THE Zambian government and the family of the country’s late former President Edgar Lungu appeared before the Gauteng High Court on Monday, August 4, to resolve the dispute over his final resting place.
The ICIR reported that Lungu passed away on Thursday, June 5, while receiving treatment at a medical centre in South Africa. He was 68.
The news of his death was contained in a statement issued by his daughter, Tasila Lungu, noting that the nation would be informed of other arrangements about his funeral plans.
The family eventually resolved not to fly its patriarch’s body to Zambia for burial but chose to bury him in South Africa – a decision the Zambian government, headed by Hakainde Hichilema, rejected.
Peeved by the family’s decision, the Zambian government filed a suit in South Africa to halt the burial plans just as it was about to start on June 26.
The announcement was made to mourners at a church in South Africa only after the funeral mass had ended. The family had chosen a private ceremony in South Africa instead of a full state funeral in Zambia.
The dispute reportedly traced back to a long-running feud between Lungu and his successor, Hichilema, with Lungu’s family insisting he had made it clear that Hichilema should not be present at his funeral.
The family wanted full control over the funeral arrangements, including the repatriation of his body, but the Zambian authorities moved to take charge instead.
The government and the late leader’s family initially agreed on a state funeral, but tensions resurfaced over the specific arrangements, forcing the family to choose a burial in South Africa instead.
Meanwhile, Hichilema has maintained that, as a former head of state, Lungu “belongs to the nation of Zambia” and should be laid to rest on Zambian soil.
The court gave the Zambian government until July 4 to file its amended notice of motion backing Lungu’s repatriation to Zambia, while the late leader’s family was given until July 11 to submit its opposing arguments.
The counsel for the Lungu family, Casper Welgemoed, argued before the court on Monday, August 4, that there was no evidence to suggest that the late leader wanted to be buried in Zambia.
Welgemoed urged the court to dismiss any argument stating that Lungu wanted to be buried at home.
“There’s no evidence, no evidence showing that he wanted to be buried in Zambia and they cannot make that submission to the court, and this court can never find such a fact exists. Wherefore those parts in our striking application are all hearsay and irrelevant,” the lawyer said.
Meanwhile, Zambian government contended that individual wishes should not take precedence over the broader public interest, pointing to the example of founding President Kenneth Kaunda.
The government argued that in 2021, the country’s first president Kenneth Kaunda was buried at Embassy Memorial Park in Lusaka, despite his family saying he wanted to be laid to rest next to his wife and not at the site designated by the government.
Reports indicate that the current dispute over Lungu’s burial highlights the strained relationship between him and his successor – a crisis rooted in a past incident where Lungu had Hichilema detained for over 100 days on treason charges.
The ICIR reports that Lungu was the sixth leader of the Southern African country. He led Zambia between 2015 and 2021, when he lost an election to long-time opposition leader and incumbent president.
Lungu assumed the presidency in 2015 following the death of then-president Michael Sata. He was subsequently elected in a presidential poll, serving from August 2016 to August 2021.
A trained lawyer, Lungu previously served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence.
Following his defeat in the 2021 election, he retired from politics but returned in 2023 and was eventually confirmed as the leader and presidential candidate of the alliance that included the Patriotic Front.
However, in December 2024, Zambia’s Constitutional Court ruled that he was not eligible to contest another term in office.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.