⬆️ EDITORIAL | Was Lungu Unaware of The Malanji Looting?
Edgar Chagwa Lungu is no longer here to answer the charges that swirl around his presidency. He died in South Africa on June 5, 2025, leaving behind a family now locked in a bitter legal fight with the state over his burial. But his absence cannot erase the questions that history, and justice, continue to pose.
The convictions of Joseph Malanji and Fredson Yamba have cracked open the vault of a past too easily glossed over. Malanji, found guilty of acquiring property worth millions through illicit means, used a presidential jet to ferry cash from Turkey. Eleven million dollars withdrawn over the counter, flown home aboard 9J ONE, Zambia’s most sensitive aircraft. These were not isolated lapses; they were operations that would have been visible to the very centre of power.
And here lies the dilemma. Are Zambians to believe that a sitting president, himself a lawyer by training, was unaware that his foreign minister was moving money in such volumes, using state assets? Can the Treasury Secretary authorise transfers of K108 million without Cabinet-level knowledge? These questions are unavoidable, however uncomfortable they may be for those now calling for a dignified burial.
It is telling that the Drug Enforcement Commission is still searching for the missing balance of that $11 million. Just over $5 million has been recovered. The rest has vanished into a maze of deposits and purchases, while ordinary Zambians struggle with collapsed hospitals and empty classrooms. This is not a story of persecution. It is a story of betrayal.
Yet, as government negotiates with the Lungu family over funeral arrangements, reports have emerged of allies close to the family lobbying for cases to be dropped. If this is true, then the debate is not only about dignity in death. It is about impunity in life. Justice must not be traded for ceremonial reconciliation.
The truth is that Zambia cannot afford selective amnesia. To pretend that these crimes occurred in isolation, without the knowledge or protection of the highest office, is to insult the intelligence of the public. It is to normalise grand corruption as a routine of governance. That cannot be the legacy Zambia builds on.
Lungu’s defenders will say he is gone and deserves rest. But the burden of accountability is heavier than the casket. His presidency fostered a climate in which ministers could loot with impunity, and it is dishonest to pretend otherwise. The comparisons Zambians now make between the heavy sentences given to stock thieves and the lighter years handed to grand looters reflect a nation’s pain and disillusionment.
History must judge Edgar Lungu fairly but firmly. His legacy is inseparable from the scandals that flourished under his watch. If the fight against corruption is to mean anything, it must reach beyond Malanji and Yamba to the very culture of leadership that enabled them.
At The People’s Brief, we write not to condemn for the sake of condemnation, but to insist that truth is not negotiable. Zambia needs an honest conversation about the past if it is to build a clean future. The Lungu family may seek dignity in death, but the nation demands accountability in history.
Write to us at editor.peoplesbrief@gmail.com. Your views and insights help shape this conversation.
© The People’s Brief | Editorial
Is Hakainde aware who stole the sulligate worth 750 million USD? Is he aware who turned KKIA pure grade gold to dust? Is he aware which ministers are being investigated by the ACC? Or who abducted Why Me and JJ? Or who impregnated the girl?
VOTE WISELY IN 2026.
@ Haaindigo Tyrol yours is to support no matter how grevious the crime was. I wouldn’t be surprised if you and your connections were beneficiaries of these crimes. ECL s barber was heavily shielded in State House even when LUNGU knew he shot dead Lawrence Banda in cold blood. Today the guy is jail. The painful part of the Malanji heist is that it happened at the difficult time of COVID when State resources were extremely stretched. The Machines at the Cancer hospital had broken down with no money to procure new ones or even repair. The dialysis consumables for renal patients were fully exhausted with no money for replenishment yet Malanji and his boss could loot the Millions of Dollars. These guys are no different from Murderers .
HaaAmbanwa,
Who am I supporting in my comment? I have asked questions and you jump to conclusions that I support PF. Are you that binary orientated? Can non partisan citizens not ask questions? What is wrong with you, birthright people? My questions are all very valid, and deserve answers. Do not follow blindly like how cows follow their kachema leading them to an abattoir. Put country first before your tribe.
REJECT TRIBALISM, CORRUPTION AND OPPRESSION.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
What is your comment on malanji using the presidential jet?
Was the president aware or not?
If he was aware,why did he allow such to happen under his watch?
If he was not aware about it, what action did he take? Don’t be blind supporter!! otherwise………
HaaCoax, just answer my questions. We need answers not just from PF but those currently stealing and shielding their fellow thieves. Just because they are your tribesmen does not mean they can continue stealing in the name of Ingombe Ilede. You should denounce their rotten behaviour.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
On point indeed.we are being oppressed by the same people who treated us to an iron rule.
Why did Mama Esther give
$400,000.00 to a relative for safekeeping when we have banks????
Was this money part of the heist?
If Malanji acted so impudently and in isolation, was the Giant asleep?
He signed off the the jet, only who can do
The $6M they have failed to trace was Lungu’s cut. He took it and invested in SA. That’s the loot plus others that has made the Lungu family big headed. It’s time government changed it’s stance let them be and make sure no stone is left unturned. All those assets from Dalisa, Tasila, the girl, faith, Ester and the King PIN himself and then add his Ministers and cadres! You can’t have anything left in the treasury coffers.
Ediga was a beneficiary of that theft. He personally sent the presidential jet to pick malanji with the loot so that the guy wouldn’t have to use a commercial flight where he would be subjected to stringent checks and caught with all that cash. With a private plane and diplomatic passport there was no security check involved.