HARARE – A court on Friday ruled that Robert Mugabe’s remains should be exhumed and reburied at the national heroes’ shrine in Harare, rekindling a row over the late former leader’s resting place.

In May, a traditional chief from Mugabe’s rural Zvimba area ordered that his remains be interred at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, where the ruling elite and former fighters in Zimbabwe’s 1970s independence war are buried.

Mugabe’s three children – Bona, Bellarmine and Robert Jnr – had appealed the decision at the magistrate court in Chinhoyi town, 115 kilometres west of Harare.

Fungai Chimwamurombe, a member of their legal team, said magistrate Ruth Moyo dismissed the case, ruling that Mugabe’s children were not party to the proceedings by the Zvimba chief and so had no right to launch an appeal.

“It is a decision we do not agree with. I’m consulting my clients and they have a right to appeal,” Chimwamurombe told Reuters.

He added: “The absurdity of the judgment is more apparent in that the relevant section permits any person as opposed to a party. A person at law refers to any natural or juristic individual whereas a party refers to a person who is participating or has participated in a legal suit.

“If the law intended the appeal to be limited to a party, then it should have expressly said so. The mention of the words any person makes the provision broad and available to whoever may be dissatisfied with a decision of the chief.”

Decisions of the magistrates court can be appealed at the High Court.

Once feted as a promising leader at independence in 1980, Mugabe’s long rule divided Zimbabweans between supporters who hailed him as a champion of black empowerment, and opponents who cast him as an authoritarian who ran down a once successful economy.

Mugabe’s relatives oppose his reburial at National Heroes Acre, saying the man who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years until he was ousted in an army coup had expressed fears before his death that some of those who overthrew him would seek to conduct a traditional ritual with some of his body parts.

Chimwamurombe said Mugabe’s wife had separately sought a review of the chief’s ruling and the case will be heard in Chinhoyi on September 21.

Chiefs in Zimbabwe have jurisdiction over their local subjects but it is rare for them to order families to exhume bodies for reburial. – Reuters