Kaunda was admitted to a military hospital in the capital of Zambia Lusaka, on Monday suffering from pneumonia. His assistants
reported that he did not have Covid-19.
In the 1950s, Kaunda was a key figure in what was then Northern Rhodesia’s independence movement from Britain.He was also one the pioneers of African independence
He became president following independence in 1964.
Kaunda – who was popularly known as KK – was a strong supporter in the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa. He was also a leading supporter of liberation movements in Mozambique and what is now Zimbabwe.
In later life Kaunda turned his attention to the fight against HIV after one of his sons, Masuzyo, died from an Aids-related disease.
“We fought colonialism. We must now use the same zeal to fight Aids, which threatens to wipe out Africa,” he told Reuters in 2002.Zambia and Africa as a whole has lost a true icon.
