Lungu family wins final say over former president’s burial

Former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu will be buried in South Africa or Zambia after the country’s Supreme Court of Appeal overturned a ruling that would have allowed Zambia’s government to bring his body home for a state funeral in Lusaka.

The judgment, delivered on Tuesday, June 23, sided with former First Lady Esther Lungu and other members of the Lungu family, who have fought for more than a year to retain control over how and where the former president is laid to rest.

Family spokesperson Makebi Zulu represented their position throughout the legal proceedings.

The ruling overturns a 2025 decision by the Gauteng High Court, which had granted Zambia’s government permission to repatriate Lungu’s remains for burial with full state honors.

The Supreme Court of Appeal went further than simply reversing that outcome, dismissing the government’s application in its entirety and ordering it to pay the legal costs of the case.

Tuesday’s decision brings one chapter of the dispute to a close, although questions remain over whether Zambia’s government will pursue any further action. Lungu died at a clinic in Pretoria from an illness that was never publicly disclosed. He was 68.

His death was followed by confusion, with mourners receiving conflicting guidance from the government and his former party, the Patriotic Front. Two separate mourning periods were announced, and, at one stage, rival condolence books were in circulation.

That early confusion foreshadowed the dispute that would later emerge over his final resting place.

The Zambian government consistently maintained that Lungu, as a former head of state, should be honored at home and buried alongside his predecessors at the presidential burial site in Lusaka.

His family opposed that proposal after negotiations over funeral arrangements broke down, insisting on a private burial.

Delivering the majority judgment, Justice R.M. Keightley found that South African constitutional protections relating to dignity, privacy and family autonomy, together with common law principles recognizing the rights of next of kin, supported the family’s position.

The court held that the government had failed to establish any legal basis for overriding the wishes of Lungu’s relatives. Judges found no convincing evidence that Zambian law, custom or official protocol gave the state authority to determine a former president’s burial arrangements against the wishes of his family.

Justice Keightley also reflected on how the dispute unfolded, describing a process intended to bring closure that instead evolved into a prolonged legal confrontation.

“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 Keightley said in the judgment.

The court’s reasoning extended beyond questions of jurisdiction and custom. Judges found that Lungu regarded himself as effectively unwelcome in his own country by the time of his death and believed he would not receive a dignified farewell if his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, attended the proceedings.

The judgment stated that the former president “viewed himself to be persona non grata in his own country” and “felt that he would not be afforded a dignified send-off” should Hichilema be present.

The finding stems from a political rivalry that spanned years. Lungu led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, while Hichilema remained his principal political challenger for much of that period before defeating him at the ballot box.

Relations between the two men never recovered. Following Lungu’s death, family members said he had been explicit that he did not want Hichilema attending his funeral or coming near his remains.

The matter took several turns before reaching Tuesday’s conclusion.

South Africa’s High Court ruled in the government’s favor last August, permitting the repatriation of the body for a state funeral. The decision left Lungu’s relatives visibly distressed in court and prompted an immediate appeal.

The dispute took another unexpected turn in April when Zambia’s government announced that Lungu’s remains had been “formally transferred” to the state by the South African court.

Within hours, the same court reversed that position and ordered that the body remain where it was until the appeal had been heard and determined.

With the appeal now resolved in the family’s favour, attention shifts to how Zambia’s government responds.

Officials have given no indication whether any further legal avenues will be pursued, while lawyers representing the state are understood to be awaiting instructions on the next course of action.

For now, the ruling stands as the clearest legal determination yet on where Lungu will be laid to rest. It also closes a lengthy legal battle that continued long after his death and reflected the enduring tensions surrounding two of Zambia’s most prominent political figures.

Lusaka Times