KAUNDA BELEIVE IT, KEN’S DEAD!
Zambian strongman Kenneth Kaunda has died aged 97, much to the shock of the Drollercoaster. One of the key figures in the Zambian fight for independence, he was President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. Kaunda started off by focusing on education – bringing schooling to all kids with the aid of a school tax. He had an election in 1968, only to ban all the opposition parties and supressed dissent, and started a cult of personality in himself. He was also an ardent anti-apartheid politician and allowed Zambia to be the base of exiled anti-apartheid campaigners. Kaunda tried to buy nukes off the US, and when rebuked, bought weapons off the USSR. However, like most strongmen, his popularity was linked heavily to the economy, which waned throughout the 1980s (it was never his strong point in general), leading to economic instability led riots and his downfall. After politics, he defended the good names of, err, Saddam Hussein and Robert Mugabe. He did however also take a leading role in the African fight against AIDS, having lost a son to the vile illness.
He was picked by 10 teams, including another hit for Complications from a Fall, as well as Mortem’s Omnibus, Hell to the Chief, and Prophet’s Prophecy.
Kenneth Kaunda
28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021
10 teams