HARARE
–
Late
former
Vice
President
Phekelezela
Mphoko
would
likely
be
buried
at
his
plot
in
Douglasdale
Bulawayo
“as
per
his
wishes”,
family
has
revealed,
becoming
the
latest
among
liberation
war’s
towering
figures
to
turn
their
backs
on
the
National
Heroes
Acre.
Mphoko
died
aged
84
in
India
when
he
was
receiving
treatment
over
an
undisclosed
ailment.
He
was
immediately
declared
a
national
hero
by
government,
paving
way
for
his
interment
at
the
national
shrine
in
Harare.
But
it
has
turned
out
the
former
VP’s
wishes
were
to
be
buried
at
his
plot,
far
from
the
National
Heroes
Acre
where
his
war
contemporaries
lie
buried.
Family
spokesperson
Ndaba
Mphoko
confirmed
to
ZimLive
that
his
brother
would
be
buried
at
his
plot.
Ndaba
Mphoko
said
he
could
not
speak
authoritatively
over
the
former
VP’s
repatriation
plans
as
this,
by
virtue
of
government
declaring
him
a
national
hero,
meant
that
the
duty
of
bringing
his
remains
home
and
subsequent
burial
was
now
a
“dual
responsibility
between
government
and
the
family”.
He
said
the
family
is
currently
looking
on
government
to
take
the
lead.
However,
in
terms
of
where
the
former
ambassador
to
Russia
and
South
Africa
was
to
be
buried,
Ndaba
Mphoko
confirmed
the
family
wants
him
buried
at
his
plot
“as
per
his
wishes”.
Asked
if
the
government
was
aware
of
that,
he
said,
“that
has
been
intimated
to
the
government
that
his
wishes
were
to
be
buried
at
his
plot
in
Douglasdale,
Bulawayo”.
“We
will
perhaps
formally
submit
some
written
communication
to
the
government
to
confirm
that
there
was
such
arrangement
in
place
prior
to
his
passing.”
Mphoko
said
he
was
not
aware
of
any
reasons
why
his
brother
chose
to
be
buried
elsewhere
other
than
the
national
shrine.
“That
was
his
wish
and
I
am
not
in
a
position
to
know
how
he
came
up
with
that
decision.
He
did
not
tell
me,”
he
said.
The
late
Mphoko,
who
was
the
country’s
vice
president
between
2014
and
2017,
is
the
latest
liberation
war
hero
to
snub
the
iconic
cemetary.
Late
former
President
Robert
Mugabe,
who
diligently
presided
over
many
burials
of
his
war
comrades
at
the
elevated
cemetery,
ironically
told
his
family
before
he
died
that
he
was
not
going
to
be
buried
at
the
National
Heroes
Acre.
The
once
powerful
leader,
ousted
in
a
November
2017
military
coup
that
installed
his
former
right-hand
man
and
Zimbabwe
incumbent
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa,
had
ironically
been
accused
of
cherry-picking
loyalists,
some
far
from
deserving,
to
be
buried
at
the
national
shrine.
Among
some
liberation
war
luminaries
who
have
also
refused
to
be
buried
at
the
national
heroes
acre
are
late
former
Matabeleland
North
governor
Welshman
Mabhena
who
once
said
he
would
not
want
to
be
buried
among
“thieves
and
murderers”.
Similarly,
late
Dumiso
Dabengwa,
a
former
government
minister
who
later
turned
opposition
politician,
also
refused
to
be
interred
at
the
national
shrine,
preferring
to
be
buried
in
his
Ntabazinduna
home.
Late
former
PF
ZAPU
stalwart
and
ex-minister
Tshinga
Dube,
just
like
former
minister
Edgar
Tekere,
both
rejected
burial
at
the
National
Heroes
Acre
before
they
died
but
were
dragged
there
by
the
government.
Most
liberation
war
heroes
who
have
snubbed
the
national
shrine
have
felt
ostracised
by
the
country’s
leaders
who
have
presided
over
Zimbabwe’s
toxic
politics.