Attorney General, Mr. Mulilo D. Kabesha, SC, has filed an urgent legal application in South Africa seeking to halt the planned burial of the late Sixth Republican President, Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, outside Zambian territory.
According to a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) news report aired on Tuesday evening, Mr. Kabesha has submitted a public interest litigation to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria. The move is aimed at securing an interim interdict that would prevent any burial proceedings until the issue of President Lungu’s final resting place is lawfully and constitutionally resolved.
The urgent application lists several members of Dr. Lungu’s immediate family—including former First Lady Esther Nyawa Lungu, and children Bertha, Tasila, Chiyesu, and Dalitso Lungu—as respondents. Also named are family associate Charles Phiri, lawyer Makebi Zulu, and Two Mountains Pty, the funeral services company currently holding the late President’s remains.
In his submission, the Attorney General argues that under Zambian law, the burial of a former Head of State is a matter of national interest and must follow state-sanctioned public and military protocols. Mr. Kabesha emphasized that the entombment of a national figure such as Dr. Lungu cannot be treated as a private affair, regardless of any alleged personal preferences.
“Even if, hypothetically, President Lungu had wished not to be buried in Zambia—which is denied—those wishes must give way to the broader national and legal expectations of a state burial,” reads part of the court filing.
Mr. Kabesha cited the precedent of Zambia’s first President, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, whose stated desire to be buried at his personal residence was overridden by a court ruling that aligned with the public interest. Dr. Kaunda was ultimately laid to rest at the Embassy Presidential Burial Park in Lusaka, a site reserved for former heads of state.
The Attorney General is acting under the authority of Article 177(5)(c) of the Constitution of the Republic of Zambia, which mandates the Attorney General to represent the state and protect the public interest in legal matters.
The Pretoria High Court is expected to hear the interim interdict application at 08:00 hours on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
This legal showdown marks a rare instance of a cross-border dispute over the burial of a former African head of state and underscores the political and constitutional weight attached to Dr. Lungu’s final resting place. The outcome could set a precedent for how the state balances personal wishes with national symbolism in such high-profile cases.
Legal drama has always followed Lungu -even when he was about to become PF president there were lots of injunctions and lawsuits! This is how he rolls I guess , even in death
It appears we have lost our bearings as a country. Surely the legal challenge is not filed in public interest because the public wants to move on. The state itself abrogated the simple agreed conditions with the family so what more does the state want.
You look tired. Kindly go to sleep. Don’t you need some rolling to do in bed?
@John…Controversial right to the very end! From allegations of identity theft to misappropriating a client’s money and institutionalizing cadrerism. What a legacy!
This is getting embarrassing to us Zambians in South Africa. Reminds me of the Mugabe burial saga. The Zimbabwe government was digging a grave for Mugabe at the Heroes burial place, only for the family to secretly bury him near his mother. Recently there was a court decision to exhume Mugabe.
The ugly street words here in South Africa are “ma kwere-kwere (derogatory name for African foreigners) are taking our jobs, hospital beds, housing, and now our grave spaces”.
Dear Good Zambian
Kindly receive my humble and sorrowful plea.
Some South Africans have taken a share of Zambia in several spheres including part of the cemetery. We buy houses there as well as pay the hospital bills at market price. The grave is not a gift, costing about 90 pin, Zed currency. We wanted to repatriate our hero’s mortal remains. But the hostile conditions prevented. Please hear us. We apologise. Understand us for a bit. Sorry. We will make it up to you sooner than later.
regards
The Undertaker.
BREAKING NEWS
The court in SA just halted the burial pf ECL. They just did the right thing.
Can we get back to the serious works of nation building please? With all due respect,Zambia is far bigger than the long departed ECL
Fix the economy not this drama
Public interest was for the Attorney to petition government to change mind and allow him to fly out for treatment. This is like wanting to k! ll him again to they make sure he is really de@d. Wow, follow him to the grave!
Tell that to HH
The Zambian economy has always needed fixing. When the economy needs fixing it does not mean that everything has to be stopped.
And yesterday he even said ECL was the only President whose immunity was intact. But meanwhile he literally indirectly kept ECL in court through his family. As for the funeral, it is only the family that has the final authority. The President does not have any such powers not even one, on this one he is like all of us none family members. Apologise for abrogating their earlier agreement, may be they can hear you. And stop using known UPND cadres to negotiate with the family, you have a lot of genuine neutral people in this country.
Kangaude.
