Zambia ex‑president’s family wins legal battle over body burial

More than a year after former president Edgar Lungu’s death, his relatives secured a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling to keep his remains in South Africa, where he passed away, overturning a high‑court decision that had allowed the Zambian government to repatriate his corpse.

This judgment finally ends the legal feud over what will happen to Lungu’s body, a dispute that has mirrored the political clashes between him and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema.

The Zambian government, which had argued that Lungu should receive a state funeral in Lusaka’s presidential burial ground, will not contest the ruling further, even though it disagrees with the outcome.

The family wishes for a private burial, following failed negotiations with the government on funeral arrangements.

Justice Raylene May Keightley noted, “The ritual intended to bring closure has instead turned into a hard‑fought legal dispute far from the protagonists’ home.”

Last August, a Pretoria high court ruled that Zambia could repatriate Lungu’s body, a decision that visibly distressed the family. Subsequent court orders reversed this, and the case was eventually escalated to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Lungu died at age 68 of an undisclosed illness at a clinic in Pretoria. The unrest after his death, with conflicting government statements and the Patriotic Front’s announcements, led to dual mourning periods and competing condolence books.

Despite Lungu’s long‑standing conflict with Hichilema, his family maintains that he did not want Hichilema present at his funeral or near his body.

The court’s decision confirms that Lungu was “persona non grata” in Zambia, preferring a dignified send‑off without his successor present.

Additional reporting by Nomsa Maseko in Johannesburg.