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Former President Edgar Lungu’s wishes were that the current President, Hakainde Hichilema, should have no role or involvement in his funeral arrangements, the family lawyer Thembeka Ngcukaitobi has told the South African Supreme Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court of South Africa heard today an appeal in which the family of the late President is challenging a decision of the High Court of Pretoria ordering the repatriation of his remains to Zambia for burial, amid a dispute over control of his final funeral arrangements.
The family maintained that Lungu was treated as an ordinary citizen after leaving office and stripped of presidential entitlements, arguing that the State, therefore, had no legal basis to interfere in his burial.
They insisted that the Zambian government should not participate in any aspect of the funeral arrangements.
“Former President Edgar Lungu’s wishes was that the current President Hakainde Hichilema should have no role or involvement in his funeral arrangements,” Ngcukaitobi told the court.
Counsel Ngcukaitobi told the court that Lungu had personally expressed that he did not want government involvement after death due to how he was treated while alive.
It was further submitted that the family declined to proceed with repatriation following disputed last-minute burial arrangements, including concerns over proposals that allegedly allowed extended State access to the body, which they viewed as unacceptable.
But Advocate Ben Stoop, appearing for the Zambian government, argued that the late President should be regarded as a national asset whose burial cannot be reduced to a private family matter.
He told the court that the public interest and the symbolic status of a former Head of State must took precedence over private wishes.
The matter was heard before a full bench comprising Justices John Eldrid Smith, Thandi Norman and Raylene May Keightley, who questioned distinctions between this case and that of former President Kenneth Kaunda, particularly on issues of entitlement and customary practice.
The judges pressed both sides on whether there was any clear legal basis establishing State authority over burial arrangements of former Heads of State beyond past practice.
“If the family does not want the President to preside over the funeral, does that also prevent him from attending in his role as Head of State?” Stoop asked.
The court was also told that under Zambia’s established state protocol, all former Heads of State were traditionally buried at Embassy Park in Lusaka, a site reserved for national leaders.
However, the judges questioned whether the Embassy Park practice could automatically be treated as binding legal custom, stressing that the court required clear legal justification rather than historical or political practice alone.
The court questioned that in a constitutional democracy, burial rights engage deeply personal and dignified interests, and cannot be overridden without a firm legal foundation.
The court was also reminded of the burial of former President Kenneth Kaunda, with the State relying on that precedent to argue that Zambia had an established practice in handling the funerals of former Heads of State.
However, the judges questioned whether the Kaunda matter could be treated as binding evidence of custom, noting that it did not arise from a disputed legal contest on burial rights.
On June 5, 2026, will mark one year since his passing.
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