{"id":37793,"date":"2026-06-23T09:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T07:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=37793"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T07:34:29","slug":"sa-court-to-deliver-former-zambian-president-lungu-burial-ruling","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-court-to-deliver-former-zambian-president-lungu-burial-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"SA court to deliver former Zambian President Lungu burial ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"uSg02\">\n<div class=\"DrnCK\">\n<div class=\"HwXOf\">\n<div class=\"kcAOr t9ThB\" data-testid=\"RecipientWell\">\n<div data-tabster=\"{&quot;mover&quot;:{&quot;cyclic&quot;:false,&quot;direction&quot;:2,&quot;memorizeCurrent&quot;:false}}\">\n<div id=\"MSG_wAEfOieIQAA_TO\" class=\"___sj378o0 fly5x3f f1l02sjl f113hnb5\" role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"3\">\n<div id=\"9\" class=\"EditorClass ___18acxwi ftgm304 fr7e4de f1ids18y f1ohdurq f1fa7rqs f10pi13n f1a3p1vp fkhj508 f1hu3pq6 f11qmguv fly5x3f f1g0x7ka fhxju0i f1qch9an f1cnd47f f19f4twv f1tyq0we fz5stix g7toD\" tabindex=\"-1\" role=\"presentation\" aria-multiline=\"true\" aria-readonly=\"true\" aria-label=\"To: Bomkazi Malobola\">South African (SA) Supreme Court of Appeal is today expected to deliver judgment on the former Zambian President Edgar Lungu family&#8217;s appeal against the August 2025 Gauteng High Court in Pretoria judgment that found that the Zambian government is entitled to repatriate the remains of the late Lungu for the purposes of a state funeral and burial.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-test-id=\"mailMessageBodyContainer\">\n<div class=\"XbIp4 jmmB7 customScrollBar GNqVo allowTextSelection\">\n<div id=\"UniqueMessageBody_4\" class=\"OuGoX BIZfh\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"document\" aria-label=\"Message body\" aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"false\" data-fui-focus-visible=\"\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div>\nThe remains of Lungu have been the subject of an impasse between the Zambian government and the family since Lungu&#8217;s passing on June 5, 2025.<\/div>\n<div>\nThe Lungu family turned to the appellate court for relief in May, arguing that\u00a0the right to bury is an autonomous one which belongs to Esther Lungu, the widow of the late Lungu.<\/div>\n<div>\nThe family, who want to lay him to rest in SA, further argued that there are serious questions of law in this &#8220;unique&#8221; case that the Supreme Court of Appeal may reach a different conclusion on.<\/div>\n<div>\n&#8211;SABC&#8211;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15083,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-37793","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37794,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37793\/revisions\/37794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=37793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}