AG Challenges Lungu Family to Explain Casket Dispute

Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha has called on the family of the late former president Edgar Lungu to clarify why they do not want President Hakainde Hichilema near Lungu’s casket.

Speaking on ZNBC’s Sunday Interview, Kabesha said, “What is so bad about coming near the casket?… What’s so special about that casket? What is the mystery about the President not being near the casket? They should open up; maybe we should be able to understand them.”

He questioned assumptions about Hichilema’s intentions: “Who has told them that he wants to be near the casket?… Why these speculations? It’s assumptions.”

Kabesha stressed the government’s willingness to engage: “We will never ignore the family… we ‘ll always want to sit and consult the family, but they can decide… and he can still be buried.”

He reminded that public office often strips away full privacy: “The moment you get into a certain position, you are no longer a private person. Even as simple as I am, as attorney general, I’ll never fantasise that I’m a private person.”

“President Lungu was… our president… He is still the father of the nation even in his death, and so he deserves to be respected; he deserves to be given a dignified burial at Embassy Park, in the country where he was president,” concluded the Attorney General.

Until the appeal is resolved, Lungu's remains will remain in South Africa.