Zambia’s Guy Scott, who was Africa’s first white head of state in decades, has died at 82

Guy Scott, Zambia’s former politician who held the distinction of becoming Africa’s first white head of state in decades, died at the age of eighty-two.

Lusaka, Zambia (AP) — Guy Scott, a Zambian politician who temporarily served as acting president of the southern African nation for a brief period following Michael Sata’s passing in 2014, passed away on Wednesday, as confirmed by the Zambian government. He was eighty-two years old.

Scott’s tenure as vice president of Zambia, which began in 2011, marked a historic milestone when he assumed the presidential role after Sata’s death.

This appointment made Scott the first white head of state since South Africa’s F.W. de Klerk, the former president during the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, who was succeeded by Nelson Mandela following the country’s first multi-racial elections in 1994.

According to the statement released by the Zambian government, Scott died at his farm in Lusaka.

It was noted that President Hakainde Hichilema had officially authorized a state funeral for Scott, although no official date had been provided.

With Scottish and English ancestry, Scott was initially elected to Zambia’s Parliament in 1991, and served briefly as the minister of agriculture, food and fisheries prior to being appointed as the country’s vice president in 2011.

This made him the first white vice president of Zambia, and later the first white president of Zambia following the country’s independence from British colonial rule in 1964.

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AP Africa

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