If the family wishes prevail, the former President will lie next to the exclusive area where five catholic Bishops and Mama Winnie Mandela lie.
The family has said President Edgar Lungu will one day lie at the Embassy Park, when the environment is suitable in the country to grant him a dignified, respectful and honourable funeral and burial.
The family’s legal counsel and spokesperson Makebi Zulu says, “the family’s goal is simple a dignified send-off. That cannot be guaranteed if the very people accused of violating his rights in life are put in charge of his burial in death.”
Zulu accused the court of narrowing its focus to a “purported agreement” while ignoring broader constitutional principles, including the authority of the next of kin and the fact that Lungu died a private citizen after being stripped of his former head-of-state benefits by the Hichilema administration.
“You cannot strip him of medical care, security, and all benefits, then suddenly claim public interest in his death. The family, not the state, must decide how he is laid to rest,” Zulu argued.
The case now heads to the South African Supreme Court of Appeal, which will determine whether a family’s right to a dignified funeral can outweigh a state’s claim to control the burial of a former head of state.
