PRESS STATEMENT: DEFEND DIGNITY- STOP THE PERSECUTION OF THE LUNGU FAMILY
29 July 2025
We issue this statement with deep pain and outrage following the latest act of state, sponsored cruelty by the UPND government, which has now moved to legally harass the widow and family of the late President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, even in death.
According to a letter dated 29 July 2025 from VFV Attorneys, acting on behalf of the Attorney General of Zambia, the Zambian government is demanding to inspect and “authenticate” the body of the late President currently kept at a funeral parlour in Pretoria, South Africa.
This unprecedented request is not only unnecessary, it is a shameful insult to the dignity of a fallen Head of State. It violates African customs, human decency, and all moral logic. The family of President Lungu has every right to mourn their loved one in peace, free from intimidation, threats, and judicial intrusion.
Worse still, by demanding to verify the identity of the body, the Zambian authorities are effectively accusing the South African government and its institutions of dishonesty and complicity. This is a direct diplomatic insult to a nation that has, until now, treated this matter with professionalism, legal clarity, and respect. Let us be clear: South African authorities have already confirmed the death, offered official condolences, and issued the necessary documents in accordance with law.
It is also worth noting that a South African court order issued on 25 June 2025 expressly states that only the widow, family members, and spokesperson are authorized to inspect the body. The Zambian government’s attempt to override this order is not only unlawful, it is a dangerous attack on judicial sovereignty.
Let the record show: the decision to bury President Lungu in South Africa was not political. It was a necessary act of protection against the same political hostility that continues today. The harassment, arrests, raids, and public defamation endured by the Lungu family made it impossible to guarantee a safe and dignified burial in Zambia.
We therefore call upon all peace, loving Zambians, religious leaders, civil society, and the international community to take a stand. The dignity of the dead must be sacred. The rights of widows and families must be defended. No political vendetta should be allowed to stretch beyond the grave.
*We demand the following:*
1. That the Zambian government immediately withdraw all legal actions targeting Esther Lungu and her family in South Africa;
2. That the State respect South African legal rulings and refrain from any further attempts to interfere with funeral arrangements;
3. That all future dealings with the family of President Lungu be conducted with compassion, respect, and dignity, befitting the legacy of a man who served as Zambia’s sixth republican president.
Let us not be remembered as a nation that persecuted its widows and disrespected its own history.
May the memory of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu be honored, not defiled.
Issued by:
_Brian Matambo_
_Concerned Citizen for Justice and Dignity_
_Lusaka | Pretoria_
Date: 29 July 2025
There is no persecution here. When did viewing a dead body turn surviving family members of the deceased into victims? This sympathy card and victim card has been played so many times since the man died, it no longer registers any response.
What is the Lungu family hiding? That is the qweshen that needs to be answered before anyone pretends to be the victim. Whatever it is they are hiding, there is an element of criminality somewhere within.
Do you in your culture allow people who you are not related with to identify and authenticate your dead relative? Take your witchcraft back to your villages.
Its a crime to fake ones death to evade the law. Even in death crimes can be answered for.
So to you this sharrade is normal? You tell me when all the Presidents died an agent of the state did not identify the person as being dead. Ba PhD ba fake chabe imwe.
The South Africans will also excerise their tradition and degrate that grave and see if your traditions will matter to them.
You want to hold on to traditions when it suits you, yet this whole debacle which widow in Zambian tradition has acted the way Mrs. Lungu has?
Before you advance such a dull comparison, be mindful that Lungu was not an ordinary citizen. The actions by the Lungu family has led Zambians to be suspicious or that they are hiding something.
No Mr PhD. There is no culture bullshit here. It’s law at play not ifyo ukesabaila. We need to authenticate legitimacy of the claim of death. There has been far too much lying from the supposed widow and her tandem of criminal children and their lawyer. Let’s wait and see the court’s ruling before 1st August on this request.
Be real. You must be from mars, if you have never seen nor head of such practice. Who knows?, the fella might be somewhere watching TV. The government is just doing due diligence. The RSA government knows pretty much of what is going on, and has shared Information with the Zambian counterparts.
But how can we be sure that it’s lungu who is dead since the name they used on the passport was for another person. So to be 100% sure let the state see the body. Even in zambia when someone dies whether by natural or unatural cause the police have to come and verify on behalf the state its not being disrespectful but just making sure there is no hanky panky involved.
