Zambia has enacted a new law giving the government statutory authority to determine where former presidents and vice presidents are buried.

The law comes after the highly publicised dispute over the burial of former President Edgar Lungu, whose family wanted him buried in South Africa.

The Benefits of Former Presidents and Former Vice-Presidents Act, 2026, states that a former president or vice-president who dies after leaving office "shall be buried at a burial site designated by the Government within the Republic."

The Act also introduced and expanded benefits for former vice presidents, including pensions and other retirement entitlements. 

Meanwhile, Lungu's burial status remains unknown, as family lawyer and spokesperson Makebi Zulu remains incarcerated on treason-related charges.

But this is not the only dispute that the Zambian government has faced in the recent past.

When the country's founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, died in June 2021, his family opposed the burial site and arrangements by the state.

His son and others went to court because they claimed that their late father wanted to be buried next to his wife's resting place at their private property in Lusaka.

It took the courts to rule in favour of government.

Similarly, in 2008, when the then President Levy Mwanawasa died in France, another impasse ensued over his burial rites, but an agreement was made outside court.