We don’t wish to come back to Zambia – Lungu family
FORMER First Lady Esther Lungu has told the Pretoria High Court in South Africa that she, together with her sister in law Bertha Lungu and children, Tasila, Dalitso and Chiyeso Lungu no longer wish to return to Zambia and are thinking of changing their immigration status to permanently reside in South Africa.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CVQHBJsaC/?mibextid=oFDknk
In an affidavit filed before the Court, Esther disclosed that she, along with her three children and sister in law are seeking continued protection in South Africa because they no longer feel safe or welcome in Zambia.
“At this stage, it is undesirable for any of the First to Sixth Respondents to continue to reside in Zambia on a permanent basis,” reads the document in part.
She added that the family’s continued stay in Zambia is no longer desirable due to what they describe as ongoing oppression and persecution by the current Zambian government.
Esther disclosed that they are only returning to the country for “ad hoc visits” to attend court appearances, which they argue are tied to “vexatious charges” brought against them by the State.
“The Respondents are however attending to
regular ad hoc visits to Zambia in order to appear in Court on the vexatious charges levelled against them by the Applicant until those proceedings have concluded,” she said.
Esther revealed in the court document that Lungu actually fled Zambia in January 2025, not just to seek urgent medical treatment but to also find personal refuge from the “hostile political climate.”
“It is paramount to mention, the late President Lungu travelled to the RSA in order to seek immediate and urgent medical treatment and to find personal refuge from the hostile political climate in Zambia,” she stated.
She added that it became abundantly clear to her late husband that he could never return to his homeland, as he would not be able to receive proper medical care in Zambia due to what they describe as interference from the authorities.
The former first lady revealed that she accompanied the former president on that trip, alongside the family spokesperson Makebi Zulu and other family members arriving at O.R. Tambo International Airport as ordinary passengers without any reception from Zambian officials.
She told the court that Lungu realised, soon after arriving in South Africa, that he would never be able to return to Zambia due to what she described as interference from authorities, including in his access to healthcare.
The widow revealed that after they arrived in South Africa, the former president was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the oesophagus.
According to Esther, doctors told the family that had he received treatment, earlier in 2023 or early 2024, the tumour could likely have been removed.
But by the time of his diagnosis in South Africa, the condition had advanced too far, leaving only palliative care as an option.
In her affidavit, Esther said she and her late husband had discussed at length the need to regularise their stay in South Africa, given the “oppressive behavior” of the Zambian government.
She said the former president became consistent in expressing his wish never to be buried with any state involvement from Zambia.
Esther recounted that her husband explicitly said President Hakainde Hichilema should have “nothing to do with his funeral or body” and had repeated that wish to their lawyer Makebi Zulu, their children and Zambian historian Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa, who visited him in May 2025 for an academic interview.
According to Esther, her husband found it “immoral and disrespectful” for a perceived enemy to preside over a person’s burial after subjecting them to mistreatment in life.
She said the former president had specifically referred to the funeral of late opposition leader Edith Nawakwi, where he felt President Hichilema acted “hypocritically.”
Esther told the court that her last conversation with her husband was on June 3, 2025 just before he was sedated and placed on a ventilator.
She described it as a painful farewell in which the former president again reiterated that the current Zambian leadership should be kept away from his burial.
The affidavit also referenced the former president’s final public appearance in May 2025 when photos of his meeting with Dr. Sishuwa were posted on social media and widely circulated in Zambia.
The images, which are included in the more than 100 page court filings, were the first public confirmation of his presence in South Africa since January.
This is in a matter where Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha has filed a lawsuit seeking to have Lungu’s body repatriated to Zambia for a State funeral and burial…https://kalemba.news/court/lungu-family-plans-to-permanently-settle-in-sa-court-documents-reveal/
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, July 12, 2025
This in effect is an application for asylum which was denied by a Canadian court three years ago.The Lungus must be denied an escape route because someone is facing a criminal offence that carries a custodial sentence in Zambia.The Lungu’s can only become South Africans as free individuals not fugitives .In fact.when they return to Zambia, they should be treated as flight risks
Is this really true? If some Lungu family members do not wish to return to Zambia, that’s no big deal. Life in Zambia will continue as before as it does not revolve around the Lungu family.
This was their desire all along even the burial shenanigans were meant to justify running away from their cases. Yes our country under HH is hostile to thieves who use state house to steal from citizens. And this move proves Fresher Siwale and late Mike Mulongoti were right about Mtawali being a foreigner. No one would runaway from his country. He even failed to convince us about his Petauke roots. They have seen the loot they stole will not be given back to them. So they want to use the cash they externalized to settle in RSA. Let’s hope South Africa does not collude in this evil escape plan. America refused when they tried to run there.
