A van from a funeral parlor enters former President Robert Mugabe’s rural home in Zvimba on Saturday. Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/ AP

Security is tight as the family of longtime Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe prepares to bury him at his rural home. A highly private farewell is planned for one of Africa’s most divisive figures after a family dispute with the administration that forced him from power.

Only approved guests and funeral parlor vans are allowed in Saturday, a move that is out of sync with the local tradition that funerals are free for all to attend.

Mugabe’s family earlier had agreed to a government request to bury him at a shrine in the capital but only after a mausoleum was built to set him apart from former comrades. But the government on Thursday abruptly announced the family had changed its mind.

One ruling party official calls the private burial “most unfortunate.”

Associated Press