Zambia’s government announced that it has taken possession of the body of former President Edgar Lungu after a South African high court cleared the way for its repatriation, reports said Wednesday.

The move signals the closure of a nearly one-year legal battle over his burial location.

Lungu died at a medical center in the South African capital Pretoria on June 5 last year and remained unburied due to protracted negotiations and a legal battle between the Zambian government and his family over where he should be buried.

He led the southern African nation from 2015 to 2021.

The government contended that as a head of state, Lungu should be buried at the designated Embassy Park presidential burial site in the capital Lusaka, where all his predecessors lay by national practice.

But his family sought a private burial in South Africa to prevent his political rival and successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, from presiding over the funeral.

In a statement issued late Wednesday in Lusaka, Zambia's attorney general Mulilo Kabesha said the latest court action followed the inability of Lungu's family to proceed with their case before the South African Supreme Court of Appeal.

This was after the Pretoria High Court ruled on August 8, 2025 that Lungu's body be released to the government to facilitate preparations for repatriation and burial in Zambia.

"The mortal remains of the former president have since been relocated from Two Mountains Burial Services (PTY) Limited to a facility managed by the South African government. In line with the court's directive, the government will engage with the former president's family to finalize burial arrangements," Kabesha said.

Lungu's family was yet to issue a statement on the latest development, which ultimately spelled a return of the former president's remains to be laid to rest in his homeland.