Pretoria – The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has rejected an appeal by the family of former Zambian president Edgar Lungu over a dispute concerning his burial.
Lungu, who died on 5 June in Pretoria at the age of 68, had been at the centre of a legal battle between his family and the Zambian government regarding his final resting place. The family sought to appeal a previous ruling that denied their request to bury him in South Africa, hoping to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The high court ruled that the appeal had no reasonable prospects of success and dismissed claims that Zambian law should not apply outside its borders. The court noted that Lungu was in South Africa temporarily for medical treatment at the time of his death.
Judges also clarified that Lungu retained his status as a former president, entitling him to state-funded burial benefits, and that the agreement for a state funeral with the Zambian government remained binding. The court rejected arguments that the sitting president should be excluded from the funeral, noting that prior arrangements regarding participation did not nullify the consensus reached with the government.
“The mere fact that parties were to consult on who would speak does not invalidate the agreement,” the judgment stated. It further observed that disputes over burial rights are common in South African courts and usually resolved once agreements are reached, “although a corpse has no commercial value.”
The family had argued that the case raised constitutional questions over the rights of spouses and children, but the court found no compelling reason to allow an appeal, saying the matter was too fact-specific to arise again.
Earlier rulings had suspended Lungu’s burial in South Africa on 25 June and ordered his body returned to Zambia for a state funeral on 8 August, after the family accused the government of breaching their initial agreement.
Discussion about this post