PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's sister Sabina has been declared a national heroine following her death on Thursday, state radio reported at lunchtime.

Zanu PF's politburo was “unanimous” in granting the honour, ZBC said, which means she will be buried at the National Heroes Acre where leading figures of the country's 1970's liberation war lie.

No burial date was announced, although it is likely the former Zvimba MP who quit politics two years ago will be laid to rest at the weekend.

Sabina, 76, was the third of the 86-year-old President’s surviving siblings along with younger sister Bridgette and half-sister Regina.

Sabina, the mother of former ZIFA president Leo Mugabe and former MP Patrick Zhuwawo, was rushed to Harare’s Avenues Clinic last Friday after suffering the latest bout of an undisclosed ailment which she has been battling for months.

President Mugabe was expected to address mourners – set to include Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara -- at her sister’s Eastlea home in Harare later Thursday.

Sabina is thought to have been Mugabe’s closest sibling, and was the only one to have ventured successfully into politics after representing Zvimba in Parliament for many years.