The presidential feud that even death couldn't end
总统的争执，即使死亡也无法结束
20 June 2025 Share Save Damian Zane BBC News Share Save
2025年6月20日，Share Save Damian Zane BBC新闻份额保存
EPA / AFP Hakainde Hichilema (L) defeated Edgar Lungu (R) in the 2021 presidential election - the third time they had faced each other at the polls
EPA /法新社Hakainde Hichilema（L）在2021年总统大选中击败了Edgar Lungu（R） - 他们第三次在民意测验中互相面对面
The personal has become very political in Zambia. Mourning and the build-up to a funeral is never an easy time, but throw in the fallout from a long-standing feud between the country's two top politicians – President Hakainde Hichilema and his now-late predecessor Edgar Lungu - and you have an explosive mix. The animosity was such that Lungu's family said one of his dying wishes was that Hichilema should not go anywhere near his body. The row has scuppered government plans to honour the former head of state, created a distressing rift in the country and left people wondering how things got this bad. Sunday was supposed to see the state funeral for the 68-year-old who governed for six years from 2015. But there will be no visiting dignitaries and the venue – a huge conference centre in the heart of the capital, Lusaka – will lie empty. There was already a hint of possible trouble ahead immediately after Lungu's death on 5 June, in the video message shared by his daughter on Facebook. Dressed in a thick, black jacket and holding back tears, Tasila Lungu said that her father had died in a hospital in South Africa where he was being treated with"dignity and privacy".
在赞比亚，个人已经变得非常政治。哀悼和葬礼的积累绝不是轻松的时光，但是从该国两位顶级政治家之间的长期争执中引起了后果 - 总统哈卡恩德·希希勒玛（Hakainde Hichilema）和他现任的前任埃德加·隆古（Edgar Lungu） - 您拥有爆炸性的混合。敌对的仇恨使隆古（Lungu）的家人说他垂死的愿望之一是希希勒玛（Hichilema）不应该走到他的身体附近。该行扫描了政府计划纪念前国家元首的计划，在该国创造了令人痛苦的裂痕，并让人们想知道事情如何变得如此糟糕。周日本来应该为这位68岁的年轻人举行的州葬礼，该葬礼从2015年开始统治了六年。但是，将没有来访的贵宾和场地 - 首都卢萨卡市中心的巨大会议中心将空无一人。6月5日Lungu去世后，在他的女儿在Facebook上分享的视频消息中，已经出现了可能的麻烦。塔西拉·隆古（Tasila Lungu）穿着厚实的黑色外套，阻止眼泪，说她的父亲在南非的一家医院去世，在那里他受到“尊严和隐私”的治疗。
PF A memorial service has already been held by Lungu's Patriotic Front party in South Africa - attended by his family, including his widow
PF的追悼会已经由Lungu在南非的爱国前聚会举行 - 由他的家人参加，包括他的遗ow
She rounded off the one-minute announcement saying that"in this moment of grief, we invoke the spirit of 'One Zambia, One Nation' – the timeless creed that guided President Lungu's service to our country". To highlight the need for unity at a time when tradition suggested that the nation should naturally come together was a clue that all was not well. And there was another issue: where was the president's announcement? Ms Lungu's statement confirmed social media rumours of her father's death, condolence messages were already being sent, including from Kenya's president, but there was no word from Hichilema. While independent outlets were reporting the news, the national broadcaster, ZNBC, remained silent. Then, three hours after the daughter's post, Zambia's head of state shared his thoughts in a text post on Facebook. He made his own appeal for unity, asking people to"uphold the values of peace, dignity and togetherness that define us as Zambians". Information Minister Cornelius Mweetwa dismissed concerns about the delay in Hichilema talking about the death. He told the the BBC that based on precedent it was not the head of state's role to be the first to announce the passing of a predecessor. Nevertheless, Lungu's supporters felt that Hichilema's message of"togetherness" rang hollow. Hichilema finally became president at his sixth attempt after soundly beating Lungu at the polls in 2021. It was their third electoral match-up but the enmity went beyond ballot-box rivalry.
