After days of uncertainty and negotiations, the funeral arrangements for Zambia’s former president have been finalised.
Edgar Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died 11 days ago in South Africa where he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness.
According to his family, he had left instructions that his political rival and current President Hakainde Hichilema “should not come anywhere near his body”.
But a spokesperson for the Lungu family confirmed that an agreement had been reached with the government that allowed for Hichilema to preside over a state funeral next Sunday.
The row caused consternation among some in Zambia with people left wondering how they should mourn their former leader.
After days of talks, the Lungu family and the government have agreed that:
- The former president’s body will be flown to the Zambian capital, Lusaka, on Wednesday on a private charter plane
- On arrival at the airport, the body will be received by the family and then there will be full military honours
- It will then be transported to Lungu’s residence in Lusaka where it will lie in state
- For three days, starting on Thursday, it will be taken to a conference centre in the capital where the public can pay their respects
- A state funeral will be held on Sunday 22 June
- The former president will be interred the following day at Embassy Park, the official presidential burial grounds, and official mourning will end.
At a joint press briefing in South Africa, Lungu family spokesperson Makebi Zulu, sitting alongside Secretary to Zambia’s Cabinet Patrick Kangwa, said the family apologised “for the inconvenience and pain that the protracted negotiations may have caused but we were doing our best to honour the former president’s personal wishes”.
Mr Zulu also said that the family was proceeding on the basis that the government would “not deviate from our agreement”.
Speaking for the government, Mr Kangwa appealed for unity and thanked Zambians for their patience “during this difficult time”.
After six years as head state, Lungu lost the 2021 election to Hichilema by a large margin.
After that defeat he stepped back from politics but later returned to the fray.
He had ambitions to vie for the presidency again but at the end of last year the Constitutional Court barred him from running, ruling that he had already served the maximum two terms allowed by law.
Despite his disqualification from the presidential election, he remained hugely influential in Zambian politics and did not hold back in his criticism of his successor.
Last year, Lungu complained of police harassment and accused the authorities of effectively putting him under house arrest. He also said he had been prevented from leaving the country. The government denied both accusations.