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The funeral of the former Zambian president Edgar Lungu has been stopped while mourners waited in a cathedral in Johannesburg, as an extraordinary feud Lungu had with his successor continues to play out after his death.
A high court judge in Pretoria ordered a halt to Lungu’s burial at the Cathedral of Christ the King in central Johannesburg on Wednesday morning after a last-minute request by Zambia’s attorney general.
Lungu’s wife, who was visibly upset, arrived at the cathedral shortly after the judge’s order and a mass was held instead. The judge ordered a full hearing to take place on 4 August.
Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died in South Africa this month aged 68 after an undisclosed illness. His family said he had made a specific request that the current president, Hakainde Hichilema, should not attend his funeral. The government had planned a state funeral presided over by Hichilema.
The attorney general, Mulilo Kabesha, told the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation that state funerals with full military honours were required by law, citing a previous local court ruling on the burial of Zambia’s first president, Kenneth Kaunda.
Kabesha said: “The high court ruled that a former president is not a private arrangement, is not private property, is national property and his burial should be handled by the state. The moment that a national mourning is declared, the law kicks in.”
Court papers filed by Kabesha said a grave had been prepared for Lungu in the national cemetery where all other former presidents are buried. A state funeral for Lungu has already been cancelled twice.
Hichilema defeated Lungu in a bitterly fought election in 2021, having lost to him in 2016. In 2017, Hichilema was sent to prison for four months on charges of treason after his convoy did not give way to Lungu’s presidential motorcade. The charges were dropped and Hichilema released after an international outcry.
After Hichilema took power, Lungu accused his successor of targeting him and in effect placing him under house arrest. In 2023, police stopped Lungu from going out for runs, saying they were “political activism” and needed to be approved beforehand to “ensure public safety”.
Lungu’s wife, Esther Lungu, and their children have faced various corruption charges. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing cars, which she was due to face in court this week.
Last year, Edgar Lungu attempted to return to frontline politics but was barred from running again for the presidency in next year’s election. Zambia’s constitutional court ruled that when Lungu took over as president after the incumbent, Michael Sata, died in 2015, the period until the 2016 election counted as a full first term in power.
Associated Press contributed to this report
