MAKEBI ZULU OUTLINES APPEAL DETAILS AND GROUNDS ON NEWZROOM AFRIKA PROGRAMME

MAKEBI ZULU OUTLINES APPEAL DETAILS AND GROUNDS ON NEWZROOM AFRIKA PROGRAMME

……Lungu Family Appeals Pretoria High Court Order Over State Funeral Repatriation….

PRETORIA, 11 August, 2025

The family of late former Zambian President Edgar Chagwa Lungu has filed papers seeking to overturn a Pretoria High Court ruling ordering that his remains be handed over to the Zambian government for a state funeral.

Family spokesperson and lawyer Makebi Zulu told Newzroom Afrika on Sunday that the decision to appeal was made because “the court did not address the gravamen of the matter” and had “focused narrowly on a purported agreement” between the family and the Zambian government.

“In its ruling, the court talked about pacta sunt servanda that agreements must be respected but then went further to change the concessions that were reached by the family,” Mr. Zulu said

“We had agreed that the body would be repatriated privately by the family into Zambia, where he could be accorded a state funeral. The court instead ordered that the sheriff collect the body from the undertaker and hand it over to the Zambian government, excluding the family from the process. That is one ground of appeal.”

Mr. Zulu stated that the court of failed to address key constitutional and human rights questions.

“The court did not address the right to dignity. It did not address who, as next of kin, is entitled to the body. That is a very important question,” he said.

“We felt the court erred when it said public interest overrides that of the family. And whose public interest? Which public was the court dealing with?”

He questioned the South African court’s jurisdiction in matters involving Zambia’s internal arrangements.

“If they were dealing with Zambian public interest, what clothes them with the authority to deal with the Zambian system?” Mr. Zulu asked.

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The family maintains that President Lungu died as a private citizen after the Zambian state stripped him of his benefits, alleging he had reentered active politics.

“You cannot vilify someone in life, deny them access to medical care, and then thrust honours upon them in death,” Mr. Zulu said.

“That is a mockery to the family.”

Mr. Zulu insisted that the family’s priority was not speed but dignity.

“The point for the family is just one to give the former president a dignified send off,” he said.

“What is perceived as dignified by the family is not the government being in charge of the burial. That is the decision of the family, not the state.”

“If invitations are to be extended, they will be extended to necessary people. We respect the South African government and would not want to antagonise relations between South Africa and Zambia. But the remains belong to the family and we would like that to be respected.”

Nor sooner had the Pretoria High Court ruled in favour of the Zambian government than the Lungu family and many Zambians became the subject of ridicule. A cabinet minister of Muchinga Province went viral celebrating that “akatumbi kaleisa ” a derogatory term meaning a small or not important or useless person’s corpse was coming, and the United Party for National Development (UPND) joined in the celebrations. Many patriotic Zambians condemned this behaviour as deeply insensitive, pointing out the pain it caused the grieving family of the late president.

Many Zambians have since been voicing  their outrage, arguing that such conduct only confirmed the family’s sentiments, that President Lungu could not receive a genuine dignified send off from the current government. Some contend that the state’s push for control over the burial is less about honouring the late president and more about political gain a calculated attempt to cleanse its image on the international stage, even at the expense of human decency.

SOURCE: SE