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

More than a year after the death of Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu, his family won an appeal to have his body buried in South Africa where he died – overturning a high‑court ruling that allowed the Zambian government to repatriate the corpse.

The Supreme Court of Appeal’s judgement finally settles the long‑standing dispute over how to handle Lungu’s remains, which stemmed from the fierce rivalry between the former ruler and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema.

Zambia’s government said it disagreed with the ruling but will not take the matter further.

It argued that, as a former head of state, Lungu should be honoured in the country and could have been laid to rest alongside his predecessors at a special presidential burial ground in Lusaka.

Lungu’s family, however, wanted a private burial after negotiations with the government over funeral arrangements broke down.

“The very ritual intended to bring closure has, instead, pitted family against the state in a hard‑fought legal dispute far from the protagonists’ home,” Justice Raylene May Keightley said in the judgment.

In August, a South African high court in Pretoria ruled that the Zambian government could repatriate Lungu’s body and give him a state funeral – a decision that left relatives visibly distraught in the courtroom.

The family appealed, and in April the Zambian government said the remains had been formally transferred to the state by the South African court. A few hours later, the same court ordered the government to return the body until the matter went to court again.

Lungu died of an undisclosed illness at age 68 in a clinic in Pretoria. The death sparked chaos, with mourners receiving conflicting information from the government and Lungu’s party, the Patriotic Front (PF). Two separate mourning periods were announced and at one point there were competing condolence books.

Lungu had governed Zambia from 2015–2021 and had a bitter feud with Hichilema, who had been the opposition leader for many years before finally defeating him in the 2021 election.

After Lungu’s death, his family said the ex‑president did not want Hichilema to be at his funeral or “anywhere near” his body.

In the latest ruling, the judges noted that the former president viewed himself as persona non grata in his own country and felt he would not receive a dignified send‑off if his successor was present.