War veterans have been pushing for the grave, in the Matopos Hills National Park south of Bulawayo, to be dug up and Mr Rhodes' remains to be returned to the UK, blaming them for a lack of rain in the area.
But Godfrey Mahachi, one of the country's foremost archaeologists picked by Mr Mugabe to be the director of Zimbabwe's National Museums and Monuments, said the grave was an important reminder of the country's colonialist past which could not be airbrushed out.
The self-chosen burial place of Oxford-educated mining magnate and pioneer Rhodes in 1902, it still attracts thousands of visitors each year, bringing much-needed tourism revenue to the area.
"The call for the removal of the grave is not new but our view is that it is part of national history and heritage and therefore it should not be tampered with," Mr Mahachi told the Zim Diaspora news website.
"This is the reason why we are keeping Rhodes' grave because it is part and parcel of the history of Zimbabwe.
"It continues to be a reminder of the colonisation of this country. It is a tangible element of that history."
At the weekend, an estimated 50 war veterans, reportedly accompanied by Zanu PF politicians from Bulawayo, visited Matopos Hills to perform rituals at the site, which is topped by a simple brass plaque.
They also went to see the local traditional leader, Chief Masuku, to advise him of their intention to exhume the remains.
According to Zimbabwe's News Day newspaper, they claimed that the remains were responsible for poor rains in the area, but were blocked from digging them up by Chief Masuku.
Cecil John Rhodes, from Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, made his fortune in South Africa's diamond mines before moving north to establish eponymous Rhodesia after agreeing a peace deal with the Ndebele fighters at Matopos Hills.
Itai Zimunya, programme manager for the George Soros-funded Open Society Initiative of southern Africa, said that such "attention-grabbing" schemes were commonplace in the run up to elections.
"It's just nationalistic madness aimed at currying favour with the political elite," he said. "Rhodes' grave brings in a lot of tourism and it's unlikely this call will attract widespread support, even from those in Zanu PF."
