Jane Chanda
Family representative and lawyer to late former president Edgar Lungu’s Makebi Zulu says any position from the government that goes against the desires of the family will not be accepted.
Zulu, however said, “we remain amenable to a win-win situation that accommodates all the views of the stakeholders involved.”
Addressing the nation today from South Africa, Zulu who was flanked by Lungu’s daughter Tasila and her husband, said the family met with the government represented by minister of Justice Mulambo Haimbe, to discuss the handling of the late president’s remains and the government sought the family’s position on the burial arrangement.
He said the family expressed its desire to respect the former president’s wish to be buried in Zambia.
According to Zulu, Lungu’s contributions to the country, including massive infrastructure development, earned him the right to be mourned in dignity by all Zambians.
“The family wishes to respect the wishes of the former president of the Republic of Zambia and the respect that has been accorded to him,” Zulu said.
He said president Lungu deserved the honors of being buried with the dignity that would be accorded to him by Zambians, and that he took cognizant of the fact that he served the country faithfully and diligently, putting aside personal wants and putting the country back on a trajectory of development.
Zulu highlighted the challenges president Lungu faced during his time in office and after, particularly with regards to his health.
He said in 2022, President Lungu requested to travel to South Africa for medical treatment, but the state rejected his request.
“The request was re-submitted in 2023, and the state responded by stating it had no resources. When president Lungu offered to use his own resources, the state still denied his request in a letter dated September 7, 2023,” Makebi said. “It should be known that at any given time, the state was aware of the ailment of president Lungu having served the state and thereafter, being former president. They knew what his condition was, despite all the knowledge that they had, they still refused to allow him to travel.”
He said when doctors advised him to seek medical attention in South Africa in 2025, president Lungu had to travel as an ordinary citizen, booking a last-minute ticket at the airport for purposes of not allowing the state to have enough time to concoct and stop him.
Zulu said the late Lungu arrived at the airport 30 minutes before boarding and eventually boarded adding that those that dared to give him courtesies at the airport had since been fired.
He noted that doctors in South Africa expressed concern that had he traveled earlier, they could have made certain interventions that would have saved him today, and his death would not be the discussion today.
“As the family mourns, they call for unity and sovereignty, and they call for introspection that this should not be a cause for division but a cause for unity,” Zulu said. “We call for unity and sovereignty, and we call for introspection that this should not be a cause for division but a cause for unity.”
Zulu also mentioned that upon his travel, all his privileges had been withdrawn by the government, and he had to travel under different circumstances than when he was still receiving other entitlements such as the pay that is due to the former head of state.
