ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT MICHAEL SATA DIES IN LONDON

Reports coming from Zambian media outlets indicate that the 77 year old Zambian President Michael Sata has died in London, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness on Wednesday.
There had been many rumours surrounding the Zambian head of State’s health condition especially after he was absent from many public events. He appeared weak in his latest appearance in the Zambian parliament though he denied the stories and even joked about it.
A social democrat, Michael Chilufya Sata was the Fifth Republican President of Zambia where he led the Patriotic Front (PF), a major political party in Zambia. Under President Frederick Chiluba, Sata was a minister during the 1990s as part of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) government; he went into opposition in 2001, forming the PF. As an opposition leader, Sata — popularly known as “King Cobra” — emerged as the leading opposition presidential contender and rival to President Levy Mwanawasa in the 2006 presidential election, but was defeated. Following Mwanawasa’s death, Sata ran again and lost to President Rupiah Banda in 2008.
After ten years in opposition, Sata defeated Banda, the incumbent, to win the September 2011 presidential election with a plurality of the vote.
Earlier this year, controversial Nigerian prophet, TB Joshua had said in one of his sermons that, “Two of the nations there (Southern Africa) will face a leadership tussle because of sicknesses and disease.”