African leaders are gathering in Zimbabwe\u2019s capital Harare as the country prepares for former president Robert Mugabe\u2019s funeral on Saturday.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen current and former leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, are expected to attend.<\/p>\n
A national sports stadium is expected to be filled with well-wishers.<\/p>\n
The funeral follows a row between the Mugabe family and the government over his burial.<\/p>\n
Some dignitaries, including Equatorial Guinea President Theodore Obiang Nguema, have already arrived.<\/p>\n
Obiang, who came to power in 1979 and has so far outlasted Mugabe\u2019s 30-year rule by a decade, said he was \u201ca leader without comparison on the African continent\u201d and praised his controversial policy of seizing white-owned farms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Zimbabwe will forever be grateful that he took land from the whites and gave it to his people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Like Obiang, many Zimbabweans are choosing to remember the former leader\u2019s achievements, rather than the political violence and economic chaos that marked the last years of his long presidency, reports BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding.<\/p>\n
His successor as president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will address mourners at the National Sports Stadium, where thousands will wear the colours of the ruling Zanu-PF party.<\/p>\n
But many people in Harare are likely to shun the ceremony as soaring inflation and unemployment grip the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are happier now that he is gone. Why should I go to his funeral? I don\u2019t have fuel,\u201d a Harare resident told AFP. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to hear anything about him anymore. He is the cause of our problems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
African leaders are gathering in Zimbabwe\u2019s capital Harare as the country prepares for former president Robert Mugabe\u2019s funeral on Saturday. More than a dozen current and former leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, are expected to attend. A national sports stadium is expected to be filled with well-wishers. The funeral follows a row between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[812,30,820],"class_list":{"0":"post-13593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-mugabes-burial","10":"tag-robert-mugabe","11":"tag-zimbabwe-guinea-relations"},"yoast_head":"\n