South Africa’s opposition leader Julius Malema and fellow executive staff his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party showed up at the Blue Roof mansion in Harare to pay their respects to the late ex-President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, the former first lady.
The venue is famously where Robert Mugabe finally agreed to resign as the leader of Zimbabwe, after army generals had essentially placed him and his partner under house arrest.
Despite a delay, The then-93 year-old stepped down.
The travelling delegation from South Africa were invited over by the Mugabe family, weeks after Mugabe was declared dead.
This followed a lengthy spell of treatment at a hospital in Singapore. Earlier on Monday, it was revealed that the authoritarian leader had succumbed to a long battle with cancer – his cause of death had previously been concealed.
The EFF have been unapologetically vocal in their support of Robert Mugabe and his highly-controversial 37-year reign of Zimbabwe.
One man’s freedom fighter is another’s tyrant, one would suppose. His divisive legacy and subsequent passing has been the subject of debate for most of the month.
Robert Mugabe has still not been laid to rest. The state is currently building a mausoleum that is “grand enough” for him to be buried in. As it stands, he is currently resting in the Harare homestead. The EFF shared their messages of condolences on Monday afternoon, shortly after saying their last goodbyes to the Zanu-PF stalwart.