Founding father of Zambia, President Kenneth Kaunda, passed away on Thursday, leaving a shroud of grief that’s spread across the African continent.
Kenneth Kaunda dies: What’s the cause of death?
News of the 97-year-old’s passing was confirmed by the Zambian government. The elder statesman had been admitted to Maina Soko Medical Centre in Lusaka, earlier this week.
At the time, it was revealed that Kaunda had been rushed to hospital for emergency treatment after a pneumonia infection had reared its ugly head.
While the official cause of death has yet to be released, it’s believed that complications with this inflammatory condition may have been the culprit.
Kaunda’s lifetime achievements and accomplishments
Kaunda was one of the last-remaining bedrocks of Africa’s liberation from colonial rule. He will forever be immortalised as the man who brought Zambia independence from British control in 1964. This enormous feat is almost dwarfed by all the groundbreaking accomplishments Kaunda made in his 27-stint as Zambia’s first post-independence president
Here are three lifetime achievements Kaunda will forever be remembered for:
Economic policies
Soon after he assumed the office of Zambia’s head of state, at a period where British colonialists had left much of the state’s key functioning bodies in ruins, Kaunda had the tough job of not only rebuilding confidence, but he was taken with bringing radical financial reforms to the African country.
Decades later, the remnants of colonialism still pervade many African nations but the 97-year-old’s control of certain key industries in his tenure helped usher in a new approach to the state’s role in economic reform, a philosophy that is still widely practiced, even by South Africa’s government to some extent.
When Kaunda assumed office in the 1960s, the first order he made was to nationalise key industries like finance, infrastructure development, agriculture, industrial manufacturing and the mining sector.
While the government would not assume total control of these corporations which were owned by colonial powerhouses like Cecil Rhodes’ British South African Company and Anglo American, the 97-year-old managed to broker a deal where the Zambian state would own at least 50% of all operations.
Perhaps, his ingenious move was the creation of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Finance and Development Corporation (FINDECO) and the Mining Development Corporation (MINDECO), three parastatal bodies that oversaw the Zambian government’s firm hold on stakes in mining, infrastructure development and financial services.
How he transformed Zambia’s educational philosophy
When Kaunda took up office in 1964, only 0.5% of Zambia’s population was deemed as literate. To curtail this gross human injustice, the 97-year-old invented a policy that made it mandatory for children of all ages to own free exercise books, pens and pencils.
Under this policy, parents were obliged to purchase school uniforms and ensure that their children went to school. There were no set school fees. Parents did, however, make token contributions where possible.
Kuanda’s greatest achievement in transforming the country’s educational system was, perhaps, the formation of the University of Zambia in 1966, where he was elected as chancellor and oversaw the first set of graduations in 1969, an occasion that will forever be marked as a turning point in the country’s volatile history.
These higher educational institutions were also formed in Kaunda’s presidential tenure:
- Zambia Institute of Technology
- Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce
- Natural Resources Development College
- Northern Technical College
- Livingstone Trades Training Institute
Kaunda’s progressive socialism
This part of Kaunda’s legacy will, in a world that champions democracy, be marred by controversy. Blood was shed earlier in his rule, as he was dead-set on obliterating the very thought of a constitution that allowed political movements with different ideologies to participate in free and fair elections where the people of Zambia chose their preferred philosophy of governance.
Kaunda believed his entire life that an Africa sobering from centuries of colonial rule could only truly be emancipated by what he terms ‘humanism’, a hybrid philosophy that borrows from nationalism and socialism.
Under this form of rule, the state assumed control of all sectors and used basic African values such as, mutual aid, trust and loyalty to the community, as the pillars of society.
Of course, these ideals would not survive in an age where democracy and the global economic order hold great influence in==over how countries are governed.
Africa mourns loss of Kenneth Kaunda
Following the death of Kaunda, Zambia instituted a 21-day period of national mourning. Many of his admirers have since come out with tributes to the 97-year-old. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa will also hold a 10-day period of national mourning, in remembrance of everything Kaunda did for the continent.
On behalf of the government and people of South Africa, I wish to extend our deepest condolences to the Kaunda Family and the government and people of the Republic of Zambia.#RIPKK pic.twitter.com/iI8SGLoNYG
— Cyril Ramaphosa #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) June 17, 2021
Here are some more reactions from Africa’s political community:
I join all freedom-loving people in mourning Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's founding President. He's been one of the continent's few surviving independence heroes.
— BOBI WINE (@HEBobiwine) June 17, 2021
I send sympathies to the people of Zambia and the family of the deceased statesman. May his soul rest in perfect peace pic.twitter.com/BFnFOLBvJk
Good night Cde President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda. pic.twitter.com/KJYNVaoaJa
— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) June 17, 2021
President Kenneth Kaunda has died!
— Hopewell Chin’ono Today (@daddyhope) June 17, 2021
He was Zambia’s founding father.
Kaunda was one of the 3 luminaries that included Samora Machel & Julius Nyerere who led the total emancipation of Southern Africa from colonial rule.
He lost an election in 1991 & accepted the result.
He was 97 pic.twitter.com/jP3zFM58jv
A true African giant has fallen. No sentence about the history of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa will be complete without the name of Kenneth Kaunda. A trailblazing nationalist. Our KK. Tiende pamodzi ndim'tima umodzi. Stand and sing of Zambia proud and free! #RipKK pic.twitter.com/sTnfywQiMQ
— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) June 17, 2021
This marks the end of a journey, the last man standing, H.E. Kenneth Kaunda pic.twitter.com/7kv7gs33PZ
— Modibe Modiba (@mmodiba10) June 17, 2021