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.