Lungu family finally appeals SA ruling as asset forfeiture tightens pressure

The family of late former Zambian president Edgar Lungu has finally filed a formal appeal in South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), in a move widely seen as driven less by burial preferences and more by mounting legal and financial pressure back home.

The appeal was lodged on February 9, 2026, nearly two months after the SCA granted them leave to appeal — and just one day after Zambia’s Economic and Financial Crimes Court (EFCC) ordered the forfeiture of 79 vehicles and 23 properties, including a filling station and luxury double-storey apartments allegedly gifted by Lungu to his son, Dalitso Lungu.

In court papers seen by Kalemba, the family, led by former first lady Esther Lungu, is challenging the August 8, 2025 judgment of the full bench of the Pretoria High Court, which ordered that Lungu’s remains be handed over to the Zambian government for repatriation and burial with full state honours.

But the timing of the appeal has raised serious questions about motive.

Appeal follows asset seizures, not principle

For months after being granted leave to appeal in December, the family took no action. The sudden filing now comes only after the EFCC’s sweeping forfeiture order — a development that has dramatically escalated the Lungu family’s legal exposure and financial vulnerability.

Political and legal analysts say the appeal appears to be part of a broader defensive strategy, aimed at maintaining leverage, delaying closure, and keeping the former president’s case alive internationally as investigations intensify in Zambia.

In their notice, the family is asking the SCA to overturn the Pretoria ruling in its entirety and dismiss the Zambian government’s application, with costs.

“Take notice that pursuant to leave to appeal having been granted by this Honourable Court on 23 December 2025, the Appellants hereby note an appeal… against the whole of the judgment and order of the Full Court of the Gauteng Division, Pretoria… dated 8 August 2025,” the notice reads.

A body caught in politics and law

Edgar Lungu died on June 5, 2025 at a clinic in South Africa. His body has 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 cancelled plans to repatriate his body to Zambia, disrupting a national mourning programme declared by President Hakainde Hichilema. They later announced intentions to bury him privately in South Africa.

On June 24, 2025, the Zambian government, through Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha, secured an urgent court order in Pretoria stopping the burial.

Government lawyers argued that Lungu belonged to the Zambian state in death, and that the presidency as an institution — not political rivalry — demanded a dignified burial at home.

The family countered that Lungu did not want President Hichilema “anywhere near his body,” claiming this justified a foreign burial. The court rejected this, finding no credible evidence to support such claims.

Courts have consistently sided with Zambia

On August 8, 2025, the full bench of the Pretoria High Court unanimously ruled in favour of the Zambian government.

The family’s attempt to jump straight to the Constitutional Court failed on August 26, with judges directing them back to the High Court. Their subsequent application for leave to appeal was dismissed on September 16.

Only in December 2025 did the Supreme Court of Appeal grant them leave — but they waited until after major asset seizures to act.

A legal battle now entangled with corruption probes

What began as a burial dispute has now become deeply entangled with corruption investigations, asset forfeitures, and criminal proceedings involving the former first family.

The appeal, coming immediately after massive property losses, is now widely viewed not as a fight for dignity — but as a last legal front in a collapsing political and financial empire.

For critics, the message is clear: the Lungu family did not move when courts ruled, but only when their wealth was touched.

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