Update - Court Halts Edgar Lungu's Burial in South Africa Amid Dispute with Zambian Government

The late Former President Edgar Lungu

Source: Online sources

The Zambian government has successfully obtained a court order halting the burial of former President Edgar Lungu in South Africa. The order was issued on Wednesday after a last-minute legal challenge that was heard on the very day Lungu’s funeral was scheduled to take place. As a result, members of the late president’s family, dressed in black funeral attire, were forced to postpone attending the burial service and instead appear at a courtroom in Pretoria. The Pretoria High Court ruled that Lungu’s burial would be postponed until a final decision is made in the ongoing legal dispute over his final resting place. A new hearing date has been set for August 4.

This legal intervention is the latest development in a nearly month-long standoff between Lungu’s family and the Zambian government regarding the funeral arrangements. The government has insisted that the late president should receive a state funeral in Zambia. However, Lungu’s family opposes this, stating that he did not wish for the current President, Hakainde Hichilema, to be present at his funeral. While this has not been officially confirmed, many speculate that this request stemmed from a longstanding feud between the two former political rivals. Edgar Lungu, who served as Zambia’s president from 2015 until 2021, passed away at the age of 68 on June 5, 2025, in a hospital in South Africa after battling an undisclosed illness.