Zambia's former president Edgar Lungu dies aged 68

Lungu was the sixth president of the Southern African nation and held office from 2015 to 2021, when he lost an election to long-time opposition leader and current President Hakainde Hichilema.

He was praised during his tenure for a massive road-building programme, but also ran Zambia's finances deeply into the red. The country defaulted on its international debt in 2020, precipitating his election loss.

Lungu died on Thursday morning at a medical centre in South Africa's capital Pretoria, where he had been receiving specialized treatment, his political party, the Patriotic Front, said in a statement on social media.

The party also posted a video on social media of Lungu's daughter Tasila Lungu, a member of Zambia's parliament, announcing his death.

"My father... had been under medical supervision in recent weeks. This condition was managed with dignity and privacy," she said.

Lungu suffered from a rare disorder that caused a narrowing of the food pipe, for which he had been treated in South Africa before. Shortly after he took office in 2015 he fell ill and underwent a procedure in South Africa which the presidency said at the time was not available in Zambia.

'CHECKERED LEGACY'

Lungu was born on November 11, 1956, in the city of Ndola, in the Zambian copperbelt. A lawyer by training, he served as justice and defence minister under former president Michael Sata before taking over the presidency when Sata died in 2015.

After taking office, Lungu quickly embarked on legislative reforms which were seen as progressive, including amending the constitution to reduce the power of the president.

He won a presidential election in 2016 that gave him a five-year term in office. But just before it ended he tried and failed to reverse the constitutional changes he had made.

"The legacy of Edgar Lungu is a checkered legacy," said political analyst Lee Habasonda at the University of Zambia.

"He will be remembered for tolerating thuggery by his supporters although he also represented a brand of politicians who interacted across class."