The Voice News: Former President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, passed away on Thursday (June 5) at the age of 68, according to a report by British news agency Reuters.
Lungu had been receiving treatment at a healthcare center in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. His political party, the Patriotic Front, stated that the former president had been under special medical care there.
Lungu had been suffering for nearly a decade from a rare illness that caused the narrowing of his esophagus. His treatment began in 2015 after he fell seriously ill. Due to the lack of advanced medical facilities in Zambia at the time, he was taken to South Africa for treatment. Since then, he had traveled there multiple times for medical care.
Confirming his death, Lungu’s daughter and Zambian Member of Parliament Tasila Lungu said he had been under the supervision of doctors for the past few weeks. The entire matter was managed privately within the family.
Born on November 11, 1956, Edgar Lungu was Zambia’s sixth president. He served from 2015 to 2021, after which he lost the election to his longtime rival and the current president, Hakainde Hichilema.
During his tenure, Lungu received both praise and criticism. He was widely lauded for initiating extensive road construction projects, yet he also faced blame for plunging the country into economic distress. In 2020, Zambia defaulted on its international debt, a failure that significantly contributed to his electoral defeat.
