In Defense of National Tradition: A Legal Response to Sangwa’s Position on Lungu’s Funeral

In Defense of National Tradition: A Legal Response to Sangwa’s Position on Lungu’s Funeral

By Tobbius Chilembo Hamunkoyo – LLB, Author, Scientist, Political and Governance Activist – 20/06/25

In the recent public debate surrounding the funeral arrangements of former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu, renowned constitutional lawyer John Sangwa SC has questioned the state’s role in determining burial proceedings for former heads of state.

While his call to respect the wishes of bereaved families is rooted in compassion and African cultural sensibilities, it overlooks broader national, legal, and symbolic imperatives. Well-meaning Zambian citizens must recognize that national memory, public law, and constitutional dignity are not private matters. Mulekutika? (Are you listening?)

Legal Framework and Established Practice

Contrary to the assertion that there is “no law” guiding these burials, the Presidential Burial Site Act, 2008 (CAP 264) clearly empowers the state to establish, maintain, and regulate the burial site for Presidents of Zambia—currently realized at Embassy Park.

Since its establishment in 2008 following the death of President Levy Mwanawasa, the practice of burying heads of state at Embassy Park has evolved into a consistent and solemn national tradition. Presidents Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba, Levy P. Mwanawasa, Rupiah Banda, and Michael Sata were all interred there. This unbroken pattern is not merely ceremonial, it holds constitutional, national, and jurisprudential significance.

Over time, this has matured into what can legally be recognized as a constitutional convention, an unwritten but binding tradition consistently practiced and expected by the public and state alike.

The Role of Opinio Juris in National Funeral Practice

Sangwa SC’s legal challenge rests heavily on the absence of a written law mandating burial at Embassy Park.

However, his approach overlooks a critical principle in both domestic constitutional interpretation and international law, opinio juris.

Opinio juris is the belief that a certain practice is carried out not merely out of habit or courtesy, but because there is a legal obligation or duty to do so. It is the mental and legal conviction that a practice is binding, whether or not it is formally written in law.

In Zambia’s context, the consistent burial of former presidents at Embassy Park, coupled with state-led organization, public expectation, budget allocation, and military honors, reflects not just repetition, but a practice underpinned by a collective legal and moral obligation.

The state, in exercising this duty, believes it is doing what is legally required for national cohesion and dignity.

Thus, the state’s conduct exhibits opinio juris, it believes it is obligated to honor deceased presidents in this particular manner, and this belief has been reinforced by five successive state funerals conducted in the same format.

This is more than tradition; it is a legally significant practice. Courts in constitutional democracies, including Zambia, do recognize such practices in the absence of direct statutory law, especially when they serve national interests and are consistently upheld by state institutions.

Judicial Recognition of Public Status of Presidents

Further, in The People v Secretary to the Cabinet ex parte Kaweche Kaunda (2021/HP/0768), the Zambian judiciary affirmed that former presidents are not merely private citizens but public institutions, whose posthumous treatment must reflect their symbolic and institutional role.

This judgment reinforces the notion that national interest must supersede private or family preferences when it comes to presidential funerals.

Balancing Family Wishes with National Responsibility

Respect for bereaved families is important in African traditions. However, a president’s funeral is not a purely private affair. It is a public constitutional ritual, serving as a mirror of Zambia’s democratic journey, leadership transitions, and civic identity.

To delegate full control of presidential funeral arrangements to the family, as Sangwa suggests, risks privatizing national memory.

This would not only fragment collective history but also diminish the state’s responsibility to promote unity and educate future generations.

While the family’s views must be heard and honored where possible, the state must retain ultimate responsibility for how it memorializes leadership and guards constitutional dignity.

Toward Codification, The Way Forward

It is true that Zambia would benefit from more comprehensive legislation governing the funerals of heads of state, similar to Tanzania’s National Leaders’ Funerals Act. Such a framework would eliminate ambiguity and reinforce the role of the state while balancing family rights with national duty.

But until that law is enacted, the combination of the Presidential Burial Site Act, national precedent, and opinio juris is sufficient legal ground for the government to act decisively, and with legitimacy.

A Call to Protect the National Compass

At stake is not merely one man’s burial site. It is the preservation of national unity, collective memory, and constitutional order.

The tradition of burying presidents at Embassy Park is not just symbolic. It is Zambia’s compass, a reflection of our values, history, and respect for the presidency. It must be upheld, not only because it has been done before, but because the state and its people believe it must be done, and that belief has legal weight.

Let us be careful not to allow grief to eclipse reason, nor individual preference to fracture national heritage.

“When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”
Let us not allow institutional clashes to damage our national fabric.

Mindset Must Change