Grudges to the Grave: Mugabe, Lungu, and Africa’s Crisis of Political Maturity
By Garikai Chaunza
The news that former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu will be buried in South Africa, rather than in his homeland, has prompted serious reflection across Africa. According to Lusaka Times, this decision, explained by the Lungu family as a preference for a private ceremony, comes against a backdrop of strained relations between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema.
The symbolic and political weight of this burial outside national borders cannot be overlooked; it raises fundamental questions about political tolerance, reconciliation, and leadership in contemporary Africa.
Was the relationship between President Hichilema and his predecessor so irreparably broken that the late former president chose to turn his back on Zambian soil? While the family’s statement emphasised privacy and dignity, the broader public cannot ignore the undertones of alienation and political estrangement that have characterised Lungu’s post-presidency. His legacy remains contested, and his final resting place, far from the land he once led, suggests unresolved wounds within Zambia’s political culture.
This moment echoes Zimbabwe’s fraught transition from Robert Mugabe to Emmerson Mnangagwa. Despite their bitter fallout and Mugabe’s ousting in the November 2017, coup, the late liberation icon was still buried in Zimbabwe. Mugabe rejected burial at the National Heroes Acre, a state-sanctioned site, and opted for his rural home in Kutama. In doing so, he resisted state appropriation of his legacy, yet he remained on the soil of his ancestors—a symbolic act of rootedness despite political betrayal.
What do these episodes reveal about African politics and its relationship with power, death, and memory?
Firstly, they expose the urgent need to decolonise our politics by reimagining leadership as a sacred duty, not a battleground of personal vendettas. In a decolonial and pan-African framing, leadership should be rooted in service to the people, and transitions of power should be embraced as a sign of institutional maturity. Political opponents are not enemies of the state; they are fellow sons and daughters of the soil, entrusted with different visions of national development.
Secondly, Africa must move away from the politics of vengeance. A democracy where losing power is tantamount to persecution undermines the very ideals of liberation and constitutionalism that many of our nations fought for. Retaliatory governance weakens public trust, discourages civic participation, and often results in the erasure of valuable historical memory. As Africans, we must nurture political cultures anchored in ubuntu—the ethic of mutual care and human dignity.
Thirdly, these developments call for a renewed commitment to pan-African unity. The South African government’s quiet diplomacy and respect for the Lungu family’s wishes demonstrate the spirit of ubuntu and non-interference that other African states would do well to emulate. Political disagreements should not rob the dead of dignity nor deprive the living of their cultural right to bury kin in peace. The act of mourning must transcend partisanship; it must remind us of our shared humanity.
Ultimately, these reflections return us to a painful question: has politics become so toxic that we now carry our grudges beyond the grave? If leaders cannot be assured of honour and safety in retirement, how can we expect younger generations to aspire to ethical public service? African leaders must rise above personal vendettas and cultivate a spirit of respect—even in disagreement. Only then can we truly reclaim African politics for Africans, shaped by values of justice, solidarity, and compassion.
As pan-Africanists, we must resist the colonial legacy of divide and rule that continues to manifest in our leadership transitions. The land, as a source of belonging, memory, and spiritual continuity, must never be politicised to the point where it is denied to those who once served it.
Africa needs leaders who build bridges, not graves, between generations.
About the Author
Garikai Chaunza (PhD) is a Zimbabwean journalist and Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
