{"id":82868,"date":"2026-06-07T07:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/esther-lungu-sees-hope-as-burial-dispute-continues-the-zambian-observer"},"modified":"2026-06-07T07:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T07:47:13","slug":"esther-lungu-sees-hope-as-burial-dispute-continues-the-zambian-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/esther-lungu-sees-hope-as-burial-dispute-continues-the-zambian-observer","title":{"rendered":"ESTHER LUNGU SEES HOPE AS BURIAL DISPUTE CONTINUES &#8211; The Zambian Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ESTHER LUNGU SEES HOPE AS BURIAL DISPUTE CONTINUES<\/p>\n<p>By Darius Choonya<\/p>\n<p>Former First Lady Esther Lungu says the grief following the death of her husband, former President Edgar Lungu, has been a journey with no clear end.<\/p>\n<p>However, Mrs. Lungu says that, by God\u2019s grace, the family can now see light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n<p>Her remarks were delivered on her behalf by family representative Martha Lungu during a church service marking the first anniversary of Mr. Lungu\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Lungu died on June 5, 2025, and has not yet been buried.<\/p>\n<p>The Lungu family and the Zambian government remain engaged in a legal dispute over the burial of the former president.<\/p>\n<p>The family is challenging a lower court ruling that ordered the repatriation of Mr. Lungu\u2019s body to Zambia for a state funeral.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa is yet to announce a date for judgment in the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, dozens of people gathered at Regina Pacis Parish in Chawama, Lusaka, today June 5, 2026 for a prayer service held in remembrance of Mr. Lungu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ESTHER LUNGU SEES HOPE AS BURIAL DISPUTE CONTINUES By Darius Choonya Former First Lady Esther Lungu says the grief following the death of her husband, former President Edgar Lungu, has been a journey with no clear end. However, Mrs. Lungu says that, by God\u2019s grace, the family can now see light at the end of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":82866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ESTHER LUNGU SEES HOPE AS BURIAL DISPUTE CONTINUES - The Zambian Observer - 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\/esther-lungu-sees-hope-as-burial-dispute-continues-the-zambian-observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ESTHER LUNGU SEES HOPE AS BURIAL DISPUTE CONTINUES - The Zambian Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ESTHER LUNGU SEES HOPE AS BURIAL DISPUTE CONTINUES By Darius Choonya Former First Lady Esther Lungu says the grief following the death of her husband, former President Edgar Lungu, has been a journey with no clear end. 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