THE HOSTAGE BODY OF EDGAR LUNGU: A NATIONAL SHAME OR A FINAL REVELATION? Is Lungu in Death Vindicating Fresher Siwale? By Farai Ruvanyathi A NATION IN DISBELIEF: THE BODY HELD HOSTAGE There is a message making rounds, reportedly from civil society activist Laura Miti, questioning the silence of former President Edgar Lungu’s extended family during a moment that calls for ancestral leadership and direction. Zambia now finds itself in a bizarre and shameful spectacle: the body of a former Head of State held hostage not by the State, but by political opportunists and shadowy handlers who once clung to his coattails and are now clinging to his corpse. The very individuals who led him to an undignified electoral defeat in life are today defiling his memory in death. These are not mourners, they are mafias, criminals, and parasites performing a macabre dance around a man whose legacy they helped tarnish. A PRESIDENCY IN ABSENTIA: THE TESTIMONY OF AMOS CHANDA Former Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, Amos Chanda, twice told News Diggers of a disturbing reality: that Edgar Lungu, while President, often abdicated the functions of his office. He was, by Chanda’s account, an absentee Commander-in-Chief, delegating authority to unelected individuals while sidelining constitutional officers like then Vice President Inonge Wina. In those instances, it was Chanda himself, an unelected aide, who made decisions of national importance, with no recourse to constitutional structures. That vacuum is now haunting the nation, manifesting in this chaotic and criminal siege over Lungu’s remains. THE MOTIVE: SELF-PRESERVATION AND SURVIVAL Social commentators like Laura Miti, have captured the heart of this national embarrassment: Lungu’s corpse is now a bargaining chip for personal survival. For political figures and family members with unexplained wealth, this is a desperate attempt to use the funeral as a legal shield. For loyalists, the late President was a cash cow; they now seek proximity to his memory, hoping to woo the next source of power. For his legal team, their ties to Lungu were professional, not familial. Yet they now insert themselves at the centre of funeral deliberations. This sordid theatre is not about grief. It is about power, money, and immunity. THE MISSING ANCESTRY: WHERE IS LUNGU’S CLAN? Laura Miti’s haunting question echoes through every corner of this episode: Where is Lungu’s family tree? In a country so firmly rooted in extended kinship systems, where are the elders? Where are the headmen? Where is the village?Where is the chief? Why is the funeral choreography being dictated by a daughter who only emerged into public consciousness when her father was named presidential candidate? Why does she now override even the voice of Esther Lungu, the woman who endured humiliation in State House and stood by Edgar in silence? THE OUTSIDERS PULLING STRINGS It is a grotesque irony that those shouting the loudest have no blood ties to the late President: Makebi Zulu was a lawyer, not kin. His links to the family were transactional, legal representation and, reportedly, political facilitation. Raphael Nakachinda, with his trademark recklessness, was merely a tool, a loudspeaker for faceless manipulators. His DNA has no claim to Edgar’s lineage. And yet, these are the people dragging Zambia into global ridicule. A FINAL TWIST: WAS FRESHER SIWALE RIGHT ALL ALONG? In 2018, Fresher Siwale, leader of the New Labour Party, was arrested for alleging that Edgar Lungu was not a Zambian by origin. It was dismissed then as scandalous and outrageous. But now, as the country witnesses a funeral with no visible clan leadership, no elders, no village delegation, no traditional guidance, no Chief calling for order, one cannot help but wonder: Was Siwale merely ahead of his time? Is this chaos the final revelation? Is Lungu in death inadvertently affirming what the State once crushed with handcuffs and court orders? THE CONTRAST: GOVERNMENT’S DIGNITY VS A FAMILY IN DISARRAY Throughout this chaos, the government has acted with patience, restraint, and magnanimity, choosing to extend dignity to a man who often denied it to others. While mafias stage their theatre of greed, the State has maintained composure and avoided confrontation. It is a lesson in maturity. A testament to a new era. And perhaps, just perhaps, the start of national healing.