Zambian Government Blocks Private Burial of Former President Edgar Lungu in South Africa

The Zambian government has successfully obtained a court order halting the private burial of former President Edgar Lungu in South Africa, following a last-minute legal challenge filed on the day of the planned funeral.

The Pretoria High Court ruled that Lungu’s burial must be postponed until the ongoing dispute over the location of his funeral is resolved. The court scheduled the next hearing for August 4. Members of Lungu’s family, dressed in black funeral attire, were forced to leave the burial service preparations and attend the court proceedings in the South African capital.

The court’s decision came amid a nearly month-long standoff between the Zambian government and Lungu’s family regarding his final resting place. While Lungu’s relatives insisted on a private burial in South Africa—citing his personal wishes and longstanding political tensions with current President Hakainde Hichilema—the Zambian government has insisted on a state funeral at home in accordance with national law.

Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 to 2021, died on June 5 at the age of 68 in a South African hospital following an undisclosed illness. Since then, two proposed state funerals in Zambia have been canceled due to ongoing disagreements between the government and Lungu’s family.

According to the family’s lawyers, Lungu had explicitly requested that President Hichilema not attend his funeral. However, government officials stated that Hichilema was scheduled to preside over the state ceremony, as is customary.

On Tuesday, Zambia’s Attorney General, Mulilo Kabesha, filed an urgent application with the Pretoria High Court, seeking to stop the planned funeral. The court papers, reported by Zambia’s national broadcaster ZNBC, argued that Lungu should be returned to Zambia and buried with full military honors in accordance with national law and public interest. The government emphasized that it had already prepared a burial site in the presidential cemetery where all former heads of state are traditionally laid to rest.

Officials also asserted that, despite the family’s wishes, the burial of a former president constitutes a matter of national interest that overrides personal preferences.

Lungu’s family had chosen not to repatriate his body and had arranged a private burial in Johannesburg, with top members of his political party traveling to South Africa for the service. A memorial event later took place at a church in Johannesburg, approximately 60 kilometers from Pretoria, while the court proceedings were still underway.

However, the court order ultimately prevented the family from proceeding with the burial until a final ruling is delivered in August.