The family says that the former Zambian president will be buried in South Africa

The family of the former president in Zambia, Edgar Longo, says he will be buried in South Africa at a special party after a row with the government due to the funeral arrangements.

Late on Thursday, President Haknde Hachelima cut a period of national mourning after the Longo family refused to allow his body to be returned from South Africa as planned. His funeral was appointed on Sunday in the capital of Zambia, Lusaka.

The family now says that it will later announce when Lungu will be buried in Johannesburg in “Dignity and Peace”.

This will be the first time that a former head of state has been buried for another country in South Africa.

In his will, Longo said that Hishilima, his competitor for a long time, should not attend his funeral.

The government and his family later agreed that he would have a state funeral before relations over accurate arrangements collapsed.

“We would like to announce that the funeral and burial of the beloved Dr. Edgar Shaghwa Longo will be held here in South Africa, according to family’s desires to obtain a special party,” family spokesman McBby Zolo said in a statement.

Mr. Zolo thanked the South African government for “not interfering” and honoring the family’s decision and its desire during “this deep emotional period”.

In his speech on Thursday, President Hishilima said that Longjo, as a former president, “belongs to the nation of Zambia”, and thus must “buried his body in Zambia with full honors, and not in any other nation.”

However, due to the class, he announced an immediate end to the mourning period, saying that the country needs to “resume normal life”.

“The government has done everything that is possible to interact with the family of our sixth leaving president,” he said.

The national mourning period initially lasted from 8 to 14 June, but was later extended until June 23, with flags flying in half of the mast and radio stations that play official music.

President Hishilima and senior officials were ready to receive LunGu coffin with full military honor on Wednesday.

However, the Lungu family prevented the return of its remains at the last minute, saying that the government had assumed its agreement on the funeral plans.

The opposition National Front (PF) led the Lungu party until its death, with the family due to the funeral plans.

“The government has transformed an official occasion into a political game,” said Lubandda’s Act Acting Company. “This is not how we deal with the former head of state.”

Civil society groups called for an urgent solution to this issue, as a section of religious leaders says that the confrontation “hurts the dignity of our country.”

“We appeal to humility, dialogue, and a solution that honors the memory of the former president while preserving the nation is united,” said Emmanuel Chikoya, head of the Church Council in Zambia.

Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died earlier this month in South Africa where he was receiving treatment for an unknown disease.

Six years later as head of state, Lungu lost the 2021 elections against Hichilema with a large margin. He retreated from politics, but later returned to the battle.

He had ambitions to compete for the presidency again, but at the end of last year, the Constitutional Court prevented him from running, and decided that he had already served the maximum classes permitted by the law.

Although he was excluded from the presidential elections, he remained a great influence in Zambian politics and did not retract his criticism of his successor.