By Stephen Matenga
South Africa – Zambia’s former president, Edgar Chagwa Lungu has died in South Africa where he had gone for medical checks, his family announced on Thursday.
He was 68.
”Fellow Zambians, it is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of His Excellency Dr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, Sixth President of the Republic of Zambia, who departed this morning at 06:00hours at Medforum Clinic, a Medical Centre in South Africa,” Talisa Lungu – Mwansa, his daughter said.
”My father, President Lungu had been under medical supervision in recent weeks.”
”His condition was managed with dignity and privacy, with support from wellwishers.In this moment of grief, we invoke the spirit of “One Zambia, One Nation” – the timeless creed that guided President Lungu’s service to our country,” she added.
”In time, the nation will be informed of other arrangements.”
Lungu was president of Zambia from 2015 to 2021. He came to power under the Patriotic Front (PF) after the sudden death of then incumbent president Michael Chilufya Sata who was known as ‘King Cobra’.
Lungu lost elections to current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema in 2021.
He was reportedly preparing to run again in the upcoming presidential elections.
In his message to Zambians when he conceded defeat to Hichilema, Edgar Lungu said he was grateful to have served as Zambia’s 6th president.
”My heart is filled with a deep sense of gratitude to the Zambian people who entrusted us with the huge and honourable responsibility to administer the affairs of this country,” Lungu said in 2021.
”I look back at our 10 years in office with satisfaction. Yes, there are things we could have done better, but I’m happy that in many aspects, we leave behind a better country.”
Edgar Chagwa Lungu (1956 – 2025).