Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth Kaunda, born in 1924, first president of Zambia (1964-1991). Kaunda was born in Lubwa, Zambia, to Malawian parents. A teacher and farmer, Kaunda entered politics as an organizer in 1950, quickly rose to the forefront of the anticolonial freedom struggle, and in 1960 emerged as president of the United National Independence Party (UNIP). He led a successful nonviolent campaign against the white-dominated Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and after its breakup, won a landslide election as prime minister of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in 1964. When independence was granted later that year, he was elected president.

Southern Rhodesia, which had also been part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, was renamed Rhodesia in 1964 and remained under white minority rule. A relative moderate, Kaunda emphasized economic and social development at home, but he insisted on aiding Africans fighting the white-dominated government in Rhodesia, even at the cost of military and economic reprisals against Zambia. He was instrumental in arranging the London conference of 1979 that led to black majority rule in Rhodesia, which was renamed Zimbabwe in 1980. Reelected to a sixth presidential term in 1988, Kaunda was defeated in 1991 by Frederick Chiluba in Zambia’s first multiparty election in 19 years. In May 1996 the Zambian legislature passed an amendment to the constitution preventing presidents from serving more than two terms in office and requiring presidential candidates to be at least second-generation Zambians. This effectively disqualified Kaunda for the November 1996 elections, which his party, the UNIP, then boycotted. Kaunda stepped down as head of the UNIP and retired from politics in March 2000.