TWENTY days after his death, the burial of former president Edgar Lungu has been suspended for the third time and it is unclear when he will be put to rest.
After failed negotiations with government for the former head of state to be buried in Zambian soil, his family, had announced that Lungu would be buried in South Africa today.
However, the High Court in Pretoria has put a halt to the burial arrangement following an application by Zambia’s attorney general Mulilo Kabesha challenging the family’s decision.
Initially scheduled for June 14, following a seven day national mourning period declared by government, Lungu’s interment has faced repeated postponements.
Government later extended the national mourning period to nine days, rescheduling the burial to June 23 with full military honours.
However, the Lungu family altered plans on June 18, when the country was waiting for the arrival of the remains.
The family informed the nation that it had opted to hold a private burial today.
But once again, the former president’s remains will not be laid to rest.
This follows a fresh directive from the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, which has asked Zambia’s Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha to file an application by July 3, 2025, stating reasons why the late president’s body should be returned to Zambia.
The Lungu family, represented by former First Lady Esther Lungu and several of the couple’s children has until July 4 to respond.
The court has since set July 18, 2025 as the date for the ruling and until then, the court has suspended all burial plans.
This latest legal development has deepened the standoff between government and Lungu’s family, with both sides asserting their authority over where and how the former president should be buried.
In an application lodged before the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria, Attorney General Kabesha is seeking to prevent the burial of Lungu in South Africa.
The urgent application, filed on behalf of the Zambian government is directed against the late president’s widow, four of their children, Bertha, Tasila, Chiyesu and Dalitso, family lawyer Makebi Zulu and the funeral company Two Mountains Pty, which currently holds the remains.
Kabesha argues that under Zambian law and tradition, a former Head of State must be buried with full military honours in Zambia and not privately in a foreign country.
The Attorney General insists that even if Lungu had expressed a personal wish to forgo a state funeral, such a preference “must yield to the greater public interest.”
He cited precedent from the 2021 burial of Zambia’s founding president Dr Kenneth Kaunda, whose personal burial wishes were overruled in favour of national protocols.
While the government insists on repatriation and a state funeral, the Lungu family has pushed back.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, June 25, 2025
