A legal battle over a former Zambian president's burial might be over

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FILE -Esther Lungu, widow of Zambia's former President Edgar Lungu, center, and family members attend a Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

FILE - Zambian President Edgar Lungu attends the Southern African Development Community's leaders' conference in Pretoria, South Africa, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, file) — FILE -Esther Lungu, widow of Zambia's former President Edgar Lungu, center, and family members attend a Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

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8:05 AM on Tuesday, June 23

By GERALD IMRAY

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A legal battle over where former Zambian President Edgar Lungu's remains will be buried may be 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 South African court 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 decided 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 at home.

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 Supreme Court of Appeal is South Africa's second highest court, and the Zambian government could appeal to the Constitutional Court.

Lungu served as president of the southern African nation from 2015-2021, 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 Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa