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Proceedings come to an end at the national shrine. Thank you for joining us

1436: Mourners are restricted from going to the grave where Cde Shiri’s casket has been lowered down. A befitting send off for Cde Shiri as he is given a 21 gun salute and a fly past by the Airforce of Zimbabwe

Military personnel kitted in PPEs take Cde Shiri’s casket to his final resting place

1348: President Mnangagwa now addressing. He said 29 July was a dark day for the nation and Zanu PF. We lost a disciplined cadre, a great son of the soil. Bigboy Benjamin Chikerema better known as Perrance Shiri is no longer with us. Shock thus grips us all especially, those who interacted with him daily and until the fateful day he looked well.

President Mnangagwa

Today we are gathered here to bid farewell to a hero. I express my deepest heartfelt condolences to the Chikerema family. It is a painful time for them and all of us who intimately interacted with him during the struggle and after. Death has divided us.

1342: Master of ceremonies Cde Kazembe Kazembe said he lost a brother, father and mentor.

1339: Nimrod Chikerema speaks on behalf of the family. He says Minister Shiri was the family’s roots. Cde Shiri, he said, was bred and groomed by Zanu PF.

The family only spent 17 years with him before he left to join the liberation war.

1323: President Mnangagwa arrives at the shrine for the burial of Cde Shiri.

President Mnangagwa arrives

1302: Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has arrived.

1257: The body of the late national hero has arrived at the Shrine on aboard a Doves vehicle.

1250: People have started arriving at the National Heroes Acre ahead of the burial of the national hero former Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri who was also known as Benjamin Chikerema during the liberation struggle.

Minister Shiri succumbed to Covid 19 in the early hours of  Wednesday.

He was 65.

Service chiefs at the national shrine

Already at the national shrine are Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe, Minister Murwira among others. Also present are former ministers, Zanu PF leaders and other senior Government officials. Service chiefs have arrived.

Close family members arriving for the burial

1248: All is set for the late national hero Cde Perrance Shiri’s burial at the National Heroes Acre