Tshireletso Motlogelwa
20 August 2008
Zambian President and former SADC chairman, Levy Mwanawasa, died yesterday morning in Paris after suffering a second stroke.
He was 59. Zambia's High Commissioner to Botswana Mwamuntenta Musakabantu said Mwanawasa passed away at 10:30am at the French Military Hospital where he had been hospitalised for the last seven weeks. He was scheduled to handover the SADC chairmanship to South African president, Thabo Mbeki, at the SADC summit held in Johannesburg over the past weekend. Foreign minister, Kabinga Pande, instead handed the baton over to Mbeki.
Musakabantu said the nation "is gravely saddened by the news", adding that Mwanawasa was a great loss not only to the Zambian people but to the rest of the continent. He further said both Batswana and Zambians would miss Mwanawasa, "because of the close relationship our people have had". "Like we have done before we stand together as a people to mourn this great leader that God had given to the Zambian people, and we will wait as God chooses for us the next shepherd of our nation," said the high commissioner.
He said Zambians enjoyed much support from Batswana during the time the country held the chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Musakabantu said funeral arrangements would be announced in due course, as the body has to be flown to Lusaka from Paris. Meanwhile, Vice President Rupiah Banda, who has been acting, has announced a seven-day national mourning period and urged Zambians to remain calm and "mourn our president with dignity". Seven weeks ago Mwanawasa suffered a stroke while attending a special African Union (AU) summit on the Zimbabwean crisis in the Egyptian resort city of Sharma el Sheik. He was transferred to France for further medical attention. Mwanawasa's health had been an issue ever since his hospitalisation in the French capital. On Monday, Banda said that the president's health had suddenly deteriorated and he had undergone emergency surgery.
As SADC chairman, Mwanawasa and President Ian Khama had been critical of the presidential election results in Zimbabwe, which ZANU-PF leader, Robert Mugabe won, and had stated that he sympathised with main MDC opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai when he withdrew from the run-off because of attacks on his supporters by ZANU-PF militia.
Mwanawasa was married and had six children. He had been a practising lawyer since 1973 after graduating from the University of Zambia (UNZA) where he had been sponsored by the Ndola City Council.
He formed and owned one of the most successful legal practices in Zambia, particularly on the Copperbelt, where he grew up and met Frederick Chiluba, who later handpicked him as his successor and the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) president in 2001.
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