncube said this in an interview with SABC News last week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa in Cape Town, which ended on Friday. With budget deficits now a thing of the past following the economic reforms being implemented under the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), Prof Ncube believes the economy has started to turn for the better. The TSP is a short-term economic blueprint that runs fr
President Mnangagwa has expressed surprise that some members of former President Robert Mugabe’s family are not in the country allegedly fearing persecution and were worried about being barred from attending the funeral of the veteran nationalist who passed away on Friday morning, The Herald heard yesterday. Patrick Zhuwao, Cde Mugabe’s nephew, is reportedly in “exile” fearing for his life. This emerged at the weekend as the Mugabe family engaged President Mnangagwa on logistics to give the former President his final rest. The family appointed Mr Leo Mugabe as its sole spokesperson. Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Mr George Charamba, who is also the Presidential spokesperson, revealed that on Friday the Mugabe family and Zvimba ch
President Mnangagwa has assembled a delegation led by Vice President Kembo Mohadi, comprising former President Robert Mugabe’s family, the family of the former First Lady — the Marufus — and Zanu-PF officials to facilitate the repatriation of the national hero’s body from Singapore where he died last Friday. The President also wrote letters to the former statesman’s confidants, former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda and Chinese President Xi Jingpin, officially notifying them of Cde Mugabe’s demise. Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, who is also the Presidential spokesperson, Mr George Charamba, said on Friday morning President Mnangagwa and his Government assigned Vice President Mohadi to lead a delegation to S
SOME members of the once-powerful Zanu-PF's G40 faction who are in exile have taken to social media to mourn former President Robert Mugabe, once viewed as the godfather of the group vanquished after a military coup in November 2017 toppled the late ex-guerrilla leader.Mugabe died Friday morning a private hospital in Singapore. However, his former ministers in the G40 faction, who had come to be close to his wife, Grace, could not be close to each other after they were expelled from Zanu-PF with some fleeing into exile fearing arrest and death. However, the faction members took to the social media, especially Twitter to mourn their ‘icon' and share their grief. Former Higher Education Minister, Jonathan Moyo who is reported to be the brains behind G40 faction and all
