New Delhi, Feb. 21 -- More than eight months after his death, former Zambian President Edgar Lungu's remains are still in a South African funeral home, the subject of a macabre fight between his family and the longtime rival who succeeded him.

A graphic symbol of the dispute: an unfilled, coffin-size hole in a cemetery in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, where the current president, Hakainde Hichilema, had hoped Lungu would be buried in a state funeral. But Lungu, in his last days, told his family members that Hichilema, even as a mourner, should never go near his body.

The matter has gone to the courts, which have repeatedly sided with Zambian authorities over Lungu's wishes. Lungu's family persists in seeking a burial that sidelines Hichilem...