Robert Mugabe's burial was postponed for a month last night as his family and the Zimbabwean government appeared to end a bitter feud over the former president's grave site.

Leo Mugabe, the former president's nephew and a family spokesperson, told journalists late on Friday that relatives and traditional leaders had finally agreed to a government demand to bury Mugabe in an official cemetery in Harare.

“The government and the chiefs went to the Heroes Acre, showed each other where President Mugabe is going to be buried, and that place would take about 30 days to complete,” he said. “So what that means is the burial will take that long.”

Earlier in the day Mr Mugabe had insisted that his uncle would be buried at his home village in the district of Zvimba, 50 miles outside Harare, but that a symbolic funeral would first take place at Heroes' Acre on Sunday in a compromise.