SINGAPORE, Singapore - 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.
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 parlor 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 told AFP.
"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 parlor, officiated by a Zimbabwean priest.
FROM HERO TO TYRANT
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 colorful 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.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Robert Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe with an iron fist from 1980 to 2017, has died aged 95, the country's president announced Friday.
First heralded as a liberator who rid the former British colony of Rhodesia of white minority rule, Mugabe used repression and fear to hold on to power in Zimbabwe until he was finally ousted by his previously loyal military generals.
"It is with the utmost sadness that I announce the passing on of Zimbabwe's founding father and former President... Robert Mugabe," Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a tweet.
"Mugabe was an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people. His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten."
Mugabe had been battling ill health, and his humiliating fall from office in November 2017, his stamina seeped away rapidly. He was hospitalized in Singapore for months for an undisclosed ailment, Mnangagwa had confirmed earlier this year.
No further details were immediately available about the circumstances of his death, or where he died.
The Mugabe years are widely remembered for his crushing of political dissent, and policies that ruined the economy.
The former political prisoner turned guerrilla leader swept to power in the 1980 elections after a growing insurgency and economic sanctions forced the Rhodesian government to the negotiating table.
In office, he initially won international plaudits for his declared policy of racial reconciliation and for extending improved education and health services to the black majority.
But that faded as rapidly as he cracked down on opponents, including a campaign known as Gukurahundi that killed an estimated 20,000 dissidents.
The violent seizure of white-owned farms turned Mugabe into an international pariah -- though his status as a liberation hero still resonates strongly in most of Africa.
Aimed largely at placating angry war veterans who threatened to destabilize his rule, the land reform policy wrecked the crucial agricultural sector, caused foreign investors to flee and helped plunge the country into economic misery.
All along, the Mugabe regime was widely accused of human rights violations and of rigging elections.
The topic of his succession was virtually taboo during Mugabe's decades-long rule, and a vicious struggle to take over after his death became clear among the ruling elite as he reached his 90s and became visibly frail.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
As Robert Mugabe's regime tottered and fell, one immediate benefit that Zimbabweans celebrated with glee was the sudden absence of bribe-extracting police who were a symbol of life under his rule.
Endless police roadblocks were a notorious feature of every journey in Zimbabwe, with drivers reluctantly paying frequent bribes to evade long questioning over minor alleged offences.
But across Harare and along major national routes, barely a single police officer has been spotted since the military took over on November 14 and forced Mugabe to step down after 37 years in power.
During the turmoil, the absence of police -- and the presence of the occasional armoured military vehicle on the streets -- shed light on the dramatic political struggle that was fought behind closed doors.
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri remained a key supporter of Mugabe and his wife Grace until the end -- while army chief General Constantino Chiwenga led the military effort to unseat the president.
For ordinary Zimbabweans, the future under incoming president Emmerson Mnangagwa may be uncertain, but the disappearance of corrupt traffic officers has been a daily cause to relish Mugabe's exit.
"I was paying bribes two or three times a week," Norman Manzini, 35, a self-employed brokerage dealer who drives a 2004 Nissan March hatchback, told AFP.
"It is amazing, now my route is clear every day.
"Even when everything about your car was perfect, they could pull you over about some silly thing and claim there was a fine to pay. To get away, you had to pay $5 (4.20 euros) or even $10."
- 'All about cash' -
Manzini dismissed fears that crime might rise with the police apparently confined to their stations.
"The army are not dangerous or corrupt," he said. "They let people go about their daily lives."
For everyday transport, many Zimbabweans rely on privately-run "kombi" mini-bus taxis -- favoured targets for bribe-hungry police.
"There used to be so many police roadblocks, with the driver having to pay $1 or $2," said kombi passenger Spiwe Azvigumi, 31, an unemployed mother of three.
"It was never about speeding or whatever, it was about them collecting cash. It was impossible to escape. Some kombi owners even arranged to pay their fines in advance.
"With the police off the roads, crime is actually down -- they were so corrupt and now we are living free."
- Faster commute -
Encounters with the police were often polite but lengthy, and anyone who tried to swerve around a checkpoint faced having their tyres deflated by spikes thrown across the road.
In recent days, traffic flow at key junctions in Harare where officers normally lurked has been smooth.
Many Zimbabweans say the police were under pressure from their seniors to bring in bribe money -- and were set monthly targets.
Zimbabwe's political crisis has so far been peaceful ahead of Mnangagwa's inauguration on Friday.
Whether the police will soon return to streets under his new adminstration is unclear.
The political upheaval could also worsen the dire economy that has left Zimbabwe often unable to pay army and police salaries on time.
For Paddington Chichiri, 24, the historic developments for his country have also meant a much easier 18-kilometre (11 mile) commute by kombi bus from the suburb of Glen View.
"Even if you weren't always pulled over, it used to take over 40 minutes to get through six or seven roadblocks," he said.
"The police have just disappeared and now it takes less the 20 minutes.
"We don't mind the army for now. They're ok."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
