Zimbabwe mourns former president

Thousands of Zimbabweans paid their last respects to the late Robert Mugabe, whose body was brought to the Rufaro Stadium on Thursday.

The queues were long, belying the mixed feelings that have characterized the public debate over the last days since the former liberation hero died in a Singaporean hospital aged 95.

He leaves a complex legacy. Pundits have said while his last years at the helm ended in a military coup that forced him to resign, he is also accredited with policies such as education reforms, which lifted the southern African country literacy rates to be among the highest on the continent.

The "education for all" principle pushed up demand for schools, especially in marginalized areas and disadvantaged urban centers and accelerated the training of teachers.

The United Nations estimates that 83.6 percent of Zimbabweans aged 15 and older were literate in 2011. This estimation was based on Zimbabwe's 2011 Demographic and Health Survey results.

"Many people benefited from the education reforms implemented immediately after independence. Mugabe later launched the presidential scholarships, which targeted children from underprivileged backgrounds and sponsored them to top universities in South Africa," said Tanaka Chitsa, a researcher based in Harare.

While crediting the former president as a firebrand for pan-Africanism, Tanaka said his legacy has to acknowledge the economic and social decline that later followed. Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate hit 175 percent in June, according to official data.

The country is still under sanctions imposed in 2002 by the European Union following an escalation of violence and intimidation of political opponents and the press.

"There is a lot to learn from his leadership," concludes Chitsa.

His body is expected to be at the 35,000-seater stadium for two days. The venue happens to be where Mugabe took his oath of office in 1980.

His official funeral is expected to take place on Saturday at the giant 60,000-seater National Sports Stadium in Harare, where foreign leaders will attend, according to the government.

The body of the former president arrived home for burial on Wednesday afternoon with around 2,000 supporters, family members and government officials waiting on the tarmac at Harare International Airport to receive his remains.

His body was later taken to his private residence in the city, known as the Blue Roof. His coffin was draped with the country's national flag.

Mugabe's final resting remains unclear however, as his family and government are at odds over whether is to be buried at his homestead northwest of Harare or a shrine for liberation heroes in the capital.

President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa has already declared Mugabe a "national hero", with flags flown at half mast across the country.