The family of former Zambia President Edgar Lungu says he will be buried in a private ceremony in South Africa after a line on the funeral system of funeral.
At the end of Thursday, President Hakendede Hichilima reduced the duration of national mourning after Langu’s family refused to allow her body to be employed from South Africa. His last rites were performed on Sunday in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
The family now states that it will declare later when Lungu will be buried in Johannesburg in “dignity and peace”.
This will be the first time that a former head of another country is buried in South Africa.
In his will, Lungu said that his long -term rival, Hichilima, should not attend her funeral.
The government and his family later agreed that they would have a state funeral before the relationship is broken on the exact arrangements.
Family spokesperson Makebi Zulu said in a statement, “We want to announce that our beloved Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s funeral and buried will be according to the family’s wishes for a private ceremony here in South Africa.”
Mr. Zulu thanked the South African government for “non-intervention” and respected the family’s decision and will during the “this deep emotional period”.
In her address on Thursday, President Hichilima said that Lungu, as a former President, belongs to the nation of Zambia and so her body should be buried with full respect in Zambia, not in any other nation “.
However, due to the line, he declared an immediate end for the mourning period, saying that the country needs to “resume normal life”.
“The government has made every effort to join the family of our late sixth President,” he said.
The national mourning period lasted from 8 to 14 June, but was later extended to 23 June, in which the flags flying at half-mastool and radio stations, which played music.
President Hichilima and senior officials were ready to receive Lungu’s coffin with full military honors on Wednesday.
However, Lungu’s family blocked the repatriation of their remains at the last minute, saying that the government had re -worked on its agreement on funeral plans.
Opposition patriotic front (PF), party Lungu led his death, stood up with the family on funeral plans.
PF acting president said Lubinda, “The government has changed a serious opportunity in a political game.” “It’s not how we treat the former head of the state.”
Civil society groups have called for an immediate solution to the matter, stating that the stand-off is “damaging our country’s dignity”.
“We appeal to humility, dialogue, and a proposal that united the nation, honoring the memory of the former President,” said Emmanuel Chicoya, the head of the Church of Churches in Zambia.
Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died in South Africa earlier this month, where he was getting an unknown disease treatment.
Six years later as the head of the state, Lungu lost the 2021 election by a huge margin of Hikilima. He stepped back from politics but later returned to the field.
He had ambitions to VIE for the presidency again, but at the end of last year, the Constitutional Court stopped him from running, ruled that he had already served the maximum two conditions allowed by the law.
Despite his disqualification from the presidential election, he was extremely influential in Zambian politics and did not return to his successor.
