(MENAFN) South Africa’s High Court has ruled that the body of former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu be released to the Zambian government for repatriation and a state funeral. Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba of the Gauteng Division confirmed that Zambia is entitled to conduct the state funeral and bury Lungu at Embassy Park in Lusaka.

The court ordered Lungu’s family to hand over the body to Zambian officials to allow the repatriation. The ruling follows a tense dispute between the family, who opposed the presence of Lungu’s political successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, at the funeral, and the Zambian government, which had prepared state funeral arrangements with Hichilema at the center as commander-in-chief of the Defence Forces.

Lungu, who served as Zambia’s president from 2015 to 2021, passed away on June 5 in South Africa at the age of 68 while receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness. Earlier attempts by the family to bury him in South Africa were blocked by the Pretoria High Court.

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