This archive report was first published on 11 September 2019.
The body of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe left Singapore on Wednesday, September 11, 2019, after his death last week, according to his nephew Adam Molai.
Mugabe's body is heading back to Zimbabwe, a country bitterly divided by his legacy as a hero-turned-despot.
As a guerrilla leader, Mugabe swept to power after Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980 and ruled for 37 years until he was ousted in 2017.
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.
"It just left now," Adam Molai said by phone from the plane as it took off, with the noise of the aircraft audible in the background.
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 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.
