The former Zambia president and the unjustified order over his body

“Go home!” – A phrase indelibly associated with fans of English football – now it has acquired a currency among some Zambians in the battle on what to do with the body of former President Edgar Lungu.

The 68-year-old died two months ago in South Africa, where he was treated for an undisclosed disease.

In the last episode of what is now a complete saga, the Pretoria court ruled in favor of the Zambian government, saying that in the public interest the remains of Lungu could be repatriated and provided at a state funeral against the wishes of the family.

The decision caused celebrations among some supporters of the ruling party, who shared Facebook publications with the phrase: “Get home,” as if Zambia won a trophy.

It may not have been answered, but it symbolized how much separation and partisan this happened.

For some who are tired of the row, sorrow and grief that came with the passage of Lungu, faded in feelings of fatigue.

But despite numerous more economical problems, public discussions continue to be dominated by the death of the former president, who has led the country for six years since 2015.

The seeds of the dispute were sown in the enmity between Lungu and his heir – the man who firmly defeated him in the 2021 election – Hakinde Dichillema. But now she dwells on a number of wild accusations of witchcraft.

When the judge in South Africa made his decision last week, the subsequent anger of Lungu’s older sister was talking.

Bertha Lungu erupted in a fit of rage, crying uncontrollably as she threw indisputable words to Zambia General Prosecutor Mulilo Cabsha, who was also present in court.

“Kabsha, Lungu is not your father’s son … He is not Hakainde’s son … It’s really painful. I don’t want to go to Zambia,” she called out as people, including her niece, Tassila Lungu, struggles to comfort her and cover her mouth.

The body has not yet been repatriated in Zambia because the Lungu family is attractive against the judge’s decision in South Africa – a case that must be heard on Friday.

All this had to be settled in June, when the family initially agreed that there could be a state funeral in Zambia. But the plans were considered a dispute over what role President Hichillema would play.

Lungu’s family said that one of his dying desires is that a hychillema should not walk anywhere near his body.

The key to understanding hostility was more than 100 days, which the Opposition Leader at the time, spent in detention in 2017, in anticipation of a lawsuit on state treason.

He was accused of threatening the life of then -President Lungu after his forklifts refused to give way to the one who transported the head of state.

The allegations had only been dropped after the intervention of the Secretary -General of the Community. It was one of times that he was arrested while he was in the opposition.

Belog, for his part, suggested persecution under the hychillema. Tasila and the widow of the former president, Esther, continue to face accusations of corruption they deny.

Lungu’s family swore that they are ready to wait for the lawsuit, as long as it is necessary to ensure that he or she is given a funeral that they consider worthy, even if it means stopping the process, according to their spokesman Makeby Zulu.

They insist that while they were opened to bury Lungu in Zambia, they want to honor his wishes to not attend the event.

But the authorities are adamant that the former president must be provided at a state funeral to attend his heir and send a correct dispatch as a former president.

The government, through the Attorney General, even indicated that Lungu may have to be buried without the participation of the family.

“If they want to set a precedent, let them give us reasons why the current president should not approach the ark. And who told them that he wants to be close to the ark anyway?” He told the ZNBC state operator.

“We are ready as a government to discuss with the family, we will never ignore the family unless the family just comes out … But the family has the right to say,” We are not coming, we are not part of it. “Then we will continue and bury without them.”

There is no Zambia law to anticipate how former presidents should be buried.

Traditionally, all former leaders received state funerals and buried at the Park Embassy, which is specially preserved for them.

Sishuwa Sishuwa, a historian and senior teacher at Zambia at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, strongly disagrees with the idea that Lungu can be buried without the participation of his family.

“Such reckless statements are culturally insensitive, undermine the government’s claims that his actions are motivated by the desire to provide Lungu with a worthy funeral and to point out that political considerations, not the public interest, are the key drivers of the game,” he told the BBC.

“The failure of the hychillema to take advantage of the uneducated behavior of his employees and supporters, nourishes the public view that the president approves such behavior and therefore strengthens divisions.”

He claims that if he has publicly stated that he would stay away from the funeral, Lungu would be buried for a long time.

Dr. Svivwi says that the resolution of the authorities to take Lungu’s body from the grieving family – in the name of giving him a worthy funeral – not only worsened political divisions, but also fed the belief that the body could be wanted for the body, in which the country in which the country is fed in the country, Causes, in a country where the country in which it was nourished the belief that the body could be wanted “for occult reasons,” in a country where the country in which it was dealing with Belief in witchcraft is widespreadS

Nevers Mumba, the leader of the Multi -Party Democracy Movement, which is in a political union with the Hichlema Party, defended the president.

“What drives (the president) is not a mania, but a deep, deep sense of debt. Hakainde Hichillema never gives up everything he pursues while he believes he is doing the right thing,” writes Mumba, who is also a pastor, wrote on his Facebook page.

“He struggles with a clear conscience to the end and continues to refine his methods until he is fine.”

How long this battle will last, it is unknown, but several episodes of the saga are yet to be written.

The Zambians can shrug and try to focus on other issues, but they will still be attracted to the debate about whether the body should “go home”.