A President Left Out in the Cold
On January 19th, 2025, former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu touched down at OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa not to red carpets, not to diplomatic courtesies, but to silence.
There was no official welcome from the Zambian Embassy. No state representation. Just a former Head of State abandoned, exiled in dignity.
That same morning, he fought to board the plane back home. Authorities tried to block his departure. The Aviation Security Manager who allowed him passage was immediately suspended, then dismissed punished for showing him mercy.
Captured in a haunting photo, President Lungu stands quietly outside the airport with his devoted wife, Mama Esther Lungu, and family spokesperson Hon. Makebi Zulu. No motorcade. No aides. Just luggage by their feet and a painful wait for a hired vehicle like ordinary exiles not the former First Family of a sovereign nation.
The man who once commanded fleets, ruled a nation, and stood tall on global stages reduced to a passenger with no place to return to.
He never came back.
He was a former president and an ordinary citizen you Africans. What do you expect surely? To be treated like loyalty? Are we not out of the old stone ages or early iron age? Even Jimmy Carter used to come to Zambia without the pomp that these politicians get do accustomed to. Don’t overrate your politicians Africa please. The write up above is not only uncouth but utterly lacking in basic civilization!!!!! Lungu did not only retire but even revoked his retirement and rejoined politics!!!! Did you expect him to keep enjoying tax payers money even after turning it down as “crumbs” from his own very words!!!! Wake up people. You should be ashamed to write such nonsense. Shaaaa
Thank you for this comment. I agree with everything you have written. But now I ask you, why is HH so interested in having this nobody, this ordinary citizen repatried to Zambia and wants him buried at Embassy Park? Why send former presidents, cabinet ministers, church leaders and Secretary to the Cabinet to South Africa to try and bring this ordinary citizen back? Why sue the family and even the SA government over this nobody? Please help me understand sir.
How did you expect embassy staff to receive him when Esther Lungu has submitted to court that her husband sneaked out on 19 January 2025, taking advantage of the UN visitor’s arrival at the airport. This Lungu family had literally moved to south Africa. You can tell from their properties in upscale residential areas of Johannesburg. Let them bury him in South Africa. We have moved on.
Hi, I would like to challenge you that there is a letter that was written to all embassies by the permanent secretary at ministry of foreign affairs directing them NOT to receive Lungu once they stripped him of his benefits.
Also, what’s wrong with the family moving to South Africa? Lastly, l further challenge you to think logically. Someone serves as president for 7 years and we feel like they cannot afford a flee of luxury cars or indeed an upscale apartment?