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Kenneth David Kaunda, first President of Zambia
The Republic of Zambia is in southern Africa. It has no coastline and is surrounded by the African countries of Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. In the 18th century European explorers found it, named it Northern Rhodesia and claimed it for Britain. It was owned and ruled by Britain until 1964.
Kenneth David Kaunda was born on 28 April 1924 in Northern Rhodesia, the country now called Zambia. He was the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1990.
Kaunda was a teacher and a headmaster, having attended the same university in South Africa where other future African leaders such as Nelson Mandela studied. Britain intended to form a federation, or joining together, of North and South Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Kaunda led the fight against it and was put in prison. In 1960 he was released and became the head of a new party, the United National Independence party. In 1962 Britain put forward a constitution for Northern Rhodesia, which he was against. A constitution is a written set of rules about how a country will be run. Kaunda was against the proposed constitution because he thought it would make white people even more powerful over the black people than they already were. He stood for election that year and won a seat in parliament.
He led the fight for independence from Britain, and on 24 October 1964 the country became an independent nation, with the new name of Zambia. It was named after the Zambezi River which flows through the country . Kaunda as was elected president . Until 1990 there was only one political party in Zambia, and Kaunda won the next five elections.
Victoria Falls of the Zambezi, the river for which Zambia was named : photograph © [2007] Jupiterimages Corporation
As President of Zambia, Kaunda spoke out against white governments of other African countries where whites held all the power and rights, such as the governments of Rhodesia (now the independent country of Zimbabwe), South Africa, and South-West Africa (now the independent country of Namibia) even though it brought attacks and hardships to Zambia.
In 1990 there was a loss of public support for Kaunda and he was forced to make Zambia democratic by allowing other political parties to exist. In 1991 there was a multi-party election and his government was defeated by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, and Frederick Chiluba became president. As head of the main opposition party, Kaunda continued to oppose Chiluba and was arrested several times. He was not able to stand for election again in 1996 because of a change in the constitution, and he retired from politics in 2000, after which he became an author of several books about government in Africa and Zambia’s fight for independence.
If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge the source in your bibliography like this:
Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Kenneth David Kaunda [online] www.kidcyber.com.au (2010)
updated March 2010 (©kidcyber)