🇿🇲 BRIEFING | Lungu to Be Buried in South Africa as Government Ends Legal Fight
Former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu will now be buried in South Africa, becoming the first former Zambian Head of State to be laid to rest outside the country after the Zambian government announced it would not challenge a South African court ruling in favour of the family.
The development follows a judgment by South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal, which overturned an earlier Pretoria High Court decision that had allowed the Zambian government to repatriate Lungu’s remains for a state funeral and burial in Zambia. The Lungu family had argued that the former president wished to be buried in South Africa.
Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha said government disagreed with the ruling but had decided not to pursue a further appeal before South Africa’s Constitutional Court, effectively bringing the year-long legal dispute to an end.
“We will not be exercising our right to appeal to the Constitutional Court of South Africa. In line with today’s judgment, this is now a private matter for the Lungu family to proceed with their desired burial in the Republic of South Africa,” Kabesha said.
Government maintained that its efforts were guided by long-standing national practice under which former presidents are buried at Embassy Park with full state honours. Kabesha cited the burials of Presidents Levy Mwanawasa, Frederick Chiluba, Michael Sata, Kenneth Kaunda and Rupiah Banda, all of whom were laid to rest at Embassy Park regardless of personal wishes or political circumstances.
“Unfortunately, this is not to be, as the family has decided to bury him in South Africa,” Kabesha said, adding that government had hoped millions of Zambians would have the opportunity to mourn and honour the country’s Sixth Republican President on home soil.
Lungu’s burial abroad closes one of the most emotional and politically charged chapters in Zambia’s recent history. It also marks a historic departure from the burial tradition observed for all former presidents since the creation of Embassy Park as the country’s presidential resting place.
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© The People’s Brief | Tracey Shumba