Kenneth Kaunda Funeral: Cyril Ramaphosa Hails Late Zambian President
- The attention of Africa and the world was firmly fixed on the State Funeral Service of Zambia's founding president Kenneth Kaunda held at the Lusaka Show Grounds on Friday
- African heads of state, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and those from across the African diaspora, were in attendance as Kaunda was laid to rest
- Delivering a moving tribute on the occasion of the funeral service, Ramaphosa remarked on how the man, known as KK, was the last of a generation of stalwarts who lit the path to Africa's freedom
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The state funeral of the late founding president of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda was held in Lusaka on Friday.
The former statesman, who died at the age of 97 after a short illness, has been hailed by heads of states from across the continent, and members of the international community, including South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa.
Source: UGC
Ramaphosa remarked on how the man, known as KK, was the last of a generation of stalwarts who lit the path to Africa's freedom. Delivering a moving tribute at the Lusaka Show Grounds on the occasion of Kaunda's funeral service, Ramaphosa said:
"Africa joins the people of Zambia and all the peoples on our continent in mourning the passing of our great leader and father. The father of liberation in our regions, SADC [Southern African Development Community] Dr Kenneth Kaunda was a loyal friend of the people of South Africa."
Ramaphosa spoke volumes of KK's courage and selflessness and the support he showed to South Africa during one of the country's darkest and most volatile periods in its history.
"He stood by us during our long and bitter struggle against the oppressive apartheid government. Even as the brutal apartheid regime sought to wreak havoc in the Frontline States in its efforts to destroy the liberation movement, Dr Kaunda stood firm, and never wavered in his support for the people of South Africa and the region."
Among those at Friday's ceremony, according to a BBC news report, were the leaders of Kenya and Ghana, and others from across the African diaspora. Asides from his efforts in enabling South Africa to its own freedom, Kaunda was also a leading supporter of liberation movements in Mozambique and Zimbabwe (old Rhodesia).
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Source: YEN.com.gh
Naa Ayeley Aryee Naa Ayeley is a creative writer with over ten years of experience in journalism and media. She started writing for YEN in 2017 as an editor on the entertainment desk and later became a monitoring editor.
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