Africa bids farewell to an unlikely hero

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a French hospital on August 19, nearly two months after he was admitted as a result of suffering a stroke. Mwanawasa’s death has dealt a double blow to Southern Africa, not only generating fears of possible political instability in Zambia but also concern about the impact on the process of finding a solution in Zimbabwe. Mwanawasa lacked charisma, wit and style. At rallies even his own supporters were fast bored by the former lawyer’s monotone drawl. His ill-health and slurred speech, the results of a car crash, led to nasty jibes about his mental capacity. When he narrowly won his first, disputed, presidential election in 2001, opponents dubbed him “the cabbage”, deriding him as a stooge for others more powerful. On paper he ought never to have been president.