@Razor
Where in Zambia does the state come in to verify the death from Natural Causes?
Verification of the death is done by medical authorities who sign on the Death Certificate. Has the Attorney General, or DC ever been to your funeral to certify the death of a relatives?
You are embarrassing the human race with useless thinking.. if at all we can classify your comment as a product of Thinking.
You are being very simplistic, Zambiano. Attorney general is an office, not simply an individual. It does not mean that the attorney general will, himself, do the work.
Dull chap go to the hospital. A police officer has to sign on any BID together with a doctor to make sure no foul play was involved.
The writer of this article is too biased to see logic. Let’s assume the courts will rule to allow ECL be buried in SouthAfrica , closure by State functionaries would demand having seen and ascertained that indeed the former president id demised. In this way all subsequent matters and innuendos would be put to rest. Failure to do so would forever be a source of falsities that ECL did not die and the person buried in South Africa is intact not ECL. How then would the Zambian government be able to speak concisely to the fact that indeed ECL died? When too emotional please keep away from important National matters. The Nation needs closure .
Exactly. The naiveity of the writer is seen in his prejudice.
True
Who is this MBUZI by the same of matambo?? matambo you are very useless
Hakainde and his government have gone too far.
What really does he want with the late President’s remains? He went to Court, dragged the Widow to Court, and stopped the burial.
Then we had the Audio Leak exposing alleged attempts to bribe Judges handling the case, to stir hatred and protests against the grieving Widow and family, using ‘ mercenary organizations ‘ so that the courts can rule in favor of government….and now this cruel attempt again at a late hour to drag the Widow to the funeral Parlour for some representative to inspect and identify the body. What kind of Dignity is this?
The submissions have been done by both parties, and the case will now be heard in public next week on 4th August 2025. But he goes behind the Court, ignores the Court Order , and wants the Lungu ‘s family Lawyers to allow his representative to inspect and verify the remains.
Who in his/her sane state of Mind can do this? Some Bizarre behavior!
What are you afraid of? The person who died in South Africa had a Zimbabwean passport .So what is wrong with verification?
Ka normal te sana in most UPND praise-singers. So, you mean you were not sure when HH declared national mourning who had died? You mean you do not even believe what is on the death certificate written by a qualified medical doctor? So you did not even know for whom HH was signing the book of condolences at Belvedere lodge? You mean you did not know for whom the grave was dug at Embassy Park? You mean you are still not sure whose remains you want to bring back to Zambia when you went to a South African court to demand for this against the family? Either you reduce on the consumption of weed or check in fast at Chainama. Or, could it be you are all being haunted by ECL?
You’re just arguing for sake. Look, in first instance of ECL news about his death it sounded really and therefore all procedures kicked in:
*National mourning
*Digging of grave
*Repatriation of the remains arrangements.
This was normal for GRZ to do BUT with passing of time underground OTHER revelations have surfaced:
*The drugs syndicate.
*The suspicious restricts to see the body which included even those in inner circles of ECL PF factions; Lubinda, Nakachinda and Tonse Alliance big heads were not allowed. Why?
*Then rumors of ECL not dead.
Let government prove and tell us. Dead or not Dead..Chapwa!
You are just clapping for kelpomanics. Are they paying you for you to call people who dont agree with you names?
This is where we can tell that you not even a PhD as you deflect issues instead of sticking to the hypothesis of the article.
What dignity should we give the Lungu family if in his life, Edgar Lungu did not act dignified? *What dignity did Edgar Lungu have when he had more than one passport? Is that not the crime that his accomplice Findley is charged with?
* What dignified man has criminals as his buddies?
* what dignified man bankrupts a state and calls the Pension that paid his rent peanuts or crumbs. Yet it housed him, his children? Is that not insulting the hand that fed you? What was Lungu before he was MP? After looting mwakulomuntwe? Would one insult the parents that raised him? That is exactly what Lungu and his family are doing. Insulting Zambians.
The Lungu family have taken Zambians for a ride. And those of you clapping for them think they are some kind of demi Gods. Public office is about accountability and Lungu served in that office and if he wants diginity let his family act like it. So they want us to accept that the Zimbabwean admitted in the hospital is Lungu? The Passports in their multitude are Lungu? The person that kept going between Zimbabwe is Lungu? And that Lungu used an Uber when he arrived at OR Tambo? What kind of fools do these people think we are?
Kaoma you are joke and so is this man that wrote this article.