How do you run cases if you are innocent???? given lubinda was acquitted because was clean he never thought of running away from Zambia.
These are a bunch of klepomanics. An entire clan to move to another country, and do what there? None of them can petition given the criminal record but for the sister in law. What happens to her family?
Rule one of permanent residency. No criminal record. Am sure that may have been the basis of the Canadian government declining their assylum application. They dont want people who actually they knew had criminal transactions going on during their rule. Otherwise why their governments withhold aid during the PF era.
Shortly they will be granted residency in Zimbabwe. Its that not the 1st port of call for all accused criminals have run to?
The 1million dollar question that is triggered by the undertones of Makebi Zulu’s firm statemement and the South African NGO petitioning their Ministry of Home Affairs. Whose body is lying in the mortury? Has it been proven that its Edgar Lungu? Commenters on the issue have spoke of the possibly that its not giving example of an escaped convict who evaded the law and used the body of another person. When they say…”desperate time call for desparate measures”….they were not kidding
Will someone please educate me on this one: can they not be extradited back to Zambia to face the law? Or South Africa and Zambia have no extradition treaty? What about freezing their accounts and assets? If someone can kindly alleviate my ignorance, on these matters I will be grateful. No shop-floor politicians or law experts please, I genuinely want to learn.
It would be my pleasure to address your ignorance. The assets belonging to ECL and family will be seized, no doubt. The Chawama seat Tasila holds will be recycled to UPND, obviously.
However, all this will be reversed when a new proper president is sworn in next year. Persecution will be reversed. Community house will be seized, and the immunity those people from that place are enjoying will expire, and arrests will follow, for crimes committed. Even those not being arrested for being porn stars will be arrested. Dirty laundered money in Panama will be brought back to Zambia. Mines given to LGBT masters will be grabbed, just like what Captain Ibrahim Traore has done. Cyber laws will now target those groups that are currently exempt.
I hope it is now clear. Welcome to African politics.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
I had specified, no shop-floor politics, and what do I get in the end, a real minger. I can see the lights are on, but there’s no one home!! I’m off!
You are really sick for you to think there will be a new President soon.You will die with heart attack.People in the villages are withdrawing tuma CDF. keep on dreaming boss. Tribalists like you without any shame will end up urinating on the bed if you don’t wake up now
Ati Mulenga kanshi muli bamunshilumbulwa
Imagine. They think they are clever. From top to bottom, they lie and deceive. God help us.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
Foreigners in Zambia pretending to be Bembas.Panyo panu!
A name does not carry anything but what he said.Tribalists like you looking at names are a problem. Stay in USA or Canada to open up your brain which is packed in your bums without shame or decency. Anyone who does not agree with you is not Bemba. You really think we are all idiots like you? What an idiot you are…I thank God for not growing up in Zambia among animals like you. I blame the Zambian education system.Look at yourself in the mirror…what an Idiot.Possibly from Tanzania or congo if not mistaken like Mwamba
I would be surprised if a country can grant permanent residence to people facing court charges in their country.
I guess trumped up charges do not count. How many have been successfully extradited to Zed since your dictator leader took over? Not even a chameleon. Understand that other countries follow the law. They are not ruled by Freemasons.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
Allow them to immigrate but what about Makebi Zulu? Has he also decided to do the needful?
What crime has Makebi committed? Do you want to purge everyone that is not like you out of the country?
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
It’s now clear who HaaIndigoTyrol.is…..dont be emotional in your job counsel…. especially as a general practitioner (gp)…. you are exposing level… no wonder Attoney General is able to toss you around legally they know your strength and weaknesses……especially now that your political career is over.
Space to spend stolen loot has shrunk. This family will do anything to expand their horizons for a safe space to spend the loot. The truth of the matter is no one ever finds peace with stolen things. The tears of Zambians suffering from money robbed from them will make sure those involved in the loot will never enjoy that money. I would rather be free in poverty at home than rich in exile and alone.
Mama you and all your children have cases here. You need to come and answer charges in zambia whether you like it or not which might even land you in prison and also all your assets to be forfeited to the state. Therefore amwapeeeeeellliiiinng please just come back!
Ba Razor that woman is not that clever to steal that much money.She was just used.She also stole from the blind husband $400 000 USA dollars.Kept it with thieves.She needs to be forgiven
You don’t forgive somebody who has not admitted his/her wrongs. That woman is a full blown criminal who knew what she was doing. Are you saying the competent lawyers who found her with cases to answer were wrong? Let us not be naive people. Wake up Zambians.
