The family of Zambia’s late former president, Edgar Chagwa Lungu, has formally demanded that the Zambian government cover all expenses related to his cancelled funeral as well as legal fees stemming from the ongoing dispute over the handling of his remains.
In legal documents filed before the Gauteng Division of the High Court in South Africa, key family members—including widow Esther Lungu, children Tasila, Dalitso, and Chiyeso, sister Bertha, nephew Charles Phiri—alongside their lawyer Makebi Zulu and funeral service provider Two Mountains, argued that the government’s last-minute legal intervention caused significant emotional and financial hardship.
According to the submissions, the government filed an urgent court application just two hours before the scheduled burial on June 25, 2025, forcing the cancellation of a fully arranged private funeral in Pretoria. The family contends that this eleventh-hour legal action was unjustified and amounted to an abuse of process, calling for a punitive costs order against the Zambian state.
“The launching of an eleventh-hour urgent application on the morning of 25 June 2025, the very date and time scheduled for the funeral of the late President Lungu, with only two hours’ notice to the Respondents… alone justifies a punitive costs order,” the family’s legal submission reads.
The family also alleges that the government had been aware since at least June 18 that the body would not be returned by the intended burial date, yet deliberately delayed legal action until the funeral day, resulting in wasted expenses for the venue, transportation, clergy, security, and other arrangements made according to Lungu’s burial wishes.
Accusing the state of acting in bad faith and politicising a private family matter, the family insists that widow Esther Lungu’s legal right to determine burial arrangements has been undermined.
In contrast, the Zambian government’s court filings justify their intervention by citing the need to verify and authenticate the identity of the remains, as mandated by a court order issued by Deputy Judge President Aubrey Phago Ledwana. Meanwhile, the body has been held at a Pretoria funeral parlour for nearly two months amid the escalating legal dispute.
Edgar Lungu passed away on June 5, 2025, in Pretoria. While the family sought a private burial in South Africa, the Zambian government has insisted that the former Head of State be repatriated to Lusaka and accorded a full state funeral.
The South African High Court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on this matter on August 4, 2025, which will be pivotal in resolving the dispute over the late president’s final resting place and the associated legal responsibilities.
This ongoing controversy highlights the delicate balance between state protocol and family rights in the burial of prominent national figures, and underscores the broader challenges of managing legacy, sovereignty, and respect for personal wishes in the public eye.