Mutharika bids farewell to Mugabe:’ Ex-Zimbabwe leader loved Malawi’

President Peter Mutharika on Saturday was among foreign dignitaries and Zimbabweans bid farewell to that country’s hero turned murderous tyrant Robert Mugabe, after a week of disputes over his burial that have threatened to undermine President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

President Peter Mutharika departure for Zimbabwe to attend Former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe..-Photo by Lisa Kadango, Mana
Zimbabwe’s founding president Robert Mugabe’s state funeral takes place in Harare

Speaking at Kamuzu International Airport before leaving for Zimbabwe in a chartered plane, Mutharika said he could not miss the state funeral because Mugabe was more than a friend to Malawi.

“He was always here for any event. He was the great friend of this country,” said Mugabe.

“The late Mugabe was someone who loved Malawi so much,” said Mutharika.

“ He was also instrumental in making Chinyanja one of the official languages in Zimbabwe,”  he added.

Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years until he was ousted by his own army in November 2017, died in a Singapore hospital a week ago aged 95. He is described as a hero by some people because of his fight for Zimbabwe liberation which culminated in that country’s independence in 1980.

He  ended white-minority rule in Zimbabwe and improved access to education and health services for the country’s poor black majority, but he soon began to resort to fear and repression to govern.

His legacy has been tainted with reports of killings of his political opponents to keep himself in power, including the 20 000 massacre of the Ndebele people.

Many Zimbabweans will remember Mugabe more for his economic mismanagement and increasingly tyrannical rule that followed the initial hope of liberation. Millions fled the country to escape decades of hyperinflation and crackdowns on dissidents.

Mutharika is expected back to Malawi Saturday evening.

At least two dozen heads of stater and former heads of states are attending the state funeral, conspicuously shunned by European and American leaders.

He will be buried in a mausoleum at the National Heroes Acre shrine in Harare in about 30 days, his nephew said on Friday, contradicting earlier comments that the burial would be on Sunday.

Mnangagwa said late on Friday that building the mausoleum would delay the burial of his predecessor.

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President Mkango Lion Manthakanjenjemereza
President Mkango Lion Manthakanjenjemereza
4 years ago

If Mugabe hated his own people, how could he love Malawi. And did he love Malawi as a name or he loved people of Malawi? If yes How?

Alex mgeni
Alex mgeni
4 years ago

Agulugufe ndakusowani. Muwapase Moni mayi Anu…..ndi anzanga. Koma Inu nzeru zimenezi munatengeladi ine?

mpilu
mpilu
4 years ago

zoopsa zedi pitala samadziwa kuti a mw ambili ali ku Zim hence he goes there kumati mugabi amati cicewa ndi cochuka ku Zim. stupid he does not know Mw history.
mlendo

Nsoto
Nsoto
4 years ago

Iam a Zimbabwean. Yes Mugabe was yours. Matibili was his real name. Son of Gabriel Matibili

Winston Msowoya
Winston Msowoya
4 years ago

MUTHALIKA don’t be fool ,when did Magabe loved Malawians and for what reason you guile? Mugabe did not.like Malawians for their sale out policies which included being a Bantustan puppet with boer undemocratic policies.Banda extended political friendship with SouthAfrica rejecting warnings from radical African leaders like Nyerere,Kaunda,Milton Obote,Kwame Nkrumah,Patrice Lumumba just to name a few.So there was no reason for Mugabe to love Malawians. Afterall,Malawi was a pillar of neo-colonialism in Southern Africa.So Malawians,do not believe what Mathanyula says,he is a roughing stock of AFRICA period.Here Malawians,you have lost respect from democratic point of view.You and your rogue brother Bingu,you… Read more »

Joloza
4 years ago

A Msowoya nkhani yake ndiyomweyi yopita Ku maliro a Mugabeyi imene mukuthera zakukhosi zonsezi kapena Ina? Ndilipafupi.

Masuzygo
Masuzygo
4 years ago

Che msowoya mwati ” ROUGHING STOCK ” ? kkkkk
Immediately I read some useless and stupid words from this comment I automatically knew it was Winston msowoya

Mtete
Mtete
4 years ago

I am sure Mugabe Indeed loved Malawi, more than APM, Mtchona, does. Otherwise how would anyone who loved his country plunder nd loot it the way he has done, aided in the process by, among others, the Malawi Guptas?

Achiswe'.'
4 years ago

‘Chartered a plane’ – are there no direct flights between Malawi and Zimbabwe? If not, how come APM can claim that Mugabe was great friend to Malawi? It is sheer hypocrisy to attend the funeral of such a tyrant. Mutharika should have had to guts to call a spade a spade and to ignore the ‘celebration’.

Njolo mpilu
Njolo mpilu
4 years ago

chatered plane. yeaaaaaa!!!!

knox
4 years ago
Reply to  Njolo mpilu

Mugabe is dead and has never spoken anything while resting in his CASKET. ”He was always here for any event. He was a great friend of this country,” Said Mugabe. Which Mugabe is this? a dead person does not talk.

Hamlet
Hamlet
4 years ago
Reply to  Njolo mpilu

You frog..How did you expect him to travel.. He should use a hyena? Do we even have a commercial flight between Lilongwe and Harare to enable him arrive on time for ceremony?

Joloza
4 years ago
Reply to  Hamlet

Mwina amafuna Mutharika akwere kasiya maliro kkkkkk

Gulugufe
Gulugufe
4 years ago
Reply to  Njolo mpilu

So you wanted him to walk or drive on the road yo Zimbabwe?. Pajatu dege yathu amayi anagulisa ndikumaipanganso hire, a Timothy Mtambo sanapange ma demo.

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