Arranging a funeral can be testing at the best of times \u2013 let alone for a former head of state. Amid that intense, initial stage of grief, loved ones must juggle cost, the wishes of the deceased and numerous other factors in order to throw a fitting send-off.<\/p>\n
Add the clashing desires of a national government and its political opponents into the mix, and things become doubly complicated.<\/p>\n
Edgar Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died last Thursday. His death at the age of 68 has shocked Zambians \u2013 and there is genuine sense of grief with all radio stations playing gospel music for the man who had remained influential in Zambian politics despite being barred from contesting next year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
Zambia is officially a Christian country \u2013 and most people take their religion and periods of mourning seriously.<\/p>\n
But a standoff between his family, the government and Lungu\u2019s political party, the Patriotic Front (PF), has left mourners confused about how exactly the former president should be honoured.<\/p>\n
The government announced there would be a state funeral and declared that the official venue for mourning would be a lodge it owns in the capital, Lusaka, but the PF dismissed this plan, directing mourners to its headquarters instead.<\/p>\n
As for Lungu\u2019s family, they have said they are not opposed to a state funeral, but have insisted on choosing who will preside over it, family lawyer Makebi Zulu has told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Then there is the official book of condolence, in which mourners can pay tributes to Lungu. The government has set up an official book \u2013 at the lodge \u2013 but the PF has urged people to sign theirs instead \u2013 at their headquarters.<\/p>\n
The government wanted to repatriate his body from South Africa last week \u2013 Lungu died there after receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness.<\/p>\n
However, the PF and Lungu\u2019s family intervened, wanting to organise the safe passage of the ex-leader themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state was saying, \u2018We are giving him full military honours, therefore we\u2019re taking over from here\u2019 \u2013 as if to say that \u2018you have no say over what happens,’\u201d Mr Zulu said.<\/p>\n
Plans for returning Lungu\u2019s remains are still unclear, though the family are now engaging with the government on this issue.<\/p>\n
There has also been confusion over the \u201cofficial\u201d mourning period when all forms of entertainment like big football matches and concerts are stopped.<\/p>\n
The government declared a seven-day national mourning period starting last Saturday, even though the PF announced one days earlier.<\/p>\n
This chaos is, in short, a continuation of the tumultuous relationship between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema.<\/p>\n
The pair are long-time rivals \u2013 in 2017, when Lungu was president, he had Hichilema locked up for over 100 days on treason charges after Hichilema\u2019s motorcade allegedly refused to give way for him.<\/p>\n
It took the intervention of the Commonwealth for Hichilema to be released. Four years later, and after five attempts at the presidency, Hichilema defeated Lungu.<\/p>\n
Now, the PF and the Lungu family\u2019s lawyer are accusing Hichilema\u2019s government of being partly responsible for the former president\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Lungu returned to frontline politics in 2023, frequently accusing Hichilema\u2019s government of victimising him and other PF members.<\/p>\n
Now, after Lungu\u2019s death, his party allege that Lungu was banned from leaving the country for years and that if he had been allowed to travel to seek medical treatment sooner, he might still be alive.<\/p>\n
The government has vehemently denied any responsibility for Lungu\u2019s death, with spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa insisting that the ex-president was never prohibited from travelling.<\/p>\n
Mr Mweetwa told the BBC that the PF was trying to use Lungu\u2019s death as a \u201cspringboard\u201d for a \u201cpolitical comeback\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time conflict has broken out following a Zambian leader\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the family of Kenneth Kaunda, the country\u2019s first post-independence president, said he wanted to be laid to rest next to his wife and not at the site designated by the government.<\/p>\n
Despite this, the government went ahead and buried Kaunda at Embassy Memorial Park in Lusaka.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe High Court ruled that national interest takes precedence over individual or family preferences because there is a designated burial place for former presidents, and there is a designated set of protocol to handle those proceedings that are conducted by the state, not a political party,\u201d Mr Mweetwa said.<\/p>\n
This argument \u2013 about the state\u2019s rights to a dead president\u2019s body \u2013 has played out numerous times across Africa.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Robert Mugabe died almost two years after being unseated as Zimbabwe\u2019s president by his former right-hand man, Emmerson Mnangagwa.<\/p>\n
Mugabe\u2019s family refused to allow him to be buried at the national Heroes\u2019 Acre, arguing that he had been betrayed by his former colleagues.<\/p>\n
After a bitter feud, the man who had led Zimbabwe to independence was laid to rest after his state funeral in his home village.<\/p>\n
But a legal row rumbles on over his burial site, with some still wanting him to be interred at Heroes\u2019 Acre, where a mausoleum has now been completed for him.<\/p>\n