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Lungu's family was expected to hold a private funeral service in Hillbrow on Wednesday.
Zambia President Edgar Lungu | Picture: AFP/ ROBERTO PAQUETE
The Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria has halted the burial of former Zambian President Edgar Lungu pending an urgent court application.
The court handed down the ruling in favour of the Zambian government, which sought to interdict the funeral from taking place on Wednesday.
Court ruling
Deputy Judge President Aubrey Phago Ledwaba made the ruling after an agreement was reached between the two parties, pending the main determination of whether Lungu will be repatriated to Zambia.
“I just want to put it on record that this court appreciates the grief and pain of the family and relatives and the Zambian nation caused as a result of the interred President Lungu of Zambia, who passed on 5 June 2025. The deceased, especially as our culture as Africans, should be laid to his final resting place in a respectable manner.”
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Ledwaba said by agreement between the parties, an order is made that the family “undertake not to proceed with the funeral and or burial of Lungu pending the finalisation of the application.”
Feud
Lungu’s family was expected to hold a private funeral service in Hillbrow on Wednesday. The court also granted the family permission to visit or inspect Lungu’s remains at the mortuary.
Parties who wish to intervene in the matter have been given until July 18 to file their applications, motions, and answering affidavits.
Lungu’s family had planned to bury him in South Africa, but the Zambian government wanted Lungu to have a state funeral at home, something Lungu’s family has refused to allow due to his bitter political feud with current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
Death
On Monday, Pretoria said that while a state funeral would be an appropriate tribute to the legacy of the late former Zambian president, it had acknowledged the legal obligation to respect the wishes expressed by the former president’s immediate family for him to be laid to rest in South Africa.
Lungu, who was Zambia’s leader from 2015 to 2021, died of an undisclosed illness in a South African hospital on June 5 at the age of 68.
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