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Zimbabwe’s Heroes Acre is too exclusive, Mugabe critics say

A guide shows a huge bronze statue of three guerilla fighters with black marble and granite flourishes at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, Tuesday, Jan., 26, 2016. Turnover is zero: Once there, those who move in never leave. But now, people are complaining that President Robert Mugabe is making Heroes Acre too exclusive. Only those who are on his good side get to be buried there, they say. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
A guide shows a huge bronze statue of three guerilla fighters with black marble and granite flourishes at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, Tuesday, Jan., 26, 2016. Turnover is zero: Once there, those who move in never leave. But now, people are complaining that President Robert Mugabe is making Heroes Acre too exclusive. Only those who are on his good side get to be buried there, they say. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

By Associated Press 4 min read

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) – The hilltop has a commanding view of Harare, features a huge bronze statue of three guerrilla fighters and boasts black marble and granite flourishes. It is quiet and is Zimbabwe’s most exclusive neighborhood.

Turnover is zero: Once there, those who move in never leave. But now, people are complaining that President Robert Mugabe is making Heroes Acre too exclusive.

Only those who are on his good side get to be buried there, they say.

Internment at Heroes Acre, which opened more than three decades ago, is supposed to be only for those who made huge sacrifices during the war against white-minority rule and who dedicated themselves to the nation of Zimbabwe that emerged from the ashes of Rhodesia.

Also, you had to belong to ZANU-PF, the party headed by Mugabe that has ruled since independence in 1980, the critics note sourly. Those who broke with him? Their remains rest elsewhere.