FAMILY Spokesperson Makebi Zulu has asserted that no one will have access to the body of former president Edgar Lungu, until the matter is determined by the courts of law in South Africa.
Zulu said the former first family was ready to give evidence before the Pretoria High Court that will exonerate them as well as the former Head of State.
This follows a fresh directive from the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, which has asked Zambia’s Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha to file an application by July 3, 2025, stating reasons why the late president’s body should be returned to Zambia and not buried in South Africa.
In an application lodged before the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria, Kabesha is seeking to prevent the burial of Lungu in South Africa and sued Lungu’s widow, Esther, four of their children, Bertha, Tasila, Chiyesu and Dalitso, family lawyer Makebi Zulu and the funeral company Two Mountains Pty, which currently holds the remains.
The court has since set July 18, 2025 as the date for the ruling and until then, the court has suspended all burial plans.
However, Zulu said the government has given them an opportunity to tell a story of Lungu to the maximum in court because he must be exonerated in his death.
“Now onwards until his burial, the truth of Edgar Lungu shall be told, we shall tell it in a very systematic way in court, we shall tell the full story, how he came into South Africa as a private citizen, and how he used an Uber,” Zulu said.
He added that the family has been consistent in offering support to the former Head of State while alleging that the Government may not give Lungu a dignified burial.
“The family only wants to give him a dignified burial.”
“Government should come and say we are sorry we never treated him well, we are sorry we did wrong to him, now that he he dead, how can we make amends. Now people want to pretend to speak for him when they were never there for him,” Zulu further claimed.
He said Lungu is therefore calling for unity and sanity even in his death.
“Lungu is calling for peace and unity, he is fighting that people should not be prosecuted for doing what is right. This period is an opportunity for us to reflect out of this death,” said Zulu.
By Lucy Phiri
Kalemba June 26, 2025
