Wife of the founding Zambian President, Kenneth Kaunda, Betty, has died. She was 83.
She was found dead in a room at her daughter’s house in Borrowdale Brook, Harare, Wednesday morning. She had been in Zimbabwe for the past two weeks visiting her daughter Musataa Kaunda Banda and her husband Jimmy Banda.Musataa is a counsellor at the Zambian Embassy in Harare. Family spokesperson, Tilyenji Kaunda yesterday said Betty’s body would be repatriated to Zambia today in the afternoon for burial.He said Kenneth Kaunda arrived in the country yesterday to facilitate the repatriation. She will be buried at the Kaunda family village in Chinsali, 800km north of Lusaka.’She had a long history of diabetes and high blood pressure. We thought it was getting better. We are told she went to sleep yesterday (Tuesday) and they just discovered her dead in the room in the morning (yesterday).’He said burial arrangements would be announced later.’Tomorrow there will be a church service in Zimbabwe and another one in Zambia. The plane is expected to leave in the afternoon and by 13h00 we will be in Zambia,’ he said.Zambian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ndiyoi Mutiti confirmed the death of the former first lady.’I can confirm ‘Mama Kaunda’ died in Harare. She has a daughter who lives here so she passed on at her house last night,’ she said.Mutiti expressed shock at the death of the former first lady, saying although she was diabetic, she had been in good health when she arrived for the visit. The iconic former Zambian president and his wife celebrated the 66th anniversary of their marriage in August at a moving function in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.The two have 10 children including Musataa , 30 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.Kenneth Kaunda served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991 before losing to Frederick Chiluba in multi-party elections.