He actually did not have parliament numbers to grab away his immunity. So it had to wait. The same way the constitutional amendments waited up to today. Just look at how they are suffering from panick disorder owing to lateness.
Agreed
It was just right to bury the former president in
His country of birth than another country inspite of what differences he had.
Can’t even give the man a chance to roll in his grave.
Is this the same State chief legal officer who compensated those cadres with money as if UPND are the only injured people in Zambia? Let’s see how he challenges Lungu in a foreign country with more qualified and experienced lawyers than the Zambian ones he perpetually tramples over.
Failure to deal will loadsheding…Failure to improve our economy….and indeed we’re all just useless….I thought HH was a smart person it turns out he is worse than Lungu…
Now UPND is acting very childish and they will just decampaign themselves….
We have 19 million Zambians struggling to put food on their table….small businesses struggling with Electricity and yet we trying to spend all our energies on Lungu’s dead body….What is wrong with us Zambians….what is wrong with our black race…..Indians you die at 8am by 11am you’re buried already and its back to businesses…..
@city zen. Follow the facts that are coming out. Are you really burying Edgar Lungu? Or Some Zimbabwean? Who we would have ended up burying as our former President? Why are the family refusing body viewing? Why the 4 or is 5 passports?
The facts coming out about Edgar Lungu are not beffiting a President or someone who held that office. This is why all these questions are of Public interest.
RSA has defined and functional institutions with a solid legal system. When, not if, they lose this case they will also degenerate diplomatic ties with that country. Some things are better left the way they are. We move on.
Am now ashamed to say am Zambian…this is so embarrassing as a country….first of all our leaders fail to build better Hospitals…and now fighting over a dead body….HH and his UPND minions are just a bunch of useless Pompwes…..at first HH handled it well but now he’s acting like a complete *****$%
JUST BURY LUNGU WHEREVER HIS FAMILY WANTS HIM TO BE BURIED….EVEN ESWATHINI SINCE HE HAS PROPERTIES THERE….AND PLEASE DEAL WITH LOADSHEDING
So Lungu was a serious threat to HH…..this means that if opposition can get their acts together they can easily beat HH….HH is very much beatable….
He is tired send him back to Kabwe to look after his waning business
Another question is who is whispering in his ear
Zambians voted for HH to get them out of the misery…to end loadsheding and improve the Zambian economy…but for the past 4 years its just been story after story and nonsensical hollow speeches……just point at one thing that HH has done since assuming office….Nada…zero…just busy fighting for a dead body…..Satanism is real….
And who is footing the bill for all this? Again the Zambian tax payer who is getting all worked up in these political games. Both sides can go on until kingdom comes because their pockets are not affected. In the meantime, kulibe malaiti…
We’re very good at wasting tax payers money…and we run to the west with a begging bowl asking for handouts….I thought HH was a very sensible person but it turns out he’s worse than Lungu….i think HH will go down as the worst Zambian President ever
Now you and I are on the same playing field
Now the only think is to convince @spaka
Let’s have six months national mourning, a state funeral in South Africa, an exhumation, another state funeral at his farm, an exhumation, then another state funeral in the town centre. And a big golden statue. We can afford to do all of this in the public interest because Zambia is a very rich country where nobody needs to work
@ Anonymous
Who is talking about loadshedding here, please read the article maybe you do not understand simple English here, please enrol for GCE for 2026 rather than embarrassing yourself like this. National matters require serious application of mind not junk mind.
Everybody has an opinion Bringing other failures to light is within the boundries of this article
This debacle lies soley with HH and his inabiity to solve Zambia’s problems What is wrong with that ?
@peace maker
You are off the track. He is talking about where to channel the energy and resources and not these court issues where we just misusing tax payers money. We all know the outcome this court case gonna be unless one is full
booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Well put, this issue is not for lazy minds! I doubt CR’s govt is in the right – the “family” are sole recepients of a deceased SOUTH AFRICAN to bury wherever they LEGALLY CAN; Zambians resident abroad are BOUND by zambian law as to where they bury “the zambian citizen” – ECL was not a zambian refugee/fugitive/ex-SADF soldier etc but an ex-president! Could the Kennedys have buried JFK in Ireland? NEVER EVER!! =>Henry Kissinger’s final resting place is at Arlington National Cemetery, NOT Israel!!
Fikamoneka, very sad indeed, eish!!
Burying of some body depends on various factors and circumstances. ECL was sick in SA for six months, did you ever even check on him just for a day to start even dictating where he should be burried. Sort out the economic mess you created as UPND and the loadshedding which is not there in Dubai where there is no rain.
