Robert Mugabe will be buried at a hilltop shrine reserved exclusively for Zimbabwe's ruling elite, an official said Saturday, as the southern African nation began several days of official mourning.
No date for the funeral has been set, and it's not clear when Mugabe's body will arrive from Singapore, where he died Friday.
Mugabe, who was 95, will be buried at the National Heroes Acre, which has been set aside for Zimbabweans who have made huge sacrifices during the war against white-minority rule and who dedicated themselves to the nation, which emerged from the ashes of colonial Rhodesia.
"We don't have the date yet," deputy information minister Energy Mutodi said.
"That is still in the hands of the family and the president, but comrade Mugabe will be buried at the Heroes Acre. That is where he deserves to rest."
In an editorial page, the newspaper praised Mugabe for "his uncompromising stance when it came to the rights of Africans."
"Who cares?" said Percy Maute, a street vendor pushing a cart full of tomatoes along a busy street named after the former president. "I don't care. I am too busy looking for money to mourn a man who put me in this position."
Although only a few people cared to join or commiserate with them, they danced vigorously and spoke glowingly of a man they said fought for the liberation of not just Zimbabwe, but "the rest of Africa."