CHURCH CALLS FOR DIALOGUE BETWEEN GOVT AND LUNGU FAMILY AFTER COURT RULING ON BURIAL
Joseph Kaputula & Elesani Phiri
The Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia -EFZ- has appealed to government and the family of late former President Edgar Lungu to resolve their differences and accord him a dignified burial.
The appeal follows the South Africa Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision to set aside an August 2025 High Court order for Mr. Lungu’s repatriation after it ruled that government failed to establish a legal right, under common law or contract, to override the family’s burial decision.
EFZ Executive Director Bishop Allan Kasungami said Mr. Lungu should be buried in Zambia to allow many citizens an opportunity to give him a dignified send-off.
In an interview with Phoenix News, Bishop Kasungami emphasized that Mr. Lungu was not just a husband or father, but a President to all Zambians and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and therefore deserves a dignified send-off.
Meanwhile, Council of Churches in Zambia -CCZ- Board President Reverend Ackson Banda maintained that the church will not observe Mr. Lungu’s future memorials until his remains are buried in his homeland.
Reverend Banda told Phoenix News that Mr. Lungu deserves a befitting burial in Zambia, not in a foreign country especially that he remains a former Head of State.
PHOENIX NEWS
Awe please, we are TIRED of ICITUMBI Stories, the LUNGU`s and MALUKULA already decided that citizens will NOT have an opportunity to give him a dignified send-off.
REMEMBER: They were about to bury him in SA before the government intervened, which makes it so important for them to change their mind and want to burry in Zambia.
LET them BURY in SA in line with the judgement. ZAMBIANS are moving on, so there shouldn’t be any further discussion.
Going back to dialogue on what? The family are going to give him a dignified burial and we move on. What confusion is the quoted church proposing?
I thought that issue of Lungu is over. Let them burry him where ever will make them happy. They can as well burry him in Greenland or the Sahara desert, no one cares any more. People are busy harvesting crops for their livelihood now. Those churches if they so wish should organise a dignified burial for him at their own expense. People are tired. It shouldn’t be like he is the first head of state to die. What else do people want the government to do? People are tired of the same issue please.
100% on point! I can’t agree with you more. We have moved on.
Lungu was not fit to be President. We made a terrible emotional decision when he succeeded Sata. His true colours were written all over his seven year rule; drunkardness, vindictiveness, violence, lawlessness. We made the decision to oust him in 2021. The confusion over his burial is testimony to who he was, a confused fellow. He was undignified. His burial cannot give him the dignity he clearly lacked when he was alive.
Indeed, lets continue harvesting crops. There is more dignity in that than talking about the Lungu saga.
Time for dialogue is long gone. The family should decide now when and where they want to bury and get on with it. The zambian government is no longer involved and they are not obliged to facilitate for the burial even if it should be in zambia.
