The Zambian government says it has assumed custody of former President Edgar Lungu’s remains, escalating a prolonged dispute with his family over his burial arrangements.
Lungu passed away last June at a clinic in South Africa, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness. In a statement released Wednesday, Zambia’s attorney general confirmed that his body had been removed from a funeral home in Pretoria and is now under government control.
This move comes despite the family’s assertion that a separate urgent court order required the body to be returned to the funeral facility. They had planned a private burial in Johannesburg, specifically excluding current President Hakainde Hichilema, Lungu’s political rival.
However, a South African high court previously ruled in favor of the Zambian government, ordering that Lungu’s remains be repatriated for an official state funeral.
Family members say Lungu had expressed a wish that Hichilema neither attend nor oversee his funeral. The two leaders had a fraught relationship, with Lungu serving as president from 2015 until his defeat by Hichilema in the 2021 elections.
During Lungu’s time in office, Hichilema was arrested on treason charges and detained for four months before being released following international pressure. In the years after leaving office, Lungu alleged that authorities restricted his movements to block a potential political comeback claims the current government has denied.
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