A former Zambian president's family can finally choose where he's buried after yearlong legal battle

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A legal battle over where former Zambian President Edgar Lungu's remains will be buried is over, more than a year after he died, as South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday in favor of his family and rejected the Zambian government's claim of custody over his body.

The ruling overturned a lower South African court's decision that ordered the family to hand over Lungu's remains to the Zambian government for repatriation.

Lungu died in South Africa on June 5, 2025, at age 68. The Zambian government wanted his body to be buried at a cemetery set aside for the African nation's leaders, but his family preferred to bury him in South Africa.

The dispute saw Lungu’s bitter rivalry with political opponent and current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema continue after his death. His body has been at a mortuary while the legal battle played out.

Lungu’s family said it was honoring his last wishes that Hichilema come nowhere near his body and not preside over a state funeral for him in Zambia.

The family's funeral service for Lungu in South Africa last June was interrupted when the Zambian government filed an urgent court case arguing the country's customs and protocols required he be buried at the national cemetery.

In a majority ruling by a panel of judges on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Appeal said that “the common law and constitutional rights of family prevail” over the Zambian government's claim.

“The judgment provides clarity and finality on a matter that has caused immense pain and uncertainty for the family during a period of profound grief,” Lungu family spokesperson Makebi Zulu said in a statement.

The Zambian government said it would not appeal the ruling to South Africa's top Constitutional Court and it was "now a private matter for the Lungu family to proceed with their desired burial.”

It noted that all five other Zambian presidents since independence in 1964 who have died were buried at the cemetery for leaders and Lungu would be the first one not to be.

Lungu served as president of the southern African nation from 2015 to 2021, twice beating Hichilema in elections. During Lungu's presidency, then-opposition leader Hichilema was imprisoned for four months on treason charges that were ultimately dropped.

Lungu lost an election to Hichilema in 2021 and claimed years later that he had been effectively put under house arrest by authorities acting on Hichilema's instructions.

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AP writer Jacob Zimba in Lusaka, Zambia contributed to this report.

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