她绕开了一分钟的宣布，说：“在悲伤的那一刻，我们唤起了'一个赞比亚，一个国家'的精神 - 永恒的信条，指导了隆古总统对我们国家的服务”。强调在传统表明国家应该自然而然地聚在一起的时候需要团结的必要性，这是一切都不顺利的线索。还有另一个问题：总统的宣布在哪里？Lungu女士的声明证实了社交媒体关于她父亲去世的谣言，包括肯尼亚总统在内的哀悼消息，但Hichilema没有任何消息。当独立媒体报道新闻时，国家广播公司ZNBC保持沉默。然后，在女儿的职位三个小时后，赞比亚的国家元首在Facebook上的文字帖子中分享了他的想法。他对团结提出了呼吁，要求人们“维护定义我们为赞比亚人的和平，尊严和团结的价值观”。信息部长Cornelius Mweetwa驳回了对Hichilema谈论死亡的延误的担忧。他告诉英国广播公司（BBC），基于先例，第一个宣布前任去世的人并不是国家元首的角色。尽管如此，隆古的支持者认为Hichilema关于“团结”的信息是空心的。Hichilema在2021年的民意调查中击败了Lungu之后，最终成为总统的第六次尝试。这是他们的第三次选举对决，但这种仇恨超出了投票盒的竞争。
AFP via Getty Images Hichilema (C) was greeted by supporters on his release from prison in August 2017
支持者在2017年8月从监狱获释时，通过Getty Images Hichilema（C）向他招呼
The key to understanding this was the more than 100 days that Hichilema, opposition leader at the time, spent in detention in 2017, awaiting trial on treason charges. He was accused of endangering the life of then-President Lungu after his motorcade allegedly refused to give way to the one transporting the head of state. The charges were only dropped after the intervention of the secretary general of the Commonwealth. Later that year, Hichilema told the BBC that he had been held in solitary confinement for the first eight days in degrading and inhumane conditions"without electricity, without water, without a toilet". He blamed Lungu personally for his imprisonment. This was only one of 17 occasions that Hichilema was arrested. Supporters of his United Party for National Development were also harassed by supporters of the governing Patriotic Front (PF). The 2021 election could have drawn a line under things. Lungu, who had been rejected by a margin of almost a million votes by an electorate fed up with corruption allegations and concerns about apparent anti-democratic behaviour, went into political retirement. But as disillusionment with the Hichilema presidency grew because of continued economic hardships, Lungu sensed an opportunity and announced in October 2023 that he was returning to frontline politics. Soon after that announcement, Lungu was stripped of his retirement benefits and privileges by the state as he had returned to active politics. This decision rankled with the former president and his family. Lungu also complained of police harassment. At one point last year he said he was"virtually under house arrest".
Andy Luki Jr Some of Lungu's supporters went with him on his regular runs, described by police as"political activism"
隆古（Lungu）的一些支持者安迪·卢基（Andy Luki Jr）与他的常规奔跑一起去了他，被警方称为“政治行动主义”
In 2023, the police warned him against jogging in public, describing his weekly workouts as"political activism"."I cannot move out of my house without being accosted and challenged by the police and driving me back home," Lungu told the BBC in May 2024. In that interview, he also alleged that he had been barred from attending a conference overseas and from travelling abroad for medical treatment. The information minister vehemently denied that there was ever a travel ban and described the idea that his movement was restricted in Zambia as a"fiction and a figment of the imagination of politically charged mindsets". Mweetwa added that despite Hichilema's treatment when he was in opposition, he was determined not to do the same to Lungu. There are also accusations that the president's anti-corruption crusade targeted those close to the former governing PF, including Lungu's family. His widow, who continues to be investigated, has been taken to court and lost properties. Some of his children, including Tasila, have also faced similar treatment - they all deny wrongdoing. Then at the end of last year the Constitutional Court barred him from running for president again, ruling that he had already served the maximum two terms allowed by law. The former head of state was angry about the way he felt he had been treated."There was no love between the two men and [Lungu] was of the view that: 'I don't want people to pretend in my death that they cared about me when in fact, not'," the family's lawyer Makebi Zulu said. Lungu eventually managed to get to South Africa in January, but Mr Zulu said that he was told by his doctors, after a series of tests, that had he gone for a check-up earlier, the treatment would have had a greater chance of success. It was not disclosed what he was suffering from. It was, in part, in light of this that Lungu said he"wouldn't want the current president to attend his funeral". The government has rejected the idea that Lungu was stopped from going to see his doctors in South Africa. Following his death, the family wanted to be in charge of the funeral arrangements, but the Zambian authorities sought to take control. Despite the ill-feeling, last weekend it looked like a compromise had been reached and plans were made for a state funeral. But relations once again broke down as the family said the government had reneged on the agreement after releasing a programme showing more involvement by Hichilema than had been planned. In a message on Thursday, the president thanked Zambians for their"resilience, patience, solidarity and calmness during this time" but after doing"everything possible to engage the family... we have reached a point where a clear decision has to be made". With that, the funeral arrangements in Zambia were put on hold and the national period of mourning was abruptly cut short. The burial is now set to take place in South Africa and it seems unlikely that Hichilema will attend. Zambians had been hoping for both Hichilema and Lungu to bury their differences, but this death and the events that followed, have denied people the closure and reconciliation they desperately wanted to see between the two. Those differences have also denied many millions of Zambians the opportunity to mourn and pay their last respects to a man who once ruled them.
2023年，警方警告他不要在公开场合慢跑，将他的每周锻炼描述为“政治行动主义”。伦古（Lungu）在2024年5月对英国广播公司（BBC）表示：“我不能在不受警察的援助和开车回家的情况下搬出我的房子。在这次采访中，他还声称他被禁止参加海外和出国旅行接受医疗。信息部长坚决否认有旅行禁令，并描述了他的运动在赞比亚被限制为“虚构的小说和虚构政治充电思维的想象力”的想法。Mweetwa补充说，尽管Hichilema在反对时受到了待遇，但他决定不对Lungu做同样的事情。还指控总统的反腐败十字军东征将靠近前任PF的人（包括隆古的家人）。他的遗ow继续进行调查，已被带到法庭并丢失财产。他的一些孩子，包括塔西拉（Tasila），也面临着类似的待遇 - 他们都否认不法行为。然后在去年年底，宪法法院禁止他再次竞选总统，裁定他已经任命了法律允许的两个任期。前国家元首对他感到自己受到治疗的方式感到生气。一家人的律师Makebi Zulu说：“两个人之间没有爱，[隆古]认为：'我不想假装我去世时，他们在实际上而不是事实上关心我。”Lungu最终设法于一月份到达南非，但祖鲁先生说，经过一系列的测试，他的医生告诉他，如果他早些时候进行了检查，则治疗将有更大的成功机会。没有透露他的痛苦。隆古说，部分原因是他“不想让现任总统参加葬礼”。政府拒绝了隆古被阻止去看南非的医生的想法。他去世后，一家人想负责葬礼安排，但赞比亚当局试图控制。尽管有不适，但上周末看来已经达成了妥协，并制定了州葬礼的计划。但是，由于一家人说，政府在发布了一项计划，该计划显示了hichilema的参与程度超出了计划，因此关系再次破裂。在周四的一条消息中，总统感谢赞比亚人的“韧性，耐心，团结和镇定”在这段时间里，但在做了“与家人互动的一切可能的一切之后……我们已经达到了必须做出明确决定的地步”。这样，赞比亚的葬礼安排被搁置了，哀悼的国家时期突然缩短了。葬礼现在将在南非举行，Hichilema似乎不太可能参加。赞比亚人一直希望Hichilema和Lungu埋葬他们的分歧，但是这次死亡和随后的事件否认了人们迫切希望在两者之间看到的封闭与和解。这些差异也否认了数百万的赞比亚人有机会哀悼并向曾经统治他们的男人致以最后的敬意。
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Getty Images/BBC
