Lungu’s death in South Africa has become the center of a prolonged legal and political standoff between the family of former Zambian President Edgar Lungu and Zambia’s ruling government, which has pursued custody of his remains for a state funeral. The matter began after Lungu died on June 5, when he was 68 and had traveled to South Africa for medical treatment, according to the Associated Press report. Nearly a year later, the body still had not been buried.
Lungu’s family planned to bury him in South Africa rather than repatriate him for a state funeral in Zambia, the Associated Press said. The family refused to return his body to Zambia because of Lungu’s long-running political rivalry with current President Hakainde Hichilema, and the family said one of Lungu’s last wishes was that Hichilema should not be “anywhere near his body” when he is buried.
Zambia’s government has pursued the matter through the courts, the Associated Press reported, seeking custody of the remains so it could repatriate them for a state funeral it argued was in the national interest. The report said Zambian authorities had also prepared a burial space months earlier, leaving a grave empty in a cemetery where ex-leaders are buried.
The dispute traces back to the political rivalry between Lungu and Hichilema, which the Associated Press described as bitter and long-running. It said Lungu beat Hichilema in a 2016 election, and later that Hichilema was imprisoned for four months on a treason charge after failing to give way to the presidential motorcade on a road; the report said the charge was dropped and he was released after advocacy groups condemned the arrest. After Hichilema became president in 2021, the Associated Press said Lungu claimed he was harassed by police and effectively placed under house arrest, and it said Hichilema’s government denied the allegation. The report also said Lungu reportedly traveled to South Africa by slipping away to an airport unnoticed and buying a ticket at the counter.
According to the Associated Press, the legal fight over the body’s custody blocked a planned funeral service in South Africa last June, forcing members of Lungu’s family—dressed in black funeral attire—to stop the service and travel to a courthouse for the urgent case. The report said a South African court later ruled in favor of Zambia’s government and ordered the body repatriated, and it said a date of May 12 was set for the handover.
Late Wednesday, Zambia’s government announced that it had taken custody of Lungu’s body and moved it from a mortuary at a private funeral home in Pretoria to another facility in preparation for repatriation, the Associated Press reported. Soon after, a court ordered the government to return the body to the family immediately, accusing it of contempt of court over attempts to take the remains before the agreed-upon date.
The Associated Press report said the latest developments create the possibility of further legal action, with the court ordering Zambia’s government—and South African authorities that apparently helped facilitate the moving of the body—to show why they should not be charged with contempt of court.