ECL family now awaits High Court decision on appeal

….as the South African Constitutional Court refuses direct hearing, ruling that there was no case to warrant a direct appeal

By GRACE CHAILE
THE family of Zambia’s late Sixth President Edgar Lungu has been forced to await the Pretoria High Court’s decision on whether they can be granted leave to challenge its judgement that has ordered that the mortal remains of former President Edgar Lungu should be surrendered to the Zambian government for repatriation and burial in Zambia at Embassy Park after South Africa’s Constitutional Court refused to entertain their direct appeal.
In its ruling, the apex court said the urgent application for leave to appeal had not met the threshold.
“The Constitutional Court has considered the application for leave to appeal directly to it and has concluded that no case has been made out for a direct appeal. Consequently, leave to appeal must be refused,” read the order signed by Acting Registrar Dunisani Mathiba.
Former First Lady Esther Lungu and her children argued that the Pretoria High Court erred when it ruled in favour of the Zambian government’s request to return the former president’s body to Lusaka for a state funeral and burial at Embassy Park. Mr Lungu died ok June 52025.
They insist Mr Lungu had expressed his wish for a private burial in South Africa, away from those he felt had abandoned him in life.
Mrs Lungu accused the Zambian government of disregarding both the family’s wishes and the late president’s instructions, saying officials unilaterally altered earlier burial arrangements by adding President Hakainde Hichilema to the list of speakers.
She also argued that the case, arising in South Africa where the remains still lie in a mortuary, should be governed by South African law, not Zambian statutes.