Pretoria, South Africa — Former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu had requested authorities in Pretoria to allow him to remain in South Africa until there was a new government in Lusaka, the SABC reports.

Lungu died early Thursday in South Africa, where he had been receiving medical treatment for several months.

Sources close to the South African government cited by the SABC said Lungu had no intention of returning to Zambia, fearing political persecution under President Hakainde Hichilema, the very man he once tormented while in power. 

Ironically, Lungu, who once weaponised state institutions against his opponents, found himself accusing the current Zambian administration of the same authoritarianism he previously championed.

He reportedly died of complications related to swallowing, although the South African government, which had been hosting and monitoring him, is expected to issue a formal statement clarifying the exact cause of death.

Lungu had been quietly aligning himself with Zambia Must Prosper, a fringe opposition party led by former PF insider Kelvin Fube Bwalya. Fube Bwalya confirmed working closely with Lungu in recent months and delivered an emotional tribute after hearing news of his death.

South African authorities, sympathetic to former liberation movements in the region, had reportedly given Lungu permission to remain in the country indefinitely. “There was no objection even from the EFF or President Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto weSizwe party for Lungu to be granted immunity in South Africa,” a source said.

During his presidency from 2015 to 2021, Lungu oversaw a period of growing authoritarianism in Zambia. 

His government clamped down on dissent, jailed opposition leaders, including then-opposition leader Hichilema, and stifled media freedom. 

In a now-infamous episode in 2017, Hichilema was arrested and charged with treason after a bizarre traffic incident involving a presidential motorcade. 

At the time, critics warned that Zambia was sliding into dictatorship.

Lungu’s fall from power came in 2021, when he lost decisively to Hichilema amid growing public anger over economic mismanagement and political repression. 

His exit was dramatic: on the eve of the election results, he shut down internet access across Zambia, drawing widespread condemnation from human rights groups.

After conceding defeat, Lungu disappeared from the political spotlight — only to resurface in 2023 with veiled ambitions of a political comeback.

His re-entry into politics unsettled both the ruling party and his own Patriotic Front (PF), which had begun moving on without him.

A growing rift emerged between Lungu and PF leaders, especially after he hinted at contesting the 2026 presidential election.

Despite this fallout, PF released a statement on Thursday mourning his death, calling him “a statesman, patriot and servant of the people.”

His final public call as president, was on 13 August 2021, in a conversation with  ZimEye which urged him to avoid plunging the country into post-election violence.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, a close ally of Lungu, is seen as one of the biggest political losers from the former president’s death. 

Lungu was a key regional ally to Mnangagwa, especially during the turbulent aftermath of Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup. 

He was among the first to endorse Mnangagwa’s rise to power and remained a vocal supporter of Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF, often praising what he called its “revolutionary resilience.”

Lungu maintained strong ties with Southern Africa’s former liberation parties, including South Africa’s ANC, Mozambique’s Frelimo, and Namibia’s Swapo, even as his domestic standing crumbled.

But in the end, the man who once arrested opposition leaders and silenced critics died on foreign soil, fearing persecution from the same political system he had helped normalize. 

In death, Edgar Lungu became a cautionary tale, a ruler who, having built a fortress of repression, ultimately found himself imprisoned by it.

He is survived by his wife Esther and their children. Funeral arrangements are expected to be announced in the coming days.