Charlie diaspora 5 passports then whose body is with the Undertaker? That is why the Undertaker has been joined in the suit. And the courts have seen and award the government the court injunction.
What we should now investigate is how people get more than one passport. Lungu is reported to have more that 4 or 3. How? 2 Zimbabwean. Then whose body is the undertaker keeping? Why is the family for government refusing to allow govt to even see the body? The facts are showing why government is insisting. Just the passports is identity theft and fraud.
@ Peace Maker
Anonymous is perfectly okay, you are the one who is misguided ,Peace maker. Government after causing this impasse after dishonoring the original agreement cannot start creating a new twist by going to courts. We have things to do please, we cannot be preoccupied by the same issue. Even your saying that Anonymous must be enrolled for GCE is misguided as usual. Please enrol for kindergarten yourself
Kudos to you
So what Patrick Kangwa said was a lie? The aptitude of some of you is why Peacemaker is you rely on emotional outbursts to make decisions. There is such a thing called facts. Learn to distinguish what is factual. Take time to find out the difference between facts na boza. Makebi Zulu us slowly now been seen as a person that has been telling lies. And Patrick Kangwa stated so when he told us of the corespondence between him and Dr. Njovu.
# Respect the wishes of the family
A family with a dead person with 5 passports? Who is the dead person they dont want us to see?
We have gone to stage 10 loadsheding and you are busy supporting a clearly incompetent government. Incompetent because even to honour the agreement with family is a challenge. Economy is a challenge. Governance is a challenge, am sure by now you have an idea of the report of the rapoteur on human rights. We can’t continue on this path. Using tax payers monies in courts in South Africa now.
WELL STATED
I for one have a sharp memory and truth be told ECL was a good person but a terrible leader…
HH is the waste president, oh HH had serious issues with ECL, oh HH improve the economy, oh HH that HH this…everyone is bad in the eyes of Zambians. After Levy died, we all mourned him after calling him useless, after calling the man satanist. ECL got us into debt, he and his minions got us into economic hardships and yet Zambians think improving the economic can be done overnight. Yes, UPND has that mandate to improving the economy, and they should but that doesnt mean they should leave sensitive issue like the death of ECL open. Anyway, the future is very cruel to dull people let the state settle this once and for all so that we don’t have issues like this in future.
Whether you bury him hear or in South Africa is of no consequences to the general citizenry. Why then are you obsessed with this corpse? Please let’s move on.
I am beginning to think this corpse has some sort of gold attached to it.
We can be sitting here and arguing kanshi there is money somewhere pantu takwaba
@Timbwi..there could be a different person in the coffin or a large stash of US dollars or gold or even ammo!
Well, strange things are happening at the court. According to zambian observer, the court has heard from the state that ECL had 4 passports of which one was from Zimbabwe. According to details, presented to court by the state, no Zambian died in South Africa on the 5th but only a Zimbabwean .
Well, go to if no zambian died then let’s remove our nose from SA and come back. We are just waisting money . Let Zim claim and bury their body .Its not our business .
Meanwhile, Zesco has increased number of hours for loadsheding
Ukoooo! And the RSA High Court has NO JURISDICTION over zambian State Funeral regulations…kaya. This will be bitter, very bitter for the dramatologists, could be a criminal case in the end…eish, batusebanya aba…
@Charlie diaspora clearly you only understate the law from one aspect.
1. A person with more than one identity there is need to esrablish is that person is Zambian.
2. That person if a South African resident the person is a Zambian citizen makes the state have an interest.
So please stop exhibiting your naiveity on the issue. Would you accept that some fake body of a Zimbabwean is buried as a former Zambian president who we are now knowing has multiple citizenships and now residency in a foreign country? There is alot that is now coming out about this family that shows us they have been telling us lies. Is Lungu really dead?
Shokoshugi
It is not that simple.That supposed daed Zimbabwean was announced to have died by Tasila Lungu the daugther announcing that the 6th President of Zambia Edgar Chagwa Lungu had died.If it is true that the deceased had many passports,then the Zambian government has a legitimate claim
There is also no law which has determined that a deceased president can be buried by a family
Whatever sympathy I had for this family and the PF is well and truly gone.
They have really out done themselves when it comes to showing the whole world how ungrateful and unpatriotic they really are.
They may have had a plan, but they continued dancing long after the music had stopped. The spectacle they created has now disgusted many a common man.
