The Pretoria high court has dismissed with costs a bid by former Zambian president Edgar Lungu’s family’s to appeal a ruling rejecting its request to have him buried in South Africa.
Lungu died on 5 June while receiving medical treatment in South Africa.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema’s government wanted to repatriate Lungu’s body for a state funeral, but his family insisted that his funeral and burial take place in South Africa, angry that he had been stripped of his retirement benefits and privileges after his decision to re-enter active politics.
The Pretoria high court suspended Lungu’s burial in South Africa in June amid a legal battle that resulted in an order on 8 August that his body be returned to Zambia for a state funeral.
In the latest legal blow against the family, on Tuesday the court upheld that ruling, saying that it was “satisfied that on the merits there are no reasonable prospects of success [in the Lungu family’s bid to appeal]”.
“As for the application of Zambian law, the court considered that the deceased was on a temporary visit to the Republic [of South Africa] for medical reasons. The main parties to the dispute are peregrini [non-citizens],” it said.
The court said the argument was that the matter raised unique constitutional issues and points of law as to whether the constitutional and common law rights of a spouse and children of the deceased may be trumped by a state pertaining to the remains of the deceased.
“Furthermore, for a foreign state to assert a right of burial under its own laws, not South African law, are compelling reasons for the Supreme Court of Appeal to pronounce on. We are satisfied that no compelling reasons exist to grant leave to appeal, simply because the matter is so fact specific that there is little to no prospects that the same set of facts will confront a court again,” it said.
The court also ordered the Lungu family to pay costs to the Zambian government.
The family has been locked in a legal dispute with the Zambian government over Lungu’s final resting place since his death in June
