The family of the late former Zambian President Edgar Lungu has asked the Supreme Court of Appeal to overturn the Pretoria High Court decision to deny them permission to appeal against the earlier lower court ruling over the repatriation of the body.

This follows a Pretoria High Court decision last Tuesday that denied them leave to appeal against the 8th August judgement that allowed the government to repatriate the body of the late Edgar Lungu for a state funeral in Zambia.

President Edgar Lungu died on 5 June in a South African private hospital. He initially left the country for what was reported as a routine medical check-up for an undisclosed ailment.

Soon, news filtered through that he had in fact died, while it became clear that the government and family were not in agreement about the way forward.

What followed were back-and-forth exchanges that included the family denying the government leeway to officially announce his death and failed efforts to collaborate over state funeral arrangements, and the family's insistence that incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema not be a part of the programme in any way.

In order to deter the burial and allow time for discussions, the government, through Zambia's Attorney General, rushed to court and filed two applications.

The first was to stop the burial. The second requested the court to determine the government's obligations in accordance with the former President status.

The burial in South Africa was halted late in June, and the matter of the state funeral was determined and ruled in favour of the government in early August.

The family then filed leave to appeal in the Pretoria High Court and another direct appeal in the Constitutional Court.

Both jurisdictions have denied their pleas, the latest on Tuesday.

Then on Wednesday, the family went to the Supreme Court of South Africa – not to appeal the 8th August judgement, but to seek that the High Court's decision to deny them leave to appeal be overturned.

The family cited a number of errors by the panel of the court's three judges.

The Lungu family says they are not satisfied with the court's assessment of facts, issues and law.

So, they want the Supreme Court of South Africa to review their grounds for leave to appeal against the 8th August judgement.

Meanwhile, the negotiations between the government and the Lungu family that were recently confirmed by both parties seem to have hit a snag.

While the Lungu family, on one hand, remain domiciled in South Africa, the government team members, comprising the Secretary to Cabinet and Attorney General, on the other hand, were spotted at a government function in Lusaka on Wednesday.

As things stand, the Lungu burial impasse is yet to be concluded.