At just before 11.30am, the thousands of mourners in the vast bowl of Zimbabwe’s national stadium stood and the casket carrying the mortal remains of Robert Gabriel Mugabe began its short journey across the green grass to the podium where it would lie during the long, hot hours of the funeral.
A military brass band led the procession. Then came the bereaved family and Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, followed by foreign dignitaries, before a small crowd of ministers and officials from the ruling Zanu-PF party.
The band played lively hymns, the sun shone on the tubas, trumpets and trombones. The drums crashed and rattled. When the casket was settled in the shade beside a white and yellow wreath bearing the words, a choir sang jaunty Methodist hymns, and the speeches began.