Zambia’s High Court has ordered the seizure of assets worth more than $1.3 million from Dalitso Lungu, son of late former president Edgar Lungu, after ruling that he failed to explain how he lawfully acquired the property.
The forfeiture order, delivered Monday by the court’s Economic and Financial Crimes Division, covers 79 vehicles and 23 pieces of land and real estate — including a shopping mall, a petrol station, luxury apartments and an executive residence in the capital, Lusaka.
Judges found that Lungu, 39, and his company, Saloid Traders Limited, could not provide “credible and verifiable” evidence to justify the scale of their wealth.
The court examined Lungu’s employment history, noting that he worked briefly at a Lusaka beverages company in 2012 and spent nearly three years at the Zambia Revenue Authority. His earnings, even when combined, were deemed insufficient to account for the acquisition of such extensive assets.
Financial records from Saloid Traders — including tax returns, bank statements and social security contributions — also failed to demonstrate the company’s capacity to lawfully acquire or maintain the properties, the court said.
Claims that the assets were financed through commercial farming, business income or family support were dismissed for lack of supporting documentation.
“[Dalitso] Lungu has failed to proffer further and solid evidence to substantiate his claims that Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and indeed his parents, were the source of the funds used to purchase the impugned properties,” the ruling stated.
Lawyers for Lungu have indicated they will appeal.
The case is the latest in a series of legal actions targeting the family of the late president, who died in South Africa last June at the age of 68. His body has yet to be repatriated amid an ongoing legal dispute between his family and the Zambian government over where he should be buried.
President Hakainde Hichilema, who defeated Edgar Lungu in a landslide victory in 2021, has called for the former leader’s remains to be repatriated and accorded a state funeral. A South African court ruled in favour of the government in August.
But the Lungu family insists on a private burial in South Africa, citing the former president’s reported wish that Hichilema not attend his funeral. Esther Lungu, the former first lady, has remained in South Africa since her husband’s death and this month filed a notice at South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein seeking to overturn the repatriation ruling. Earlier attempts to secure leave to appeal in lower South African courts were unsuccessful.
Monday’s asset seizure follows a 2024 High Court ruling that ordered Esther Lungu to forfeit 15 flats valued at $3.5 million.
Critics of the government have described the anti-corruption investigations as politically motivated. The administration maintains they are part of a broader effort to recover illicitly acquired wealth.
Edgar Lungu’s body remains at a funeral home in Johannesburg.
