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?
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!
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…..
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