Halt to burial in Johannesburg is latest chapter in feud Edgar Lungu had with his successor Hakainde Hichilema

The funeral of the former Zambian president Edgar Lungu has been stopped while mourners waited in a cathedral in Johannesburg, as an extraordinary feud Lungu had with his successor continues to play out after his death.

A high court judge in Pretoria ordered a halt to Lungu’s burial at the Cathedral of Christ the King in central Johannesburg on Wednesday morning, following a last-minute request by by Zambia’s attorney general. Lungu’s black-clad wife arrived at the cathedral, visibly upset, shortly after the judge’s order and a mass was held instead.