The
body of Zimbabwe's ex-president Robert Mugabe was flown out of Singapore
Wednesday following his death last week, his nephew said, heading home for
burial in a country bitterly divided by the hero-turned-despot's legacy.
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| A police motorcycle escorts a hearse carrying the body of former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe from the Singapore Casket Funeral Parlour to the airport on Wednesday morning |
Mugabe, a
guerrilla leader who swept to power after Zimbabwe's independence from Britain
and went on to rule for 37 years until he was ousted in 2017, died on Friday,
aged 95.
His health
deteriorated after he was toppled by the military and former loyalists in
November 2017, ending an increasingly iron-fisted rule that sent the economy
into ruin.
He died
after receiving treatment at a Singapore hospital for several months, and a
delegation including Vice President Kembo Mohadi travelled to the affluent city-state
on a chartered flight to bring him home.
Early
Wednesday a hearse transporting Mugabe's body left a Singapore funeral parlour
bound for an airport and accompanied by a police escort, driving past a group
of waiting journalists.
A plane
carrying the former leader and the visiting delegation departed shortly
afterwards, his nephew Adam Molai said.
"It
just left now," he said by phone from the plane as it took off, with the
noise of the aircraft audible in the background.
The
Zimbabwean delegation arrived on Tuesday and attended a private Catholic mass
for Mugabe at the funeral parlour, officiated by a Zimbabwean priest.
Zimbabweans
have been divided over how to mourn a former leader once hailed as a liberation
hero but who later brutally repressed his opponents.
He was
initially praised for ridding the former British colony Rhodesia of white
minority rule, but later used repression and fear to govern until he was
finally ousted.
His
increasingly tyrannical leadership and economic mismanagement prompted millions
to leave the country.
Following
his death, President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced he had been declared a
"national hero", flags flew at half-mast across Harare and news of
his passing was splashed across newspaper front pages.
Yet Harare
residents appeared largely unconcerned, with shops remaining open and people
going about their daily errands.
On arrival
in Zimbabwe, Mugabe's body will be taken straight to his village in Kutama, in
Zvimba district west of the capital Harare, for an overnight wake.
On Thursday
and Friday the body will lie in state at Rufaro Stadium in Mbare township in
Harare for the public to pay their final respects.
The
35,000-seater stadium is where Mugabe took his oath of office at a colourful
ceremony when colonial Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith handed over the
country.
There Mugabe
hoisted the new Zimbabwe flag and lit the independence flame on April 18, 1980
-- bringing hope for a new era after a long guerrilla war.
The official
funeral will be held on Saturday at the giant 60,000-seat National Sports
Stadium in Harare and foreign leaders are expected to attend.
He will be
buried on Sunday but the location remains unclear.
Mugabe's
family and Mnangagwa's government are apparently at odds over whether it would
be at his homestead northwest of Harare or at a shrine for liberation heroes in
the capital.
A
relative has said that in line with native Shona customs, traditional chiefs
from Zvimba will have a final say on where the former leader will be buried. -
AFP
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