The family of Zambia’s late former president Edgar Chagwa Lungu has formally demanded that the Zambian government cover all expenses related to his cancelled funeral and the legal fees arising from the ongoing dispute over his remains.
In documents submitted before the Gauteng Division of the High Court in South Africa, Lungu’s widow Esther Lungu, his children Tasila, Dalitso and Chiyeso, his sister Bertha, nephew Charles Phiri, family lawyer Makebi Zulu, and funeral service provider Two Mountains, argue that the government’s last-minute legal action caused both emotional and financial hardship.
The family is seeking a punitive costs order against the Zambian state, contending that the government’s urgent application—filed just two hours before Lungu’s scheduled burial on June 25—was unjustified and amounted to an abuse of process.
“The launching of an eleventh-hour urgent application on the morning of 25 June 2025, the very date and time scheduled for the funeral of the late President Lungu, with only two hours’ notice to the Respondents… alone justifies a punitive costs order,” the family’s legal submission states.
The respondents claim that the government had been aware, since at least June 18, that the body would not be returned to Zambia by that date, yet waited until the funeral day to act. This, they argue, resulted in the cancellation of a fully arranged funeral in Pretoria—incurring expenses for the venue, transportation, clergy, security, and the funeral home, all in line with Lungu’s expressed burial wishes.
The family accuses the Zambian state of acting in bad faith and politically interfering in a private family matter, asserting that the widow’s legal right to determine burial arrangements has been undermined.
In its own court filings, the government has justified its intervention by citing the need to verify and authenticate the identity of the remains, in compliance with a court order issued by Deputy Judge President Aubrey Phago Ledwana. The body has been kept at a Pretoria funeral parlour for nearly two months amid the escalating legal standoff.
Lungu died on June 5 in Pretoria. While his family opted for a private burial in South Africa, the Zambian government insists that the former Head of State be repatriated and accorded a full state funeral in Lusaka.
The South African High Court is expected to rule on the matter on August 4.
Awe, this government must start being serious. Priority should be the economy and not burial and funeral of ECL, a funeral which government does not even have constitutional provisions or powers to dictate what it wants over the family wishes. What is so difficult please
Government should indeed pay. Firstly the delayed the burial by abrogating the initial agreement, secondly they went to court.
All this long time, they have been beating about the bush: telling us the body belongs to the government and yet they wanted to see if he really is de@d. Otherwise, if not, there must be a “k!ll him again” command prompt.
Ndeloleshafye !!!
Very funny indeed.
We have already watched this movie and it was boring as ‘ell. Not forgetting the fact that we spent funds on fuel getting to the movie cinema as well as the popcorns, drinks and all that go with it. Like it or not, we are still being forced to pay for the production costs of this red tomato.
Can we have the next movie please? This time the genre should be loadshedding, the economy, making sure that 40% of Zambians are no longer living below the poverty line….
Hold on and wait for the court to solve this matter. Thereafter the family and govt will get guidance. Usually the loser PAYS all outstand legal fees and other related expenses.
The court could also guide that each party pays their own bills!
Hehehe you will be dead broke by the time this end. Boma ni Boma. Lawyers know how to syphone money
Signs that show abana bafipuba. Nokulanda balanda ifyabupuba.
The so called Lungu family is something else. They became excessively rich when they were in power. Now they wish the Zambian taxpayer to continue paying for their bad decisions. What a country.
Don’t demonize the victims. On any day anywhere in the world the final authority for any funeral is the family. What is difficult pamene apa. Government has NO business here. The protocols and military honours being advance for wanting to hijack the funeral from the family is not even in our laws or constitution. And for inconviniencing the family and the Zambians, government should pay, whether the Lungus are rich or not is immaterial for now and not part of the equation
Va Zoona
Where is the law that states the family has rights before the state in the case of a corpse ???…….there is none
However , the state has rights to bury a corpse for state well being and security,……..
Not to mention state burial precedent…….
for example people die in a pandemic , the state has the right to bury those bodies for the health of the nation , ahead of the families , or incase of a notorious character , the state can chose to bury to avoid hero worship at the graveside, so………
The state, the country Zambia , is put before the wishes of the family
FWD2031
Can the Lungu family offload some of the many properties they own in order to pay for the funeral?
Why is the family overprotective as we have
Had other past president funerals before ?
This is what is creating questions?
HH and ECL
These Lungu family thieves looted the country & they still want the government to pay for their nonsense? It’s like feeding red meat to zombies… they are never satisfied!
Have you ever had a transactional relationship/friendship where a person/persons like only what they can get from you but they don’t really like you?
This ECL funeral drama is feeling like it so its better we focus on nation building.
Why don’t we agree that we have failed to exist as on country. All this noise would not be there if we had remained as we were as North Eastern and Norther Western Rhodesia. BEst I think to go our separate ways.
Fortunately you have no following you Mushala remnant. Take your divisive hallucinations to hell where they belong. Zambia is here to stay
Lungu sanabwela kuchoka ku Harare…
The government can also countersue. It sent a plane, dug the grave and arranged more than a week of national mourning in which the Zambian people were expecting to receive the body. The family changed cours e at the last minute causing many Zambians to have emotional distress. Furthermore, the actions of the family have brought ridicule and opprobrium to the Zambian people.
Get your facts right, the government never sent a plane. The plane was chartered by family well wishers and was parked at the airport for days at great cost. The reason the family changed course is in public domain, read. We may not all support the family’s history blindly but on this issue of how they have been treated after losing a loved one, by a government headed by someone who NEVER ONCE acknowledged him as President, they are clearly the victims.
I suspect Joe Blogs is Emmanuel Mwamba
Fix the economy, that is what was promised. Stop wasting everybody’s time
The Ndola Mufulira road and the cb-Lusaka dual carriageway are crying for equal attention from government
The government believes Lungu is not dead mwebantu! What could be his motives for faking his death? Please LT readers submit scripts quickly.
He stole when he was alive, he still want to steal when dead yaba
The drama of this shenanignes is so destressing to so many zambian ppl what is going on here?/