By 
Matero Member of Parliament, Miles Sampa, has urged President Hakainde Hichilema to personally reach out to the family of late President Edgar Lungu and negotiate an amicable settlement that would see the ongoing case in the South African courts withdrawn.
This followed South Africa’s Constitutional Court’s decision to refuse hearing an urgent application by the Lungu family seeking to stop the Zambian government from repatriating the former head of state’s remains for a state funeral and burial.
The ruling effectively reverts the matter to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria, where the family is seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of South Africa against an earlier judgment granting the Zambian government custody of the body.
In a statement issued in Lusaka on Wednesday, Sampa appealed to President Hichilema to take the lead in resolving the impasse.
“President Hakainde Hichilema, I submit the request for your kind indulgence that you get the case withdrawn after negotiating with the family and reaching a consensus with them,” Sampa stated.
He argued that only President Hichilema had the locus standi to facilitate such an agreement, stressing that the matter required a spirit of compromise from both sides.
“May I appeal once again to President Hichilema to be the bigger person and reach out himself to the family via their representative, Makebi Zulu, to negotiate with them for an amicable solution,” he said.
Sampa noted that President Hichilema’s proven negotiating skills, as demonstrated in Zambia’s debt restructuring process, should also be applied to resolving the burial dispute.
“Imagine that ECL has been in the cold ice of the mortuary for close to three months now. Surely we can do better as a nation. It’s our country’s name on the spot globally for this rather bizarre conundrum,” he said.
Sampa added that the late President Lungu might even be making world records as the longest-serving former Head of State to remain unburied due to disputes over where he should be laid to rest and who should view his body.
He warned that failure by President Hichilema to engage the family risked prolonging the legal process in South Africa, at great cost to both parties.
“As I predicted, it’s going to be a long day of months, even years, in the South African courts in the case of ECL’s burial between the deceased’s family and the government of Zambia,” Sampa said.
WARNING! All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.
Comments