HH, govt have no right over Lungu’s body – family
By Mast Reporter
FORMER president Edgar Lungu’s family has insisted that President Hakainde Hichilema and the United Party for National Development (UPND) government do not have any right to determine where the Lungu’s remains should be buried.
Submitting before the Pretoria division of the Gauteng High Court in South Africa Monday, the family said the Zambian government had failed to establish any legal backing to demand the repatriation of Lungu’s body.
In the 74-paged submission, the family insisted that the right to determine where Lungu’s body should be buried should be decided by the family itself.
“The Applicant [Government] has failed to establish any legal or factual basis for the relief it seeks. The Respondents [Family], particularly the First Respondent as the lawful surviving spouse, is entitled under South African law to determine the burial of the late President Lungu. The late President Lungu’s wishes were clearly and repeatedly expressed in that he is not to be buried under the current Zambian administration,” the Lungu family stated.
It said there was no need to go against the wishes of Lungu and they should therefore be respected.
The family submitted that the Benefits Act the Zambian government wanted to rely on was misplaced because Lungu died a private person who had his benefits stripped by President Hakainde Hichilema’s administration before his death.
“These wishes must be respected. The Applicant’s reliance on foreign law, including the Benefits Act and the [Kenneth] Kaunda case, is misplaced. Neither has binding effect in South Africa, and both are irrelevant in the face of local constitutional rights and common law burial principles. There is no binding agreement to bury the late President Lungu in Zambia, and even if there were discussions, they do not override the rights of the family or the late president Lungu’s expressed wishes. The application falls to be dismissed with costs, including the costs of two counsel,” it submitted.
Meanwhile, the Lungu family wants the South African High Court to order the Zambian government to also settle costs in the matter.
They have argued that such an order is necessary looking at the conduct of the Zambian government in the matter, especially that they knew that their demands would not succeed.
