By Brian Matambo | 15 May, 2026

The South African Supreme Court of Appeal has set May 29, 2026, as the date for the hearing involving the family of Zambia’s Sixth Republican President, Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and the Zambian Government over the Pretoria High Court judgment on the repatriation of the former President’s remains.

The development has been confirmed by the family spokesperson, Counsel Makebi Zulu, who is also President of the PF-Pamodzi Alliance.

This marks a critical return to the legal process following the disturbing events in which the Zambian Government obtained access to the body of the former Head of State without the knowledge of the family and proceeded to conduct what it purported to be a postmortem.

To the family and many Zambians who have followed this matter closely, that act was not merely irregular. It was viewed as a grave violation, an outright desecration of the body of a former President, a husband, a father, and a man whose remains ought to have been handled with dignity, restraint, and honour.

The situation worsened when the family was left searching for the body. It took the intervention of the family spokesperson, President Makebi Zulu, together with President Lungu’s close ally and family friend, Hon. Richard Musukwa, and members of the Lungu family, to search around Gauteng Province before the body was eventually found abandoned at a forensic facility.

That discovery deepened public concern over the manner in which the remains of the former Head of State had been handled. For the family, it confirmed their worst fears: that the state was prepared to override the wishes of the widow and immediate family, even in a matter as sacred and final as death.

The body has since been returned and is now securely kept as the court process gets back on track.

At the heart of the dispute is whether the remains of Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu should be repatriated to Zambia in line with the Zambian Government’s position, or whether the wishes of the family, particularly those of the widow and immediate family, should prevail.

The case follows the Pretoria High Court judgment on the repatriation of President Lungu’s remains, a judgment which the family has continued to challenge through the South African legal system.

For the Lungu family, this matter has never been merely about procedure. It has been about dignity, family rights, the sanctity of a widow’s wishes, and the honour due to a former Head of State whose final days were marked by deep political tension with the current administration.

The setting of May 29, 2026, by the Supreme Court of Appeal now places the matter before a higher judicial platform, where arguments are expected to be heard on the contested repatriation judgment.

As the legal process continues, the nation watches closely. This case now raises profound questions about family authority, state power, presidential dignity, and whether even in death, a former President can be denied the peace and respect owed to him by both the state and the people he once led.