Former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was finally buried over the weekend at his rural home in Kutama, days after the state dropped push to have him laid to rest at National Heroes Acre.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa had declared Mugabe a national hero, a move that was disputed by the family which accused him of disrespecting him.
Mugabe, who died aged 95 at a Singapore hospital on September 6, was laid to rest 22 days later in a concrete cast grave in the courtyard of his rural Kutama home, 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of the capital Harare.
Inside the grave, the coffin was placed in a container and then covered with a maroon lid. At its head, "R.G. Mugabe" was inscribed on a yellow plate.
Heavy rectangular blocks matching the shape of the grave were piled on top of the coffin, an AFP photographer saw.
The original coffin, in which Mugabe's remains were flown from Singapore, was changed, said family spokesman Leo Mugabe, the former president's nephew.
"We wanted a tamper-proof casket because of (the fear of) rituals," he told the Zimbabwe Television Network last week.
On Saturday Mugabe's sister Regina Gata praised his widow Grace for "standing her ground and defending the body so that it would not be defiled".
While she did not name anyone, she said there were people who had wanted to carry out traditional rituals, but "we stood firm because Mugabe was a Christian".
The family feared that his opponents could break the original casket and take off his body parts for rituals, something that explains Grace Mugabe's decision to guard the body.
Before his burial, Mugabe is said to have condemned Mnangagwa, who took over from him after the military intervention. He accused them of soiling his legacy.
Mnangagwa took over in November 2017 following a bloodless coup. He had been sacked by Mugabe with critics claiming that it was tactic to prepare Grace Mugabe for succession.