The Pretoria High Court has delivered a historical ruling this day, ordering the repatriation of extinct Zambian President Edgar Lungu’s physique dwelling for a order funeral, resolving a almost about two-month dispute that captivated the nation and resonated at some level of southern Africa.
Lungu, who passed away on June 5 at Mediclinic Medforum in Pretoria at some level of remedy for oesophageal cancer, will be laid to leisure at Embassy Park in Lusaka with stout protection force honours, as mandated by the court docket.
“This is a matter of national dignity,” said Performing Desire President Aubrey Ledwaba, turning in the ruling alongside a stout bench. “As a former head of state, President Lungu’s burial must reflect Zambia’s protocol and honour his service to the nation.”
Honouring the deceased’s wish
The resolution followed a heated ethical war between the Zambian govt, represented by Prison professional Frequent Mulilo Kabesha, and Lungu’s family, who insisted on a non-public burial in South Africa to honour the gradual President’s alleged love to exclude his political rival, President Hakainde Hichilema, from the complaints.
Lungu, Zambia’s sixth president from 2015 to 2021, used to be a polarising resolve whose demise at age 68 sparked an argument reflective of his contentious political occupation. His widow, Esther Lungu, and prison professional Makebi Zulu argued that Lungu had explicitly said his desires.
“My husband was clear: he wanted President Hichilema nowhere near his funeral or his body,” Esther Lungu said in her affidavit.
The family cited past grievances, in conjunction with the 2023 stripping of Lungu’s presidential advantages and alleged delays in approving his medical evacuation to South Africa, which they verbalize hastened his demise.
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The Zambian govt, on the opposite hand, maintained that national law supersedes internal most desires. “The burial of a former President is a state matter, as seen with President Kenneth Kaunda,” Kabesha argued in court docket paperwork.
The government sought four key orders: a declaration of its peculiar steady to repatriate Lungu’s physique, the open of the physique from a Pretoria funeral dwelling to the Zambian High Commission, authorization for a order delegation to accompany the remains, and the exclusion of the family’s authority over the burial assignment.
The court docket granted these requests however acknowledged the family’s concerns. Desire Ledwaba famed: “While we respect the family’s sentiments, national protocol must prevail. We urge minimal involvement of President Hichilema to honour their wishes as far as possible.”
The court docket brushed off an utility by Zambian citizen Vincent Kafula to intervene. “The applicant lacks the legal standing to influence this matter,” said Ledwaba.
Kafula had warned that the dispute used to be “tearing Zambia apart”.
The court docket ordered Lungu’s physique to be transported to Lusaka on a non-public chartered plane, the save this would maybe well lie in order at his save of abode and a convention centre for public viewing sooner than burial at Embassy Park.
