Tribute to Edgar Chagwa Lungu ( MHDSRIP) @EdgarCLungu

With the passage of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu (68) , Zambia no longer has a former President who is alive . All six are gone.

Former Presidents ordinarily are citadels or repositories of wisdom and are consulted from time to time by incumbents as long as they do not constitute a threat and are no longer active in partisan politics .

I worked closely with the late , and my last duty as Mugabe ‘ s last serving Foreign Affairs Minister was as his Special Envoy to Edgar Lungu at the height of the November 2017 transition in Zimbabwe. So I arrive at Statehouse in Lusaka on the 13th of November with my sealed envelope and accompanied by Ambassador Takawira , am received and ushered into Lungu ‘ s office & after exchange of niceties and hospitalities , the President before he opens the letter bursts out ;

” Minister , if you are looking for ED , he is not here , your Intelligence is accusing me of hiding Mnangagwa here , but even though I don’t have him here , just know that if he was here he would be at home in Zambia . He is a Zambian by all accounts and we have a responsibility to protect him if his life is under threat . There are two people we would take here from your Government without question, because of their links and backgrounds , it’s you and him . That said without even opening your envelope go and tell President Mugabe to smoke the peace pipe with his Generals to avert a Coup coming to your Country in the next 24 -48 hours . We would hate to see Mugabe go the undignified way , so instead of proceeding to meet Zuma in Cape Town as you say , find the next flight to Harare and broker this meeting ” .

I immediately complied and took the next Emirates flight back to Harare, looked for Mugabe on landing but he was not available until the following morning in Cabinet, surprised to see me but very irritable at the same time.

Twice in Cabinet , Gwatiringa his Personal Assistant brought messages from the Command element that they wanted to meet him resonating with my own feedback from Lungu , which he also ignored. The rest is history.

From Lungu I was learning of the impending changes in Zimbabwe for the first time and this is part of my memoirs covering this engagement in greater detail.

Condolences to the President of Zambia @HHichilema , the People & Government of Zambia & Amai Lungu and Family . MHDSRIP