Lungu Repatriation Appeal Adjourned Indefinitely by Pretoria High Court
Pretoria, South Africa – Monday, 18 August 2025
The highly anticipated appeal concerning the repatriation of late former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu has been adjourned indefinitely by the Pretoria High Court. The bench ruled that it must first await guidance from the Supreme Court, effectively putting the proceedings on hold sine die.
The case, pits the Government of Zambia against former First Lady Esther Lungu. At the centre of the dispute are the repatriation and burial arrangements of the late Head of State, with the family insisting that the personal wishes of the deceased and the rights of his immediate relatives must be fully respected.
Mrs. Lungu’s legal team advanced several grounds of appeal, challenging the government’s actions and the High Court’s earlier rulings. These include:
1. Violation of Family Rights – The legal team argues that the government’s attempts to repatriate the body without the family’s consent undermine constitutional protections afforded to the family, including dignity, privacy, and respect for cultural and traditional practices.
2. Public Interest vs. Personal Wishes – The appeal contended that the High Court placed excessive emphasis on the government’s public interest argument while disregarding the explicit wishes of the late President and the consent of his immediate family.
3. Procedural Irregularities – The appeal stated that earlier rulings failed to properly consider submissions on jurisdiction and denied the family the right to have their case fully heard before any burial directive could be enforced.
During a brief sitting in Pretoria, the High Court confirmed that it would not proceed with the case until the Supreme Court delivers its ruling on these critical issues. With this judgment, the family remains the sole custodians of the late President’s remains, and the Government of Zambia will not have access to, nor can it repatriate, the body until the higher court provides guidance.
The Supreme Court’s decision will likely determine the balance between state authority and the rights of the family in matters involving the burial of national leaders.
All eyes are now on the Supreme Court for a ruling that could set a significant legal and cultural precedent.
Even in death, ECL remains smarter than uwa icunsu. He keeps landing heavy blows onto his opponent.
The judgement by the lower court is now meaningless. As Chabinga said, they needed to bribe those judges. Whether that actually did happen, only Chabinga and the judges know. The judgement was passed in favour of Chabinga and his sponsor, that much we do know.
The constitutional Court is a different beast however. Not even Chabinga, or AI, can bribe them. That is why this case has been postponed indefinitely.
In the meantime, the empty grave remains. And it shall be filled by he that dug it.
“HE THAT DIGS HOLES FOR OTHERS, SHALL HIMSELF BE BURIED IN THEM”.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
My humble advice to Hakainde is that he should just throw in the white towel. You have done everything possible to bring ECL back home, but you have failed. There is no shame in failure, but a lot of shame in wasting tax payers money on a case you will lose. Stop fighting a dead body my brother. Focus on your job, ending load shedding and fixing high cost of living.
Can cabinet office publish how much the state has spent on this case so far? I am assuming costs for bribing judges or creating propaganda can not be published, because that was all AI.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
Ha ha ha indigo you are even replying to yourself. Kwena you hate HH kwati alikulila umukashi
Chester, I can never hate our president. I just do not like some of his methods. The same way I might not like how my son behaves sometimes. I voted for Hakainde in 2021, so I can not hate him.
Regarding ukulyila, it was not my wife he ate. But he ate someone, and you know who. Even you, you eat.
VOTE FOR CHANGE IN 2026.
These are sick pf tribalists who thought they will continue eating free money using government resources.Unfortunately they lost power.They hate HH because he has closed all the doors for eating.They still believe that they will bounce back but in reality it will take time or not at all.They left the country bankrupt.They defaulted to pay back the money they borrowed only for tantameni.They left nothing,only massive destruction. Not even a small spaza shop by the corner we can point at.The Milingos were giving themselves big amounts after liquidating the mines,sharing with their boss who we all know
umbi akafenta after 2026 elections
Where are those Social Media Hallucinating
Legal experts who were saying the Pretoria High Court Judgement can be enforced even with the Case being before the Constitutional Court? The Chimbadaleka type of Legal experts? And the Haa Haa LLB lawyers?
Those Pretoria high Court Judges looked compromised, when the parties were giving their closing Arguments… They allowed the Lawyer for the Applicants “infinity” time to do his monologue, when the allocated time for each was supposed to be 15 minutes . When the Lawyer for the respondents started giving the closing Arguments , the Clock started working, and the young Counsel fumbled to coherently do his presentation within 15 minutes, and was fiercely interrogated in his submissions…It was as clear as Zambia ‘s day light in October, that the judgement was going the Applicants way.
Could have been the Akakunkubiti AI oiling machine behind the veil of those Judges!
Well the case is now in the ConCourt of South Africa….and the Pretoria High Court Judgement is frozen..
For the Akakunkubiti, the ConCourt or Supreme Court is in a different league..You won’t hide in AI this time around.
Please spell my name correctly or not at all. And do not put words in my mouth or lie about me. Ok?
Alright Mr Chindababeleka , apologies for misspelling your name.
No need to be upset..
I remember you said it, in BOLD, and Capital Letters, JUDGEMENT of the High Court still stands and can be enforced even with the filing of Concourt papers.
And I even tagged you and commented ” If the Judgement orders are valid and can be executed even with the Appeal to the Constitutional Court, why is the state not repatriating the Body? ”
I will get the comment you made and attach it to my post for your recollection.
Thanks.
So, let it be acknowledged that there were actually no negotiations for which the High Court had granted the parties a “Stand down” of the matter on Friday.
Please spell my name correctly or not at all. And do not put words in my mouth or lie about me. Ok?
Thank you very much Nkuku man. We appreciate your comments and divergent views. What the High Court has done today was, it issued an ORDER or RULING predicated on the Agreement of both parties. I had earlier said that, the ConCourt cannot Stay a matter based on the urgent Application by the Lungu family but would have to hear both parties before making a RULING or ORDER. And this is exactly what will happen.