Lungu family, Zambia government clash in South African burial battle

The remains of former Zambian president Edgar Lungu became the center of a cross-border power struggle this week, after a Pretoria court order briefly handed custody to the Zambian government before an urgent ruling sent the body back to a funeral facility.

Lungu died in South Africa on June 5, 2025, and his body had been kept at a Pretoria funeral home for nearly a year as his family and the government fought over where he should be laid to rest. The dispute has dragged on for about 10 months, with the family seeking a private burial in South Africa and state officials in Lusaka pressing for repatriation and a full state funeral in Zambia.

Zambia’s attorney general, Mulilo Kabesha, said on April 22, 2026, that the Pretoria High Court had formally transferred Lungu’s remains to the Zambian government. He said the body had been moved from Two Mountains Burial Services in Pretoria to another facility managed by South African authorities, after the court ruling shifted control away from the family.

But the legal fight did not end there. A later urgent court intervention on April 23 ordered the body returned to a funeral home or facility, creating conflicting directives within hours and underscoring how unsettled the matter remained. The family launched an urgent application in Pretoria, arguing that South African police and Zambian authorities had removed the body from the mortuary without their permission.

The latest turn appeared to enforce an earlier August 2025 Gauteng High Court judgment that had already allowed Zambia to repatriate the remains for a state funeral. That ruling had been challenged, but the family’s appeal reportedly lapsed before the South African Supreme Court of Appeal, clearing the way for the government’s renewed push.

Beyond the legal filings, the dispute has exposed the political weight attached to Lungu’s death. President Hakainde Hichilema, Lungu’s longtime rival, leads the government now seeking to bring the former head of state home. The fight over burial has become a fight over authority, family control and the posthumous shaping of a presidency that still divides Zambia long after Lungu’s death.