Zambia is expected to hold a state funeral for founding President Kenneth Kaunda on Friday, July 2, after he succumbed to an illness at the age of 97.
He will be laid to rest on July 7.
The former politician, affectionately known as KK, was being treated for pneumonia at a military hospital in Lusaka.
The burial will take place in Lusaka’s major showground and will be attended by a number of prominent figures, including government officials and past and current Heads of State.
Zambia has announced 21 days of mourning for the liberation hero, who governed from 1964 to 1991, after the southern African nation’s independence from britain.
Meanwhile, the military has begun transporting his remains to provincial headquarters in each of the country’s 10 regions to let the public pay their last respects.
State television has been broadcasting footage of residents lining up the streets with white handkerchiefs in hand, which had become his trademark, to mourn the late leader.
Kaunda was born on April 28, 1924, the youngest of eight children of a Church of Scotland minister at Lubwa mission in the remote north of the country.
After 27 years as Zambia’s leader, his tenure became unpopular due to a failing economy, triggering food riots in the late 1980’s.
He was compelled to call the first multi-party elections in 23 years in 1991, which he lost to long-time adversary and trade unionist Frederick Chiluba.
In his latter years, Kaunda maintained a low-key lifestyle, mainly remaining at home and only appearing at state events on occasion.
