By Hopewell Chin’ono
President Hakainde Hichilema and his government have filed a court application suing the wife and children of former Zambian President Edgar Lungu to stop his burial in South Africa, scheduled for tomorrow.
The Zambian government insists that he must be buried in Zambia, arguing that the burial of a former president is a matter of public interest and governed by state protocol.
In what is now a desperate attempt to have the body of the former president returned to Lusaka, the government maintains that such a burial must follow official procedures.
The family argues that Hichilema is being hypocritical, having previously withdrawn Lungu’s benefits citing the law, and that no law mandates a president be buried in Zambia or at a ceremony presided over by a sitting president.
Those close to the family say there is talk of desperation to access the body for so-called rituals—an embarrassing accusation that is now tainting Zambia’s image.
The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, sent his Foreign Minister, Ronald Lamola, to Lusaka to convey a message to President Hichilema that South African law forbids the government from intervening.
Sources within the South African government said President Hichilema asked the minister if anything could be done, and was told that there was nothing President Ramaphosa could do, as South African institutions are independent and not subject to presidential directives.
The same drama happened in Zimbabwe when former President Robert Mugabe left a similar instruction that he did not want to be buried at the country’s Heroes Acre. To his credit, the Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa did not stop Mugabe’s burial at his village.
Again, accusations of wanting the body for ritual purposes were raised, and Mugabe’s wife stood her ground. There was an attempt to exhume his body using the captured judiciary, but it has not been done.
