South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal has overturned a 2025 Gauteng High Court decision that had allowed Zambia’s government to repatriate and bury former president Edgar Lungu in Zambia with full state honours.
In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, the court upheld an appeal by members of the Lungu family.
It ruled that the Zambian government failed to establish a legal basis to override the family’s wishes regarding the burial of the former head of state.
The appellate court set aside the earlier order and replaced it with one dismissing the government’s application in its entirety, with costs awarded against Zambia.
Justice Raylene Keightley said the decision turned on South African constitutional principles protecting dignity, privacy and family autonomy, as well as common-law recognition of the rights of next of kin in burial matters.
She noted that the family had the legal right to decide how and where Lungu would be buried.
The court also found that Zambia did not prove that Zambian law, customs or protocols authorised the government to make burial arrangements contrary to the family’s position.
It accepted evidence from the family that Lungu had consistently indicated that President Hakainde Hichilema and the Zambian government should not play a role in his funeral arrangements.
“In the absence of definitive evidence from the Zambian Government that the family had agreed to renounce its strongly held position on President Hichilema’s involvement, the family’s version that there was no agreement must prevail,” the judgment read.
Lungu died in South Africa on 5 June 2025 while receiving treatment for terminal oesophageal cancer.
Following Tuesday’s ruling, Zambia said it would not pursue further legal action.
Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha said government disagreed with the judgment but would not appeal to South Africa’s Constitutional Court, describing the matter as now private for the Lungu family to proceed with their preferred burial arrangements in South Africa.
Kabesha said Zambia’s intent during the year-long dispute had been to honour Lungu “in line with the precedent established for previous Presidents” at Embassy Park, including full military honours.
JN/APA