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LAST Friday’s swift diplomatic intervention by Sadc Chair President Mnangagwa has resolved the standoff between Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and the family of the late former president Edgar Lungu, paving the way for his peaceful burial.
On Sunday, the Lungu family apologised for the tension, while funeral and burial arrangements were finalised with the government’s full support.
Former President Lungu who was 68, died on June 5, while receiving treatment in South Africa, but uncertainty lingered over his funeral and burial arrangements.
At the height of the disagreement last week, the Lungu family had threatened to bar President Hichilema from the funeral, sparking a dispute.
The Lungu family said the deceased had given orders that President Hichilema, who was his political rival, should not attend his funeral.
After the tension between the Lungu family and the government persisted for about a week, President Mnangagwa sent Vice President Constantino Chiwenga to Zambia on Friday to mediate.
As Sadc envoy, President Mnangagwa engaged in quiet diplomacy to resolve the disagreement. And, just two days after President Mnangagwa’s suave intervention, an amicable solution was reached.
At a joint Press briefing on Sunday, the Lungu family and the government revealed that former President Lungu’s body, which had been in South Africa since his death on June 5, will now be flown to Lusaka tomorrow on a charter plane.
Mr Makebi Zulu represented the Lungu family, while Mr Patrick Kangwa, secretary to the Cabinet, represented the Zambian government at the Press conference in South Africa.
The statement said, “For three days, starting on Thursday, it (the body) will be taken to a conference centre in the capital where the public can pay their respects.
“A State funeral will be held on Sunday, June 22, with official mourning ending the following day.”
The former president will be buried next Monday.
Mr Zulu said the family apologised “for the inconvenience and pain that the protracted negotiations may have caused, but we were doing our best to honour the former president’s personal wishes”.
Speaking for the Zambian government, Mr Kangwa said: “This is a moment for national reflection and collective mourning.”
Former president Lungu’s political party, the Patriotic Front, also revealed in a statement that an amicable solution had been reached.
“The party can confirm that an agreement has been reached between the State and the family regarding the burial of our late leader,” the statement read.
Diplomatic sources said had President Mnangagwa not intervened, the dispute would have spiralled out of control.
“Had the impasse continued, it could have led to a highly problematic scenario — burying a former Head of State without the presence of the current Head of State. That would have set a very unfortunate precedent,” said the sources.
Following his meeting with Vice President Chiwenga, President Hichilema expressed gratitude to President Mnangagwa for his intervention.
Former President Lungu served as Zambia’s sixth Head of State from 2015 to 2021.
He first took over after the death of his predecessor, President Michael Sata, in 2015 and then defeated President Hichilema in the 2016 elections. In 2021, the former president lost the election to President Hichilema.
After that defeat, he took a backseat from politics, but later bounced back, claiming victimisation by President Hichilema.
Last year, former president Lungu criticised President Hichilema for using the police to harass him and putting him under house arrest. He also said he had been prevented from leaving the country. The Zambian government denied both accusations.
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