The family of Edgar Lungu, Zambia’s former president, have rejected claims that he was poisoned, as a dispute over his burial continues to unfold in South Africa.
Lungu died in South Africa last June at the age of 68, and his body has yet to be laid to rest. It remains in a morgue as legal proceedings between his family and the Zambian government drag on. According to his relatives, South African police are now also seeking custody of his body as part of their own investigation.
In a letter sent to police, lawyers representing the Lungu family said they are cooperating with what they described as “criminal proceedings”, but firmly denied the poisoning allegations. The claims, they wrote, are “unfounded and unsupported by credible evidence”.
The issue marks the latest development in an increasingly contentious dispute over where the former president should be buried. While the Zambian government wants his remains returned home for a state funeral, his family is pushing for a private burial in South Africa.
South Africa’s police service declined to comment on the contents of the letter. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe described the matter as highly sensitive, telling the BBC it could not be discussed at this stage.
Lungu died at a clinic in Pretoria after suffering from an undisclosed illness. He served as Zambia’s president from 2015 until 2021, when he was decisively defeated in elections by current president Hakainde Hichilema.
Following his death, the Zambian government sought to have Lungu’s body repatriated and buried with full state honours. In August, a South African court ruled in favour of that request.
However, Lungu’s family has resisted the ruling, saying he had expressed a wish not to be buried in Zambia and did not want Hichilema to attend his funeral. Relations between the two men had long been strained, and the rivalry appears to have persisted even after Lungu’s death.
In correspondence dated 11 February 2026, the Johannesburg-based law firm Mashele Attorneys confirmed that it had complied with five subpoenas issued as part of a criminal probe into poisoning allegations. The firm stated that it was acting on the instructions of the Lungu family.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it is our clients’ instruction that the allegations underlying the criminal case are denied,” the letter said.
Neo Mashele, from Mashele Attorneys, told the BBC that the police investigation appeared to stem from a public statement made by one of Lungu’s daughters suggesting he may have been poisoned — a claim he described as “absolutely not true”.
The lawyers also raised concern about a further subpoena reportedly issued by police to the funeral home currently holding Lungu’s body. They pointed out that two High Court orders had already ruled that custody of the remains should stay with Two Mountains Funeral Services until all legal proceedings are concluded.
“These orders are binding and operative,” the letter stated.
An official at the morgue where Lungu’s remains are being kept told the BBC that the body is under “tight security and surveillance 24/7”.
Lungu’s widow has remained in South Africa since his death and is spearheading the legal effort to have him buried there. Last week, she filed a notice at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, seeking to overturn the earlier ruling that ordered his body to be returned to Zambia.
