Government can bury Lungu without family – Attorney General Kabesha

Government can bury Lungu without family – Kabesha

ATTORNEY General Mulilo Kabesha says government can bury late former president Edgar Lungu even if his family refuses to take part in the burial.

Kabesha said if the family’s leave to appeal application is thrown out or if the court does not rule in favour of the family even with the appeal, government will still try to talk to them and involve them in the burial plans.

However, he stated that if the family refuses to take part, the burial will still go ahead because Lungu was a former head of state.

Appearing on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview last night, Kabesha explained that government has always been ready to speak with the family, but efforts to reach an agreement have not worked.

“If the appeal is not entertained or lost, we are ready to discuss with the family as government. We will never ignore the family, unless the family just walks out. We will talk to the family, we will consult the family. But the family has the right to say, we are not coming, we are not part of it and we will proceed and bury without them.”

“But we can’t do that, we will always want to sit and consult the family. But they can decide, ‘with what we are going through,’ the family can say, ‘we are not part of it’ but he’s a former head of state, he can still be buried,” explained Kabesha.

He said government waited for a month during the court process, hoping that the family would come forward to negotiate but nothing changed.

“Several people have talked to the family but the family doesn’t appear to move an inch. It took a month for us to argue in court, all that period, we were waiting to hear from the family,” he said.

He pointed out that the Pretoria High Court ruling ordering Lungu’s body to be repatriated to Zambia was made by independent judges and was a unanimous decision, meaning all judges agreed.

“The court is independent, it has no interest. If it was a Zambian court, there could have been allegations. It was a unanimous judgment, there was no dissenting judgement, all the judges agreed,” said the Attorney General.

Kabesha also questioned why the family does not want President Hakainde Hichilema near Lungu’s casket.

He said presidents usually don’t go close to caskets except during official body viewing, and even at normal funerals some families choose not to have body viewing at all.

He stated that the family should explain in writing why they don’t want the President near the casket and questioned who told them the Head of State even wanted to be close to it in the first place.

“The family should open up, maybe we can understand them, then maybe, we can warn the President not to go near. What’s so special about that casket? They should tell us why they don’t want the President to come near the casket, maybe it will make sense,” said Kabesha.

“And who has told them that he wants to be near the casket anyway. Who has told them that he wants to see the body? They should write a letter to me explaining why the President should not be there.“

The dispute over Lungu’s burial after Lungu’s death on June 5, when the family turned down Government’s request to repatriate the body, leading to back and forth disagreements and agreements, until the family settled to bury in South Africa.

However, the Government sued the family on their scheduled day of burial, to have his body returned from South Africa and buried at Embassy Park in Lusaka.

The Pretoria High Court ended up ruling in favour of the Zambian Government on Friday but the family has now applied for permission to appeal.

Further updates are expected today from South Africa to see how the situation is going to play out.

By Catherine Pule

Kalemba, August 11, 2025