Zambian Govt to Repatriate Former President Lungu's Body Against Family Wishes

Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

23 April 2026

allAfrica.com

The Zambian government has said that it has  taken possession  of the body of former president Edgar Lungu, who died in South Africa 10 months ago, against the wishes of the family.

The dispute stems from a long-running feud between Lungu and his successor, Hakainde Hichilema.

The government has maintained that as a former head of state, he should be honoured in the country and buried alongside his predecessors in the special presidential burial ground in the capital, Lusaka. However, the family prefers a private burial.

A South African court had previously ruled in favour of repatriation and given him a state funeral.

Lungu died of an undisclosed illness last June, aged 68, at a clinic in South Africa's capital, Pretoria. He had led Zambia from 2015 until 2021, when he lost the election by a wide margin to Hichilema.

The family has now filed an urgent application in a South African high court for the former president's body to be returned to the funeral home where it was originally being kept.