Lungu’s Burial Date Set as State, Family Reach Agreement
After days of uncertainty and behind-the-scenes negotiations, the Government of Zambia and the family of the late former President Edgar Chagwa Lungu have reached an agreement on his burial arrangements.
According to a statement by the Patriotic Front (PF), President Lungu’s remains will be repatriated from South Africa on Wednesday, 18th June 2025, with the burial scheduled for Monday, 23rd June 2025.
President Lungu passed away on 5th June 2025 while undergoing medical treatment in South Africa. Since his death, discussions between the State and the Lungu family have reportedly centred on issues related to funeral protocols and burial rights.
In a brief announcement, the PF confirmed that the outstanding matters had been resolved, but did not provide further details. “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.
President Lungu, who served as Zambia’s sixth Republican President from 2015 to 2021, will be accorded the respect due to a former Head of State, although final details on the funeral programme are still expected from government sources.
The announcement is likely to bring some closure to supporters and citizens across the country who have been waiting for clarity on the late President’s final journey.
Further updates are expected in the coming days.
Very embarrassing episode…….
Something solemn where we were supposed to be mourning, turned into an episode of political arm twisting and bitterness………
Let’s hope the funeral goes well and the country moves on……….
FWD2031
If all has been agreed, let us move forward and stop writing lubbish. Some maturity and responsibility required now.
But why are lawyers involved on the Lungu family side if there are no legal issues to sort out regarding this funeral?
Very embarrassing he hasnt been taken to all the provinces first
some are going to be very dissapointed
Tikki
With load shedding, taking the body around the country is not possible
FED2031
Will His Excellency HH the head of state be allowed to attend the funeral? That was bitter Lungu’s wish .
Some maturity required please
Wishes arent granted in our country
we’ve been wishing for a better lifestyle and conditions for 60 years
and all we are told work harder
How can a head of state be blocked from going to any place in Zambia? That’s fantasy. We saw similar things two years during the Kuomboka ceremony. Nason Msoni was one of the most vocal on it. He was looking forward to seeing HH get embarrassed if he dared to attend. HH attended the ceremony and there was no embarrassment caused to him. Msoni was so ashamed that he learned to keep his mouth shut for a while.
Gunner
Have you forgotten that Lungu was refused attendance to the Kuomboka by the hooligans supported by the Upnd? No wonder that presidential motorcade was verbally attacked by the opposition. Setting a no go area for a republican president is treason. Some people have cited WP and SP as out of bounds areas for sitting presidents.
You are right, Forget not. You cannot stop a sitting president from going to any place in Zambia. Thugs do not observe decency, including those who stopped ECL attending the Kuomboka after losing presidential power. I hope you also remember the stoning of HH’s motorcade by hooligans and some police officers on the Great North Road when he was an opposition leader. HH was motoring to Chinsali to appear in the Magistrates Court the following day. Video footage is in fact available. Why did it happen under ECL’s presidency?
Gunner – Then you ask: Why did it happen under ECL’s presidency?
Answer: Some political players are extremists. Often politicians want to dare each other. That’s why, where ever the republican president is, no other opposing polititian should venture in that locality. Let’s not always provock our competitors. But these criminal scenes in Chinsali are regrettable. DON’T FORGET, this barbarism also was prevalent during MMD time.
Thanks comrade Gunner.
Burial date should have been brought forward
As it has already taken long to break the impass.
Guess the country is tired and looking forward to move on.
Good progress. Let’s have sober minds now on these blogs as requested by HH. No inflammatory words from all. At the end of the day, we are one
Lest we forget ECL was denied twice to fly abroad for medical purposes by this yowa government for unknown reasons. After after only escaping to SA, he literally paid for his own medical bills yet today he should be honoured by the very clique.Denying a person his life saving medication is not so different as tying a rope around a person’s neck and patiently waiting for his fall. I think the party should have buried their own.
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Remember What goes around comes around
ECL was not gravely ill. He didn’t need an ambulance, oxygen therapy, a wheelchair or help to walk. Yes, he was ill but he was able to talk and walk on his own. He even got on the plane by himself. It’s surgery that went wrong.
Elo let’s not forget that according to the new dawn the pf president is chaninga, for arguments sake ba new dawn hosting the funeral of our late decide to give chance to their pf imingalato president to speak, what do u think will happen next.
Let the pf Bury their own
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The whole debacle shows the Lungu family and PF as the bunch of pathetic peasants that they truly are.
They lack class and decency and their ignorance of protocol that surrounds the death of a former president is truly breathtaking.
Who would have thought that the family and the party of a man who rose to the highest office in the land could be so classless and ridiculous.
Lungu’s name will be forever linked to this debacle.
In other words, the former president’s body which was used by his family and party as a bargaining tool.
Sad but true.
We still have tuma simple minds here posting vachabe chabe instead of acknowledg progess made. Let’s move on please though the bembas say pachipanda tapabulwa ichipuba, so don’t expose yourselves here
Did the state also consult chabinga who they recognize as the party imingalato president over the way forward. Is the lungu family honoring the late by accepting the terms by a clique who stripped off his benefits, denied him to jog in his street, acting together with others removed him as the party president.
Look not to beat about the cold June bush, the big question is how exactly do you honor someone in death who was not honoured in life. Through imingalato?
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Some of what you have said is perfectly true
The only way to guage the truth is watch the body language during the speeches
TIKKI_Don’t forget to watch the body language during the body viewing episode too. It will reveal something I like your thinking.
Don’t forget. The Zambia government in recent past took a bone to chew with both president Mnagagwa and bishop Banda.
Today these people tucked away the past to negotiate with you where minister Haimbe scored a zero. Lesson is, Don’t burn bridges, you may want to cross rivers ahead of you one day.
Please, do not demonize emissaries who did their best. Even children shall tell you exactly which side was being unreasonable. Haimbe had nothing to lose, compared to the family. There is nothing heroic about convincing an adult to move away from their excreta. Let us just do what is right albeit late.
The fact remains that he failed in his call of duty.
The unexpected, that least imagined comrade carried the day. Your adjoning closest neighbours mustn’t unnecessarily be run down or defamed. Take that lesson with you as you move on. And don’t say there is nothing heroic when they did their very best to break the deadlock. Our president was as blank as a blank page in an exam session.
Don’t forget that thanklessness is next to senselessness.
@tikki. That thing of taking the body around the country is only for seating presidents.
Oh Ok Fair enough TY TY
So the dead man’s body became the tool for political gain or loss to others. The trueth however, is that ECL will be buried where government prepared to bury him the very first time he was pronounced dead. Let people politik after we have given a benefiting burial of our former 6th Zambian President.
What a petty and divisive family and party. Even in death, Lungu remains a source of strife
Lungu family request just confirmed what we knew all along. Alick banda was, is and will be a bonfide PF cadre.