Lungu, as president, had been adamant that the national burial site was the only suitable resting place for a former leader.
In a bizarre and unprecedented turn of events, Edgar Lungu, the former President of Zambia, has remained unburied for nearly nine months after his death in June 2025. His body is currently being held in a mortuary in South Africa, caught in the middle of a bitter dispute between his family and the Zambian government.
The controversy stems from the clash between Lungu’s family, which desires a private burial, and the government, which insists on placing him in the national burial site traditionally reserved for Zambia’s former heads of state. This standoff has raised questions not only about the nation’s respect for its former leaders but also about the very nature of legacy and the tangled relationship between personal wishes and national symbols.
To make matters more complicated, the family has firmly stated that they do not want the current president of Zambia to attend the funeral. The tension is palpable, as the dispute continues to evolve, leaving the nation in suspense.
What makes this situation even more ironic is the historical context. When former President Kenneth Kaunda passed away in June 2021, Edgar Lungu, who was president at the time, found himself in the opposite position. Despite Kaunda’s family’s wishes to have him buried next to his late wife on their private farm, Lungu insisted on a national burial at the presidential site. The matter even went to the High Court, where Kaunda’s family lost the case. Lungu, as president, had been adamant that the national burial site was the only suitable resting place for a former leader.
Now, as his own death is met with a similar legal and political standoff, the question arises: how should a nation handle the final resting place of its leaders? Should it be about the wishes of the family, or is there a greater duty to honor the state and its symbols?
The legacy of Edgar Lungu, like many before him, now seems entangled in a complex web of personal rights and national pride. And for the Zambian people, the lingering question remains—when, and where, will Edgar Lungu finally rest?