Two Mountains Burial Services has accused the family of former President Edgar Lungu of being the authors of their own misfortune.
In its joinder application, the burial service argues that had the family taken the necessary steps regarding the lapsed appeal pending before the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), they would not have found themselves in the current position.
Two Mountains states that the family’s lawyers were advised on three separate occasions that the appeal before the SCA had lapsed.
It says this was communicated through the government attorney’s letter dated April 21, 2026, an email from the Zambian government’s attorney on April 22, 2026, and a letter from the government’s correspondent attorney dated April 21, 2026, but dispatched on April 22, 2026.
The burial service has further submitted that the applicants were called upon to file a condonation application, together with an application to reinstate the lapsed appeal within 24 hours, failing which the government would proceed to execute the August 8, 2025 court order.
Two Mountains contends that the Lungu family’s ex parte urgent application constitutes an abuse of court process and has urged the court to order the applicants to pay costs on a punitive scale, including counsel fees.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Pretoria High Court is set to hear the matter tomorrow, April 30, 2026, in a dispute between the Zambian government and the Lungu family over the custody of former President Lungu’s remains.
The Zambian government has since moved to challenge the recent urgent ruling that compelled it to return the remains to a private mortuary.
The ruling was issued shortly after authorities acted on the August 2025 Gauteng High Court decision, which granted the government authority to repatriate the former President’s body for a State funeral and burial.
By Darius Choonya
