A South African court ruled on Friday that Zambia’s former president Edgar Lungu, who passed away in South Africa on June 5, is to be buried in Zambia, despite his family’s objections.
The decision on Lungu’s funeral has been a topic of contention for the past two months between the Zambian government, which intended to hold a state funeral for him in Lusaka, and his family, who preferred he be interred in South Africa.
His widow and children prevented the repatriation of his body, asserting that he would not have wished for his political adversary, the current Zambian president, Hakainde Hichilema, to attend his funeral.
In response, Zambia filed a lawsuit to stop the burial in South Africa while preparations for the funeral were already in progress. The court in Pretoria ruled on Friday that Zambian law took precedence.
“A former president’s personal wishes or the wishes of his family cannot outweigh the right of the state to honour that individual with a state funeral,” it added.
(Photo by SALIM DAWOOD / AFP)
Although the cause of Lungu’s death at the age of 68 was not disclosed, his Patriotic Front party noted that he had been undergoing specialised treatment at a clinic in Pretoria.
Elected to lead the resource-rich southern African nation in 2015, Lungu was defeated in the elections six years later by Hichilema, from the United Party for National Development.
Since that time, his wife and children have faced charges of corruption and possession of suspected illicit proceeds, which the family claims are a part of a political vendetta against them.
In February, Lungu’s daughter, Tasila Lungu, was arrested on money laundering charges, having previously been detained alongside her mother and sister on fraud allegations in 2024.
Her brother, Dalitso, is also grappling with corruption charges.
