{"id":73983,"date":"2025-06-23T18:03:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/buried-in-exile-how-zambia-failed-lungu-and-itself"},"modified":"2025-06-23T18:03:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:03:00","slug":"buried-in-exile-how-zambia-failed-lungu-and-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/buried-in-exile-how-zambia-failed-lungu-and-itself","title":{"rendered":"Buried in Exile: How Zambia Failed Lungu \u2014 And Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>What should have been a moment of national mourning has been transformed into a dark spectacle of political pettiness and moral failure. President Edgar Lungu \u2014 once Zambia\u2019s head of state \u2014 now faces his final indignity: buried not in the soil he served, but in foreign land. President Lungu, who died in South Africa, will now be buried there \u2014 not by choice, but by the failure of his own nation to grant him rest at home.<\/p>\n

Let that sink in.<\/p>\n

A Zambian son. A former president. A man who \u2014 no matter your view of his politics \u2014 deserved the basic dignity of being laid to rest in his homeland. Denied. Not by law, not by tradition, but by the cold hand of politics wielded at a family\u2019s hour of deepest grief.<\/p>\n

This is no longer about Lungu. This is about what Zambia has become. A country where the dead cannot find peace because the living refuse to rise above grudges. A country where a family\u2019s sorrow is trampled beneath the boots of state control. There was no need \u2014 no moral justification \u2014 to impose the will of government over a grieving family\u2019s wishes. There was only a chance to show decency \u2014 and that chance was squandered.<\/p>\n

And what of President Hakainde Hichilema?<\/p>\n

A man of professed deep Christian values \u2014 where were those values when it mattered most? Where was the mercy, the humility, the grace that faith demands at moments like these? I expected him to be guided by his beliefs. Instead, the nation witnessed a failure of compassion at the highest level.<\/p>\n

South Africa gains a body. Zambia buries its conscience<\/p>\n

This is the legacy of this moment:<\/p>\n

\uf449 If even the dead can\u2019t find peace in your politics, what peace can the living hope for?<\/p>\n

History will not forget. And neither will the hearts broken by this needless cruelty.<\/p>\n

#Zambia #EdgarLungu #BurialPolitics #Statecraft #AfricanDemocracy #LeadershipCrisis #RespectTheDead #HistoryWillJudge #PoliticalMaturity<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. What should have been a moment of national mourning has been transformed into a dark spectacle of political pettiness and moral failure. President Edgar Lungu \u2014 once Zambia\u2019s head of state \u2014 now faces his final indignity: buried not in the soil he served, but in foreign land. President Lungu, who died […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":73982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[234,235,233],"class_list":["post-73983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nBuried in Exile: How Zambia Failed Lungu \u2014 And Itself - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/buried-in-exile-how-zambia-failed-lungu-and-itself\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buried in Exile: How Zambia Failed Lungu \u2014 And Itself\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Zambia. What should have been a moment of national mourning has been transformed into a dark spectacle of political pettiness and moral failure. President Edgar Lungu \u2014 once Zambia\u2019s head of state \u2014 now faces his final indignity: buried not in the soil he served, but in foreign land. 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