The legal battle over the final resting place of late former Zambian President Edgar Lungu has taken a dramatic turn, with the family’s lawyer asserting there is no proof the former leader wished to be buried in Zambia.
Representing the Lungu family, Advocate Casper Welgemoed argued in court that any claims suggesting Lungu had expressed a desire to be interred in his homeland are “hearsay and irrelevant.”
“There’s no evidence, no evidence showing that he wanted to be buried in Zambia,” Welgemoed told the court. “This court can never find such a fact exists.”
The Zambian government is fighting to have Lungu repatriated for a state burial, but the family insists he should be laid to rest in South Africa, where he died on June 5, 2025, following cardiac complications from surgery at Mediclinic Medforum in Pretoria.
The case has drawn widespread attention and emotional debate in both countries, as questions arise over the late president’s final wishes and the authority of the state versus the rights of the family.
The High Court in Pretoria is expected to rule on the matter in the coming days.
