In comments to The Sunday Mail newspaper Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba denied that the government and Mugabe’s family were at loggerheads over where the former president should be buried and said the provisional plan was for the burial to be at National Heroes Acre.

The Sunday Mail said Mugabe’s body was expected back from Singapore on Wednesday afternoon and that Mnangagwa, members of Mugabe’s family and traditional chiefs from Mugabe’s Zvimba district would receive the body at Harare’s Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.

Leo Mugabe, the former president’s nephew, told Reuters earlier on Sunday that Mugabe’s family and traditional chiefs had finalised their preferred programme for his burial but it had yet to be approved by the government. He was not available for comment after Reuters saw the government memo.