The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has granted the family of the late former Zambian president Edgar Lungu leave to appeal a high court judgement that granted the Zambian government the order to repatriate his body to his country for burial.
Lungu died on June 5 after suffering cardiac complications from a surgery at Mediclinic Medforum Hospital in Pretoria.
The high court halted plans for Lungu to be buried in Johannesburg on June 25, hours before a private ceremony arranged by the family was due to start.
Lungu’s family wants him to be buried in South Africa, citing it was his last wish, while the Zambian government maintains he should be given a state funeral and buried at a designated site in the capital Lusaka.
In the previous leave to appeal the high court order that was denied by the same court, his family argued the Zambian government neglected him.
“At no time did the [Zambian] administration take any interest in late president Lungu’s well-being after his removal from office. He said his wishes were that in the event of his death, those who never showed any interest in his welfare while he was alive should not be allowed to pretend to be interested in his welfare at death,” the appeal read.
In August, the Pretoria high court said the Zambian government was “entitled to repatriate the body of the late president” and ordered his family to “immediately surrender” it to authorities.
The date for the SCA hearing has not yet been set.
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