PRETORIA – The High Court of South Africa in Pretoria has ruled that the body of Zambia’s late President Edgar Chagwa Lungu must be handed over to Zambian authorities for a state funeral and burial at Embassy Park in Lusaka, following a bitter dispute between the Zambian government and the former president’s family.
The ruling was delivered yesterday, 8 August 2025, after weeks of legal wrangling over where the late president should be buried. The Zambian government filed an urgent application in June, seeking to halt a planned private burial in South Africa and secure the repatriation of Lungu’s body.
The case pitted the Zambian state, represented by the Attorney-General, against Lungu’s widow, Esther Lungu, their children, and close associates, who had insisted on a private funeral. The court, comprising Acting Judge President A.P. Ledwaba, Acting Deputy Judge President T.P. Mudau and Judge S. Potterill, sided with the government, stating that the public interest in a state funeral outweighed private preferences.
Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died in Johannesburg on 5 June 2025 while receiving medical treatment. His family initially engaged with Zambian officials and appeared to agree on a programme that would see his remains returned to Zambia via a private charter for a formal state burial on 22 June. However, on the morning of the scheduled flight, the family withdrew from the arrangement and declared their intention to bury him privately in South Africa.
The court heard that a detailed funeral plan, including military honours and a memorial programme, had been agreed upon in meetings and confirmed publicly by the family’s lawyer and spokesperson, Makebi Zulu. The family’s sudden reversal, according to the court, constituted a breach of the agreement.
The government argued that under Zambian law, former heads of state must be buried at Embassy Park with full national honours. The court agreed, ruling that Zambian law was the most appropriate legal framework due to Lungu’s nationality, residency, and political stature.
Efforts by a Zambian citizen, Vincent Kafula, to intervene in the proceedings were dismissed after the court found he had no direct legal interest in the matter. Counter-applications from the family, including one claiming misrepresentation, were also dismissed.
The judgment instructs the South African funeral parlour Two Mountains to release Lungu’s remains to the Zambian High Commission upon service of the court order. The family will be allowed to witness the repatriation and accompany the late president’s body alongside his personal physician and an aide-de-camp.
No cost orders were made against any party.
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