⬆️ EXPLAINER | Lungu Burial Mediation Collapses: Politics of Grief at Play
Five months after former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s death in South Africa, his body remains unburied. The mission to bring closure has collapsed. Former Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, who was mediating between the State and the Lungu family, has withdrawn.
“Given the prevailing circumstances and the inability to secure a conclusive pathway forward, it has now become necessary to withdraw from the mediation process,” he said in a statement.
Lungu’s body, still in a South African morgue, has become the centerpiece of Zambia’s most unusual political standoff.
The dispute began as a private family disagreement over where and how Lungu should be buried. The government insists on Embassy Park, the official resting place for all former heads of state. The family, represented by lawyer and Patriotic Front presidential aspirant Makebi Zulu, argues for a private burial.
Zulu says the family’s position is based on security and personal dignity. But that line has slowly morphed into a political message: that defending Lungu’s body is a mission to defend his legacy.
Muluzi’s withdrawal leaves the issue squarely back in Zambian hands. He thanked President Hakainde Hichilema for his cooperation and called on “the family, the Zambian people, and their Government to conclude in a manner they will consider fitting and respectful.”
Behind the diplomacy lies frustration. Regional observers see the stalemate as both a failure of dialogue and a symptom of deep political mistrust.
For Makebi, the issue has become central to his political identity. “We lost our president, President Edgar Lungu, and as a party, we desire that he be given a dignified burial,” he declared while filing his PF nomination. The message was clear: to lead the PF is to carry the responsibility of burying its fallen leader. His campaign now revolves around the unburied body, presented as unfinished business that can only end when UPND leaves power.
That makes the politics of burial inseparable from Zambia’s next election. If President Hichilema wins re-election in 2026, Lungu will remain in a foreign mortuary. If UPND extends its rule to 2031 or beyond, the question becomes existential for Zulu’s movement. Can a political campaign survive on a corpse? Can a party sustain itself on mourning without renewal? The logic of waiting for regime change to bury a leader turns grief into a long-term political strategy.
The family’s narrative frames the State as vindictive and the burial delay as symbolic punishment. The government, in contrast, argues that it has shown restraint and respect. It insists the offer for an official state burial remains open, but the family keeps moving the goalpost. Between the two positions lies a void: one that has been filled by emotion, propaganda, and opportunism.
No other Zambian President has been trapped in posthumous politics. Kenneth Kaunda, Levy Mwanawasa, Michael Sata, and Rupiah Banda were all buried with cross-party cooperation. Lungu’s case breaks that pattern. His death has become an extension of Zambia’s political divide, a struggle between those who want his legacy glorified and those who want it concluded.
In the end, this is no longer about a grave but about power. A family’s loss has become a party’s manifesto. The late president’s body, lying thousands of kilometres away, now represents unfinished business in Zambia’s democracy. Who is benefiting from this impasse?
© The People’s Brief | Ollus R. Ndomu
Only one person can be blaned for insisting to see the dead body.
“HE THAT DIGS HOLES FOR OTHERS, SHALL HIMSELF BE BURIED IN THEM”. -EDITH NAWAKWI.
COPY AND PASTE SOUTHERN PROVINCE.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
Its ironic that the very same claim this is the person seeking to lead the PF and country.
Its inevitable that these talks were not going to succeed. How can Bishop Banda co-lead the Mediation with his prejudice?
During the funeral of Edgar Lungu; the man wanted to hijack the Service to be held at the Pope’s square. Where has every deceased Zambian senior Government official church service been held? Kaunda? Mwanawasa? Chiluba and Banda? Where was George Kunda church service held? Were all these leaders Anglican? Or as matter of practice the services have been held at the Anglican Cathidral on Church road?
He was asked to hold the memerial service in South Africa? What happened there? What have the courts ruled there?
The man even accepted a stolen car that was dubious given to him.
Is there no end to the manner this man imposes himself only for it slap him in the face?
Lets pick objective and impartial people if we seek constructive results.
This mediation process was bound to fail. Read what former Malawian President says.
Divisive in life and in death. Imilimo yabo, ikabakonka (your works will follow you).
Politicians must stop mocking God. His name must not be used as a means to polical power or we will bring judgement upon ourselves and our country. These are no ordinary happenings. You just can’t have a former president not buried five months after his demise.
Expunge “Zambia is a christian nation” from the preamble of the constitution. It is a mockery.