by ARNOLD MULENGA
LUSAKA – THE Zambian government has made a last-ditch effort to stop the burial of former president, Edgar Lungu, in South Africa.
He was to be buried on Wednesday (today) but the Attorney General, Mulilo Kabesha, in the eve sued Lungu’s family in Pretoria High Court challenging their intention to inter the ex-leader there.
Kabesha is seeking an urgent interim court order to halt any burial until all disputes relating the deceased’s final resting place are resolved.
He argues the burial of a former head of state in Zambia is a formal public event of national interest, governed by strict military protocols.
When Lungu was in power, Zambian courts ruled against the wishes of the family of ex-president, Kenneth Kaunda, for a private funeral in 2021.
He was buried at the Embassy Park monument, like all other previous presidents.
How South African courts will handle the issue remains to be seen, considering the late request by the Zambian government, and that South Africa has in recent days maintained it would be guided by the wishes of the Lungu family.
It is the latest twist in what has been a dragging issue for all parties involved in the wrangle since his death in South Africa on June 5.
Earlier on Tuesday, Lungu’s Patriotic Front (PF), revealed he would be buried in Johannesburg on Wednesday (today).
According to the programme provided by the former governing party, the funeral was to be at the Cathedral of Christ the King in the Hillbrow area, starting at 11h00.
Procession to private burial will be at 13h30.
Lungu died on June 5, aged 68, in Pretoria, where he was receiving treatment. There was to be no body viewing.
His family and government fell out over the repatriation and burial.
More than 20 PF Members of Parliament had travelled to South Africa by Tuesday.
On Tuesday (yesterday), President Hakainde Hichilema met a delegation of the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), where the deadlock dominated the agenda.
“If President Lungu is not buried at the designated site, it is not for lack of trying on our part,” Hichilema said.
“He deserves to be laid to rest with dignity, military honours, and in his homeland where Zambians twice elected him to the highest office.”
Lungu was president from 2015 to 2021. His loss extended the enmity that existed between him and ex-opposition leader, Hichilema.
South African-based Zambian retired soccer star, Dennis Lota, was in 2014 buried in South Africa. This was marred by a feud between his widow and his family over where he could be buried.
– CAJ News
