PF created Lungu poisoning story, they should not blame us for SA probe – Mwiimbu
HOME Affairs and Internal Security Minister Jack Mwiimbu says PF has no moral right to blame government for the South African police inquiry into former president Edgar Lungu’s death, because the opposition party is the one that made the poisoning allegations.
Mwiimbu said government was now being unfairly accused of engineering an international investigation that only exists because PF members publicly claimed that Lungu had been poisoned.
This was in response to Shiwang’andu PF MP Stephen Kampyongo who demanded that President Hakainde Hichilema personally addresses the situation surrounding Lungu’s remains during parliamentary debates on Thursday.
Mwiimbu said government had never obstructed or politicised the matter, stating it was Lungu’s family that resisted procedures meant to facilitate the former president’s burial in Zambia.
“Taking into account that this matter has been raised on the floor of this House, it is my duty and responsibility to respond to the same thing,” Mwiimbu said.
“Madam Speaker, this government has always been desirous to bring the body of the late president to be buried in Zambia. It is the family, Madam Speaker, who do not want certain procedures to be taken. They wanted to bury [him] in South Africa. As a responsible government, on behalf of the people of Zambia, we decided to go to court in order to bring the body here, to be buried in his own homeland. That is the issue.”
He revealed that government dispatched emissaries to South Africa multiple times to plead with the family, only to later discover that some people purporting to speak on the family’s behalf were using the matter as a political tool.
“We, as government, are desirous to have the body brought home, given a dignified funeral and buried in Zambia. The issue was brought about by themselves, the PF,” he said.
“They are the ones who alleged that the president was poisoned. If you make such an allegation in a civilised society, the police will move in. That is what has happened in South Africa.”
Mwiimbu said government, like millions of Zambians, was alarmed when PF figures claimed Lungu had been poisoned.
He added that if the Lungu family has now decided they want the burial to take place in Zambia, government is fully ready to facilitate the repatriation of the body.
Earlier in the week, the case took a new twist when the South African Police Service (SAPS) questioned five members of Lungu’s family over the poisoning claims.
SAPS also issued a subpoena to Two Mountains Funeral Services, the funeral home keeping Lungu’s body, demanding that the remains be released for a police post-mortem.
Kalemba February 21, 2026
PF= poison = corruption