By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Pretoria High Court has reserved judgement in the Zambia’s former head of State, Edgar Lungu, burial case and it is expected to be handed down before the end of the week.
The court heard arguments on whether Lungu should be buried in South Africa or in Zambia, after it recently halted the burial by agreement between parties pending the final determination on this issue.
Lungu died on 5 June 2025, at the age of 68, in a Pretoria hospital.
The two parties are at loggerheads over Lungu’s final burial place after his family snubbed a state funeral for a private funeral in South Africa.
The court first heard and dismissed Vincent Kafula’s application as an intervening party in the case between the Zambian government and the family of the late former president.
Among the terms Kafula sought the High Court to order is the repatriation of Lungu’s remains following the family’s conditions, declaring that Hakainde may attend the burial, and to interdict the Zambian government from any “persecution, harassment, unjust legal proceedings” against Lungu’s family.
The dispute follows long-standing tensions between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, with the late former president’s family saying he had indicated that Hichilema should not attend his funeral.
Kafula conceded before the court that a South African court could not grant the relief he sought, as it could not intervene in Zambian law.
“We cannot find, because of the orders he is seeking, that he does have a legal right or interest in what order will give and that his legal rights will be affected. Therefore, the application for intervention is dismissed, with no order as to cost,” Judge Sulet Potterill.
The full bench comprised acting Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba, acting deputy Judge President Potterill, and acting Judge President Thifelimbilu Mudau began hearing arguments by the Zambian government’s legal representatives.
They argue that the late president’s family has not demonstrated that it was Lungu’s last wish to be buried in South Africa; instead, he wanted to be repatriated.
In addition, the lawyers argued that meetings were held between the two parties where a compromise regarding Hichilema’s attendance was reached.
The current row over Lungu’s burial underscores the tense relationship between him and his successor, which played out in life and continues even in death.
Hichilema defeated Lungu in a bitterly fought election in 2021, having lost to him in 2016. In 2017, Hichilema was sent to prison for four months on charges of treason after his convoy did not give way to Lungu’s presidential motorcade. The charges were dropped and Hichilema released after an international outcry.
After Hichilema took power, Lungu accused his successor of targeting him and in effect placing him under house arrest. In 2023, police stopped Lungu from going out for runs, saying they were “political activism” and needed to be approved beforehand to “ensure public safety”.
Lungu’s wife, Esther Lungu, and their children have faced various corruption charges. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing cars, which she was due to face in court this week.
Last year, Edgar Lungu attempted to return to frontline politics but was barred from running again for the presidency in next year’s election. Zambia’s constitutional court ruled that when Lungu took over as president after the incumbent, Michael Sata, died in 2015, the period until the 2016 election counted as a full first term in power.