They should have said it just there and then instead of beating about the bush even accusing an innocent person and government. This was a well planed move, the very time Lungu left the country is the same time Mwamba left. Mrs. Lungu is saying her late husband was diagnosed with Oesophagus Cancer but Nakachinda said he was poisoned and when the long arm of the law gets him, he will cry wolf. The fake death certificate we saw on social media show that Lungu died of natural causes. So why tarnishing the image of the government when they have messed up the issue themselves. Taking a suspect to Court is not persecution but a great opportunity to clear his/her name. After all the Law says one is innocent until proven guilty. So who told the Lungus that they are guilty and they need to go into exile?
Lungu was enjoying his full immunity hence there was no need to flee the country, to claim that Lungu fled the country because persecution is unjustifiable. Lungu never smelt or entered any jail compared to his successor whom he jailed passing through Lilayi, Chimbokaila and Mukobeko with the holding cells smeared with human waste.
It matters less ..
I have never seen such a low life family like this one before.
Imagine.These people were once the first family, for christs sake.One l would have expected a higher level of patriotism, but alas, we put some serious sh**t in state house
Even traditional wisdom warns us not to insult the chief when you decide to leave a village. In Bemba we say tabeshiba uko uleya, beshiba uko ulefuma!
These thieves have nowhere to go now. The world has shrunk, the only thing remaining is issuing irrelevant statements that can only make sense to her. Unfortunately they’ll never enjoy the stolen loot, Lungu left the money behind they’ll equally leave it.
I still maintain that Lungu is alive, and watching the episode somewhere. This family does not look like people who have lost a loved one. They are hiding something.
Haindigole, are you in mass or mwitesla? Who is the spokes person for the family? At least you acknowledge that the family have committed crimes! Good start!! Next is the lawyer to admit concealing information. Who will that lawyer be?
I have just established that Haindigol is actually Makebi Zulu.
Agree with you
Plan B and Conspiracy theory at work
Ba kashana mulesala bwino. These crooks you choose for husbands will leave you in problems. You will run but you won’t hide.
they say, that their wish Is never to return to Zambia. Does it mean that Tasila has also abandoned her parliamentary seat?
But you should come back and answer criminal charges in the courts of law.
A nonsensical ECL saga! The Lungu family is raising a middle finger to Zambians and national leadership with a anger born out of hatred and shock to acknowledge that the one Lungu had vouched would never be president for as long as Lungu himself lived! What is the family playing at? I’m inclined to think a stunt is being performed! Why sould there be no viewing of the body? Is Esther Lungu really dead?
Is Esther Lungu really in mourning for a dead husband?
Is Lungu really dead or that is plan B. And rise from the dead when HH leaves office?
It’s time for the government to change into top gear and get all these criminals back. If Lungu was stealing using them then they need to answer the charges and show as how he did it. Now they have dug a very big hole for them to come out. They now make the issue very hot for the SA government. Lungu and all his family are criminals and that’s how he used his criminality to become a Zambian president. He should his character by breaking down every fabric of Zambian institutions and the rule of law. A person who couldn’t afford a K10,000.00 presidential nomination to building schools and malls in his name. It easily shows that to do that he had to have put aside very big chunks of money for himself. For instance you gives his son 80+ vehicles, a fuel filling station,
let’s his daughter to fence a government forest? When you see the money that was given to Faith Musonda it all tells you PF and Lungu were there to steal. The revelation that he has over 50 houses in a Joburg prime area and 100 luxury vehicles fits Lungu’s mode of operation. The government should spare zero effort to grab all these assets and look for the other funds wanted to go and loot when they took him off the aircraft. If it means suing the South African government over this issue so be it. South African citizens will only be to happy to support the efforts. They are sick and tired of criminality being committed in there country while the ANC government looks elsewhere.
The Lungu family is exploiting the death of former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu to engage in political maneuvering and to damage the reputation of President Hakainde Hichilema and his administration.
If the Lungu family faces scrutiny for embezzling funds and other corruption-related offenses, this cannot be classified as persecution, as the law treats everyone equally, regardless of wealth. Should the Lungu family be found to have acquired assets and funds through dubious means, the state must pursue their offenses to the fullest extent.
Conversely, during his presidency, Edgar Chagwa Lungu subjected Hakainde Hichilema to severe humiliation and persecution, labeling him with various derogatory terms to inflict distress. The Lungu family is not being persecuted or tormented; they are merely under investigation, and they do not possess immunity from criminal inquiries. The Lungu family is attempting to evade justice by seeking false asylum in South Africa following the death of former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. Their close associates are backing them, as they have profited from the corruption and theft.
When individuals express the truth, it does not imply animosity towards the Lungu family; rather, it is their wrongful actions that are despised. Similarly, the law investigates criminal activities without persecuting those who break the law.
The movie is just long with intriguing questions.Medical attention or escape? Burial place of choice or have relocated?
The dynasty.Will the matter end at funeral or other issues may arise? The real truth will mark the end of the movie leaving the viewers perplexed.Good life best living.