JOHANNESBURG: The Zambian government filed last-minute legal papers seeking to stop the private burial of former President Edgar Lungu in South Africa on Wednesday, forcing members of Lungu’s family to attend a court hearing dressed in their black funeral attire.
The hearing in the South African administrative capital, Pretoria, began around an hour before Lungu’s funeral service was due to take place. It was not clear when a judge would issue a ruling and if the ex-leader could be buried.
Meanwhile, mourners arrived for the funeral service at a Johannesburg church around 60 kilometers away.
The court challenge was the latest development in a nearly monthlong dispute between Lungu’s family and the Zambian government over where and how the former leader is buried.
The Zambian government wants Lungu to have a state funeral at home – something Lungu’s family have refused to allow because of his bitter political feud with current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema.
