Zambia’s government takes possession of ex-president’s body in repatriation row

The Zambian government has said it has taken possession of the body of former president Edgar Lungu – who died in South Africa 10 months ago – against the wishes of the family.

This is the latest episode in a row over what should happen to his remains following a long-standing feud between Lungu and his successor, president Hakainde Hichilema.

The government has maintained that as a former head of state, Lungu should be honoured in the country and buried alongside his predecessors in the special presidential burial ground in the capital, Lusaka.

But Lungu’s family wanted a private burial after negotiations with the government over the funeral arrangements broke down.

However, last August, a South African court ruled that Zambia’s government could repatriate the body and give him a state funeral.

The family appealed against the decision, but the body’s transfer follows their “inability to proceed with their case” at the appeals court, a statement from Zambia’s attorney general, Mulilo Kabesha, said.

Interviewed on a Zambian YouTube news channel on Wednesday evening, Lungu family spokesman Makebi Zulu disputed that the appeals process had lapsed, saying the correct procedure had been followed.

The family’s lawyers have now made an urgent application to the high court in South Africa for the former president’s body to be returned to the funeral home where it was originally being kept.

Lungu died of an undisclosed illness last June, aged 68, at a clinic in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.

He had led Zambia from 2015 until 2021, when he lost elections by a huge margin to Hichilema.

The relationship between the two politicians had long been fraught, with Lungu’s family saying the former president had not wanted Hichilema to attend his funeral.

But the Zambian government wanted Lungu’s remains to be repatriated and given a state funeral, with full state honours, which a South African court agreed to last year.

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