Sema Fonkem 25/06/2025

Attorney General of Zambia, Mr. Mulilo D. Kabesha, SC, has filed an application at the Pretoria Hight Court to contest burial of late president Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu in South Africa.

68 years old Dr. Lungu, the sixth Republican president of Zambia died on 5 June 2025 from chest related complications while receiving treatment at Mediclinic Medforum in Pretoria. In March 2015, he had undergone a surgery for narrowed esophagus which may have also contributed to his deteriorating health. 

According to the argument raised by Mr. Kabesha, under the law of Zambia, a former head of state is supposed to be given a state burial and considering that Dr. Lungu was a former president, it is also of public interest that Dr. Lungu is buried in Zambia.

During Dr. Lungu’s stay in South Africa, he had made it clear that he doesn’t want to return to Zambia until after the presidential elections. He also purchased a house and other properties in South Africa. He had instructed to family not allow Zambia’s incumbent president, Hakainde Hichilema anywhere near his body or coffin.

South Africa’s law states that a body must only be given to the the next of kin, in this case late Dr. Lungu’s family members who have been fighting to make sure he is buried in South Africa. DR. Lungu’s decision not to return home is a form of temporary exile which may also support his family’s request to have him buried in South Africa.

When Zambia’s first President, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda died in June 2021, his desire to be buried at his personal residence was overridden by court ruling which authorised government to bury Dr. Kaunda at the Embassy Presidential Burial Park in Lusaka, a site reserved for former heads of state due to public interest. Although this is not a judicial precedent, it shows the level of state power which the government of Zambia has over such matters. 

The Pretoria High Court is expected to have its first hearing the interdict at 8am today, 25 June 2025.