Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu: Image: X/Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
(The Post News)– The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has on Monday reserved judgement in the late former Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s burial appeal case. Lungu’s family is seeking permission to appeal an earlier ruling that ordered his repatriation for a state funeral in Zambia following his death on June 5, 2025.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has on Monday reserved judgement in the late former Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s burial appeal case. Lungu’s family is seeking permission to appeal an earlier ruling that ordered his repatriation for a state funeral in Zambia following his death on June 5, 2025.
Lungu died in South Africa, where he was receiving medical treatment. Three months later, he has not yet been laid to rest due to a standoff between his family and the Zambian government over his burial site. The court found that there was an enforceable, binding agreement between the family and the Zambian government over the final resting place of Lungu.
Counsel Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, representing the Lungu family, has argued that human remains cannot be contracted over, but rather you follow the law of succession, which will empower the wife of the deceased to decide on the burial. He said Lungu lost all his presidential benefits; therefore, the government doesn’t have the right to decide on his burial.
According to Ngcukaitobi, you don’t contract over human remains. A corpse is dead. It’s not a property. It cannot be contracted over. “What you do is you follow the law of succession. If there’s a will, you follow the will. If there’s no will, the law of intestate succession applies. So if you are dead and you are a husband, your remaining wife takes the decision.” He went on to explain that the children make the choice if the wife is likewise dead or unable to do so. Moreover, the parents make the choice if the kids are unable; siblings make the choice if your parents are unable to.
The Zambian government, represented by Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha, opposed the appeal, arguing that it lacked merit. It said the application for leave to appeal has no prospects of success. Lungu was a Zambian politician who served as the sixth president of Zambia from 26 January 2015 to 24 August 2021.
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