The Politburo of the ruling Zanu PF has declared that veteran nationalist Eddison Zvobgo, who died over the weekend be buried at the National Heroes Acre. President Robert Mugabe delivered a moving condolence message on Monday when he visited the late nationalist’s home in Harare to pay his last respects.

However, some relatives of the late legal expert said that Mugabe had not forgiven the late firebrand politician for publicly criticising some of his policies and challenging his continued rule. The relatives said yesterday that Zvobgo had become isolated from Mugabe because of the critical comments he made about government policies.

The relationship between the two former wartime allies worsened when Zvobgo openly declared his presidential ambitions, sources said. Mugabe, the sources said, also believed that Zvobgo was behind the call made in parliament by Dzikamai Mavhaire calling on him to step down. Mavhaire and Zvobgo were close allies.

“Mugabe’s feelings towards Zvobgo were a mixture of fear and hatred. He feared that Zvobgo was scheming against him and he never forgave him for that. The President did not even visit Zvobgo during all his illness, even when it became clear that Zvobgo’s sickness was worsening. But Zvobgo was not surprised because he knew Mugabe’s feelings towards him.

Mugabe is the kind of person who doesn’t forgive or forget easily,” said a senior ruling party official who did not want to be named. Zvobgo, a Harvard-trained lawyer and founder member of Zanu PF died on Sunday in Harare after a long illness. Mugabe and Zvobgo were close allies during and after Zimbabwe’s liberation war. Zvobgo played a prominent role during the liberation struggle and was a crucial player at the Lancaster House constitutional talks in London in 1979.

After independence, he masterminded the executive presidency that Mugabe enjoys now. But the two erstwhile allies later fell out of favour after Zvobgo became increasingly critical of Mugabe’s rule. This resulted in Mugabe dropping Zvobgo from his cabinet and the politburo, Zanu PF’s supreme policy implementation organ.

At the time of his death, Zvobgo was facing a party disciplinary hearing for allegedly campaigning for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and de-campaigning Mugabe ahead of the 2002 presidential elections. Zvobgo openly criticised the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) as draconian.

The laws, which have been used to close down newspapers and ban opposition meetings during the last three years, have formed the backbone of Mugabe’s grip on power. It was not possible to get a comment from the President’s office yesterday.

But sources said Mugabe’s hatred of Zvobgo was also underlined by the 80-year-old leader’s failure to attend the burial of Zvobgo’s wife, Julia in February. Julia was the third heroine after Sally Mugabe and Joanna Nkomo to be buried at the national shrine. Mugabe failed to attend the burial claiming that he was suffering from minor chest pains.

Yet he had attended his birthday bash only a day before Julia Zvobgo’s burial. “Some of us knew that the real reason he did not attend the burial was because he had fallen out of favour with Zvobgo and the hatred extended to the wife, even in death. He has attended all burials at Heroes Acre if he is in the country but Amai Zvobgo’s became an exception,” said the ruling party official.