The family of the late former Zambian president, Edgar Lungu, has formally lodged an appeal with South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on February 9, 2026. This move is widely interpreted as being driven more by escalating legal and financial pressures in Zambia than by genuine preferences for burial location.

The appeal was filed nearly two months after the SCA granted the family leave to appeal and significantly, just one day after Zambia's Economic and Financial Crimes Court (EFCC) ordered the forfeiture of 79 vehicles and 23 properties. These assets, which included a filling station and luxury double-storey apartments, were allegedly gifted by Lungu to his son, Dalitso Lungu.

In court documents seen by Kalemba, the Lungu family, led by former first lady Esther Lungu, is challenging the August 8, 2025 judgment of the full bench of the Pretoria High Court. This previous ruling had mandated that Lungu's remains be handed over to the Zambian government for repatriation and burial with full state honours. However, the timing of the appeal has sparked considerable debate regarding the underlying motives.

For several months after being granted leave to appeal in December 2025, the family had taken no further action. The sudden filing of the appeal now, immediately following the EFCC's sweeping forfeiture order, has dramatically heightened the Lungu family's legal exposure and financial vulnerability.

Political and legal analysts suggest that this appeal forms part of a broader defensive strategy. Its aim appears to be to maintain leverage, delay the final resolution of the case, and keep the former president's situation alive internationally as intensive investigations continue in Zambia. In their notice, the family is seeking for the SCA to completely overturn the Pretoria ruling and dismiss the Zambian government's original application, with costs awarded.

Edgar Lungu passed away on June 5, 2025, at a clinic in South Africa, and his body has since remained in a funeral home there for over eight months, making him one of the longest unburied former heads of state in the region.

The standoff began when the family abruptly canceled initial plans to repatriate his body to Zambia, thereby disrupting a national mourning program declared by President Hakainde Hichilema. Subsequently, the family announced their intention to bury him privately in South Africa.

On June 24, 2025, the Zambian government, through Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha, successfully secured an urgent court order in Pretoria to prevent the private burial. Government lawyers argued that in death, Lungu belonged to the Zambian state, and that the institution of the presidency—rather than political rivalry—demanded a dignified state burial at home.

The family countered by claiming that Lungu did not wish for President Hichilema to be anywhere near his funeral proceedings and that he had expressed a preference not to be accorded state honours under the current administration. They argued that forcing a state burial would go against his personal wishes and infringe on the family’s right to determine his final resting place.

However, the Pretoria High Court rejected that position, holding that while family wishes are important, they cannot override the constitutional and symbolic obligations attached to the office of a former head of state. The court found that Edgar Lungu, having served as Zambia’s president from 2015 to 2021, remained a national figure in death and was entitled to burial in Zambia in accordance with state protocol.

That ruling triggered the family’s initial application for leave to appeal, which was eventually granted by the SCA in December 2025. Yet no substantive appeal papers were filed until now, raising questions about why the matter was allowed to stall for weeks before being revived at this particular moment.

Back in Zambia, legal proceedings linked to alleged corruption and unexplained wealth have intensified. The forfeiture of 79 vehicles and 23 properties marked one of the most sweeping asset seizures connected to the former first family. The Economic and Financial Crimes Court ruled that the properties were proceeds of crime and therefore subject to state confiscation, though the Lungu family has consistently denied wrongdoing and maintains that the assets were legitimately acquired.

Observers note that by keeping the burial dispute active in South Africa’s higher courts, the family may be seeking to project the issue beyond Zambia’s domestic political landscape. Internationalising the matter could potentially generate diplomatic sensitivity and slow down the momentum of ongoing investigations at home.

For the Zambian government, however, the position has remained consistent: that Edgar Lungu, regardless of the controversies surrounding his final years, deserves to be laid to rest in the country he once led. Officials argue that closure for the nation cannot be achieved while the body of a former president remains in limbo abroad.

As the SCA prepares to consider the appeal, the case now sits at the intersection of law, politics, and legacy. At stake is not only the question of where Edgar Lungu will be buried, but also the broader contest over how his presidency will be remembered—whether as a chapter concluded with state honours at home, or as an unresolved dispute stretching across borders and courtrooms.

Until the appellate court delivers its decision, the impasse continues, leaving both the family and the Zambian state locked in a legal battle that shows no immediate sign of resolution.