The Zambian government and the family of former President Edgar Lungu will appear before the Pretoria High Court tomorrow to determine custody of his remains.
The government has filed a reconsideration application challenging a recent urgent order directing it to return the body to a private mortuary, even after the Lungu family's appeal deadline had lapsed. The order was granted hours after Zambia executed an August 2025 Gauteng High Court judgement allowing repatriation for a state funeral.
Zambia accuses the family of obtaining the order in its absence through material non-disclosures, including the lapsed Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) appeal, release of the remains to the South African Police Service (SAPS), and an ongoing probe into Lungu's death. Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha demands the body be returned to SAPS to complete investigations, noting the family moved it contrary to a July 2025 court order.
In his affidavit, Kabesha described the matter as urgent, warning that the family, as foreign nationals, have the ability and motivation to remove the remains from South Africa, with serious consequences for Zambia.
Last Wednesday, the Pretoria High Court ordered a handover to SAPS for investigation and postmortem after the SCA deemed the family's appeal lapsed for missing a March 30, 2026, deadline. Kabesha clarified the body would not be immediately repatriated pending police enquiries, but argued the subsequent return to Two Mountains mortuary ignored key facts, existing orders, and the Inquests Act of 1959, which mandates investigations into unnatural deaths without family consent.
He disputed claims of unlawful repatriation, emphasising SAPS custody for statutory purposes in a state facility.
Zambian legal expert Bornwell Muntanga defended the government's stance, noting international and municipal law recognise state interest in a former head of state's remains for state funerals, archives, and mourning – as affirmed by the Pretoria High Court.
He explained that on April 22, 2026, custody was asserted after the family's SCA appeal lapsed by law, making tomorrow's hearing the proper forum to test this – not "wrongful possession" but procedural propriety.
On the April 23 postmortem at Tshwane Forensic Services, Muntanga said it was statutorily mandated for non-natural deaths, not requiring family consent. Dr. Canisius Banda, former PF health committee chairperson, called the death "sudden, unexpected, and suspicious", while PF Secretary General Raphael Nakachinda confirmed the family insisted on a postmortem. Thus, it was a legal obligation, not controversial, and no court order can override parliamentary statutes like the Inquests Act until the inquest closes.