Former president of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, passed away on Thursday at the age of 68, just six months after a court blocked his attempt to re-enter politics by ruling he was ineligible to run for office again.
Lungu served as Zambia’s sixth president from 2015 until 2021, when he was defeated in the election by longtime opposition figure and current President Hakainde Hichilema.
During his time in office, Lungu was praised for an extensive road-building initiative, but also left Zambia’s finances deeply in deficit. The country defaulted on its international debt in 2020, which contributed to Lungu's election defeat.
Lungu passed away on Thursday morning at a medical facility in Pretoria, South Africa, where he had been undergoing specialised treatment for an undisclosed illness, according to a statement from his political party, the Patriotic Front, BBC reports.
Edgar Lungu was born on 11th November 1956 in Ndola, a city in Zambia’s Copperbelt region. Trained as a lawyer, he served as justice and defence minister under former President Michael Sata before assuming the presidency following Sata’s death in 2015.
After taking office, Lungu promptly initiated legislative reforms considered progressive, including constitutional amendments that curtailed presidential powers.
He secured a five-year term by winning the 2016 presidential election. However, shortly before his term concluded, he attempted but failed to reverse the constitutional changes he had implemented, Reuters reports.
“The legacy of Edgar Lungu is a checkered legacy,” according to 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.”
During Lungu’s presidency, particularly in its later stages, his supporters grew increasingly unruly, and his inability to control them was broadly seen as tacit approval of their behaviour.
Habasonda went on to add he was someone who “allowed the poorest of Zambians to get close to the corridors of power.”
Following his defeat in the 2021 election, Lungu retired but returned to politics in 2023, eventually becoming the leader and presidential candidate for an alliance that included the Patriotic Front.
However, in December of last year, Zambia’s constitutional court ruled that he was ineligible to seek another term in office.