25-6-2025
The Zambian government filed a last-minute legal redress seeking to stop the private burial of former President Edgar Lungu in South Africa on Wednesday, forcing members of Lungu’s family to attend a court hearing dressed in their black funeral attire.
The hearing in the South African administrative capital, Pretoria, began around an hour before Lungu’s funeral service was due to take place. It was not clear when a judge would issue a ruling and if the ex-leader could be buried.
Meanwhile, mourners arrived for the funeral service at a Johannesburg church around 60 kilometers (37 miles) away.
The court challenge was the latest development in a nearly monthlong dispute between Lungu’s family and the Zambian government over where and how the former leader is buried.
The Zambian government wants Lungu to have a state funeral at home — something Lungu’s family have refused to allow because of his bitter political feud with current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
Lungu, who was Zambia’s leader from 2015 to 2021, died of an undisclosed illness in a South African hospital on June 5 at the age of 68. He reportedly told his family he doesn’t want President Hichilema to come near his dead body.
Zambia’s government said it had already prepared a grave for Lungu at a cemetery where all presidents are traditionally buried. It added that any personal wishes must give way to the national interest.
The court papers demand that the former president be buried in Zambia with full military honors, as mandated by Zambian law and in keeping with the public interest.