20 Jun 2021

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has described Zambia’s founder president Dr Kenneth Kaunda as an iconic statesman of the highest credentials.

  In a news release, the President says Dr Kaunda, 97, who died Thursday, was selfless and dedicated to the interests of his own country as well as the wellbeing of neighbours and humankind at large.

 Dr Kaunda was Botswana’s best friend during the worst of times when the country was battling to find itself after attaining independence, he says. 

President Masisi says the death of the charismatic “KK”, as the Zambian leader was fondly called, is a grave loss to his compatriots and to all peace loving people in Botswana and elsewhere.  

Reminiscing about Dr Kaunda’s trademark slogan, “One Botswana, One Nation, One Zambia, One Nation”, which he uttered each time he visited the country, Dr Masisi says it is entrenched in the minds of Batswana. 

He says Dr Kaunda’s May 21-24, 1968 state visit to Botswana ushered in a period of unparalleled excellent bilateral relations between the two states.

Bilateral ties between the two countries blossomed over the decades and so did personal relations between Dr Kaunda and Botswana’s founding president, Sir Seretse Khama, says the release. 

It notes that scores of young Batswana professionals were trained in Zambia during the nascent stages of Botswana’s independence while Zambian expatriates were among the first to help Botswana develop its institutional framework. 

Relations between the two states strengthened even further after Sir Seretse Khama’s death in 1980 when then vice president Sir Ketumile Masire ascended to the presidency. 

Dr Kaunda, who became Zambia’s first president in 1964,  ruled the country until 1991.

He played a pivotal role in southern Africa’s liberation struggle from racist regimes after being at the forefront of the struggle for independence in his own country, says the release. 

With his self-cultivated brand of a white handkerchief, Dr Kaunda traversed the region and beyond in shuttle diplomacy as the liberation struggle in southern Africa intensified. 

President Masisi has declared a seven-day mourning period during which all flags will fly at half mast.  Ends