By Brian Matambo

The Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa has reserved judgment in the explosive case over the remains of Zambia’s Sixth Republican President, Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu.

At the centre of the case is one brutal question: can a government that fought a former President in life now take charge of his body in death?

Lawyers for the Lungu family told the court that the Zambian Government has no right to override the widow, the family, or the known wishes of the late President. They argued that former President Lungu made it clear before his death that the current Government should have nothing to do with his body or funeral.

The family’s case is simple but politically devastating: there was no true agreement because the family never accepted that President Hakainde Hichilema should play any role in the funeral.

The court heard that the bad blood between ECL and the current administration was not fiction. It was built through real incidents, including interference with his church attendance, blocking his trip to Seoul, and denying him permission to travel for medical treatment.

The family’s lawyers argued that these events explain why ECL and his family could not trust the same Government to preside over his final journey.

The matter has become even more disturbing after the Government accessed the body of President Lungu and a postmortem was conducted without the express knowledge of the family. To the family and many Zambians, that act crossed the line from legal dispute into desecration.

Government lawyers insisted that former Presidents are traditionally accorded state funerals and buried at Embassy Park. But the court questioned whether the Government had properly proved this alleged custom, especially in a case where the widow and family are openly resisting State control.

The family also attacked the Government’s claim that there was a binding agreement. Their lawyers argued that what existed were proposals, counter-proposals, shifting funeral programmes, and a clear dispute over the role of President Hichilema.

In short, no meeting of minds. No consent. No moral authority.

This case is no longer just about where ECL will be buried. It is about power, dignity, widowhood, political revenge, and whether the State can stretch its hand from the corridors of power into the coffin of a man it hounded while he lived.

Judgment has been reserved.

But one thing is already clear: the ghost of Edgar Chagwa Lungu still stands in the political courtroom of Zambia, and the Government is not yet done answering for how it treated him.