The family is just okay and are within their rights with absolutely no offence or law broken. He was sick for six months in SA without the President checking on him and today ati his a statesman. Just how
@Mufasa am in total agreement with you. Ama story pali family iyi ya fula. Why are they insisting and making up alot of stories? Houses being bought in South Africa? Ndalama zi choka kuti?
When you take that presidency oath…..
You cease to be a common man on the street…….
You now represent all of Zambia, not just the family ……
The family should have stopped mr lungu running for president if this would be a problem for them……..
FWD2031
To any of you aspiring president hopefuls………
Explain to your family that if ever you were elected president, if you take that oath of office, you now belong to the Zambian people……….
Let them object or agree with your decision to be president…….
FWD2031
It is not true that if are elected or take the oath to the office of President, you belong to the state. This is a lie and not backed by any law in Zambia. Please people be wary of such paid propaganda.
Just follow what learned lawyer Sangwa said and not the lies being peddled here, the final authority of any funeral is the family whether a person is an ordinary person or a former head of state. Anything else deviating from this is not true with no iota of truth . There is no constitutional provision in the whole wide constitution of Zambia giving the state powers over the family.
They are arguing against precedent..?????
KK was buried at embassy park against the wishes of his family…….which law did GRZ break by going against the wishes of KK and the family ????
When you take oath to serve the Zambian people as president……..
In their eyes you belong to Zambia and should be given a state funeral, however…….
It would be difficult to ban the current head of state from attending that state funeral
FWD2031
Under British and Zambian law……..
There is no provision to absolute ownership of a corpse………..
However, the state may intervene for public heath or safety……
FWD2031
Spaka you are speaking to people who were spoon fed through school and dont have the ability to think. Sembe ba ganiza they would have read of the Kawecha Kaunda presedence and know the gravity of the high court decision. Under five? Ask yourself who the under five is when you finally find out the lies the Lungus have been telling us.
There is no part that shows absolute ownership of a body of a deceased in the laws………
The state may intervene for public safety or health
FWD2031
Ati Sangwa! They are trying to use RSA as an Escape Room from the public theft cases in Zed…CR could burn his fingers to coals here, remember Lungu asked him for ASYLUM, promptly a house was ” bought” – here with the popcorn!!They’ll all regret ever calling HH a western stooge; The AG is a SC !!
I am not sure why this lie gets repeated that once you become President you are state property, this is a NAKED LIE. Sadly even using the lawlessness which took place by burrying Kaunda against his family wishes. Even the court agreed with the family but used ‘tipemphako’ , the family could have challenged with ease because there was no law cited by the court. Read widely to understand these things. The only good thing is that Zambians are now sharp and understand these things. Even the propaganda being put out here is detected.
Which Zambian law says the body absolutely belongs to the family ?????
FWD2031
I now understand why Sata was putting people in weights. You you are under 5, you are under so and so. It’s because of such things
# Respect the family wishes
Weldone UPND Zambia on CCN NEWS AS Court halts burial
Finally the noisemaker has caught with the news. But dont understand the reason why the court halted the burial? What facts were brought to the court for them to move to make such a decision? These are questions people need to ask. It shows that the government has shown a need to halt the burial and they now need to tell the court those facts.
This was foreseeable, and this could take weeks for the court to decide! Meanwhile all these characters who have declared themselves principal, chief, master etc mourners will have to contend with an extended funeral while footing expensive hotel bills! Makebi Zulu is a foolish lawyer whose advice is only going to prolong the family grief and costs.
Burrying of Kaunda at Embassy park against the family wishes was lawless. It can be easily challenged in a higher court, and very easily so. Get vested with the law and not exposing your usual ignorance here.
# Respect the wishes of the family
All the politicians has failed the people of Zambia in this never ending unfolding drama.The time has come for the people of Zambia to rectify the mess created by politicians.This is the reason why civil societies are very much important in other countries around the world.
True, especially with clear leadership failure by government to handle straight forward issues.
# Respect Family Wishes
what is special about law degrees and lawyers? if you line up for me engineer, nurse, plumber, electrician, carpenter, medical and veterinary doctors, builders, economists, sociologists, etc AND A LAWYER, the least useful of all to society is a lawyer who support offenders shamelessly and most of them failed their mathematics exams. Introduce an AI package of question and answer to legal matters and WE CAN DO WITHOUT LAWYERS. we exaggerate their importance.
Yes, we can do without lawyers.
# Respect the wishes of the family