Lungu Family Files Appeal in South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal Over Repatriation of Former President’s Remains

ZIT- The family of former Zambian president Edgar Chagwa Lungu has formally lodged a notice of appeal in South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), challenging a High Court ruling that ordered the repatriation of his remains to Zambia for burial with full state honours.

Court documents dated February 9, 2026, seen by Kalemba, show that the family, led by former First Lady Esther Lungu, is appealing against the August 8, 2025 judgment of a full bench of the Pretoria High Court. That ruling directed that Lungu’s body be handed over to the Zambian government and returned home for a state funeral. The family is seeking to have the decision set aside and the government’s application dismissed with costs.

The appeal is the latest development in a protracted legal and political dispute that has unfolded since Lungu’s death in South Africa in June 2025. It also comes against the backdrop of fresh legal action in Zambia, where the Economic and Financial Crimes Court recently ordered the forfeiture of 79 vehicles and 23 properties reportedly linked to the former president and transferred to his son, Dalitso Lungu.

Lungu died on June 5, 2025, at a clinic in South Africa, and his remains have since been kept at a funeral home in Pretoria. Tensions escalated when the family cancelled earlier plans to repatriate his body to Zambia during a period of national mourning declared by President Hakainde Hichilema, instead announcing intentions to conduct a private burial in South Africa.

On June 24, 2025, Zambia’s Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha obtained an urgent court order in Pretoria stopping the burial. The government argued that, as a former head of state, Lungu should be laid to rest in Zambia with the dignity and honour attached to the presidency.

The family countered that Lungu had expressed a wish not to have President Hichilema involved in his funeral and had preferred to be buried outside Zambia. The government rejected that claim, saying no credible evidence had been produced to support it and stressing the constitutional importance of respecting the office of the former president.

In August 2025, the Pretoria High Court ruled in favour of the Zambian government. The family’s attempt to take the matter directly to South Africa’s Constitutional Court was dismissed later that month. A further application for leave to appeal at the High Court was also rejected in September.

However, the family later petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, which granted leave to appeal in December 2025 — paving the way for the current proceedings.

The case now heads to the SCA, where judges will determine whether the High Court was correct in ordering the repatriation of Zambia’s sixth president for burial with state honours.