Due to complaints about the high cost, Namibia cancels all state funerals.

 

Namibia reportedly spent 30m Namibian dollars ($1.7m; £1.25m) on transport costs during founding President Sam Nujoma's funeral

 In response to criticism regarding the rising cost of state funerals, the government of Namibia has announced a temporary ban. Only President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has the power to exempt funerals from the moratorium, the government said.

 Following a Cabinet meeting earlier this week, Minister of Information and Communication Technology Emma Theofelus made the announcement. She said the moratorium would last until April 2026, while a review committee looks into the "criteria and processes associated with bestowing official funerals".

 Ms Theofelus told the BBC that a committee consisting of "no more than seven members" would be established to lead the review.

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 Zambia's presidential dispute that could not be resolved by death The government has not said whether the decision was related to mounting criticism of the increasing costs of the numerous state funerals as reported by local media.

 The BBC has asked the presidency for comment.

 According to the Windhoek Observer, a privately owned publication, calls for the moratorium were made as early as 2021 when the rising cost of official burials came under scrutiny, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic's height. It quoted Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare, who earlier this year revealed that official funerals had cost the government 38.4m Namibian dollars ($2.2m; £1.6m) in the 2024/2025 financial year.

 By comparison, only 2.1m Namibian dollars was spent on 23 funerals during the 2022/2023 financial year, according to the news site.

 The Observer said the state had spent 30m Namibian dollars just to transport the body of founding President Sam Nujoma around the country ahead of his state funeral in February this year.

 Nujoma, who died at the age of 95, led the long fight for independence from South Africa after helping found Namibia's liberation movement, the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo), in the 1960s.

 After independence, Nujoma became president in 1990 and led the country until 2005.

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