Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has described the late President Michael Sata as a dear friend and brother.
Mr Mugabe who was a close ally to Mr Sata was speaking upon arrival at Kenneth Kaunda International airport aboard Zimbabwean airlines.
Mr Mugabe said Mr Sata always referred to him as “Sekulu” (which means uncle) and he always responded in the same manner.
Mr Mugabe said Mr Sata was a man of the people known by everyone in the world over.
He said Mr Sata’s good actions were seen by the way he related with others and he has left historical works which will remain imprinted forever.
He said the late President had left tears in the eyes of many because the developmental plans which he initiated in Zambia have remained unfinished.
Mr Mugabe said he will always love Mr Sata and hoped that God will comfort the first family and the nation in this trying moment.
Mr Mugabe who was received by Heath Minister Joseph Katema and Sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili was accompanied by his wife Grace Mugabe.
And the National Assembly of Zambia today held an Interdenominational thanksgiving requiem Church Service for Late President Michael Sata who died on 28th October 2014 in London.
Acting President Guy Scott led Members of Parliament (MPs), senior government officials, political leaders from both the ruling and opposition and diplomats accredited to Zambia in an interdenominational Thanksgiving Service at Parliament buildings in Lusaka.
Among the dignitaries present for the service were First Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, Fourth President Rupiah Banda, Defence Minister who is also Patriotic Front Secretary General Edgar Lungu, Speaker of the National Assembly Patrick Matibini, Acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda and judges from the Supreme and High courts.
Others are opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema, National Restoration Party president Elias Chipimo Junior, members of the clergy and traditional leaders from various parts of Zambia were also in attendance.
The late President was accorded a 21 gun salute by the Zambia Army plus a fly past by the Zambia Air Force as the National Anthem played solemnly.
The mood at Parliament was somber as dignitaries followed the proceedings while family members wept as the soldiers carrying the casket marched from the carrier to the cottage made in front of the parliament building.
Council of Churches in Zambia Chairperson Reverand Alfred Kalembo presided over the Interdenominational thanksgiving requiem Church Service and urged congregants to remain hopeful even in sorrow because Christ has conquered death.
Rev. Dr. Kalembo challenged the public to be vigilant and not let their positions hinder them from life eternity and further appealed to them to prepare before they die.
And in his opening prayer and welcoming remarks, Evangelical fellowship of Zambia Director Pukuta Mwanza described the late head of state as a man who was dedicated to serving other people and that he placed his trust in the living God.
Members of the clergy took turns to offer intercessory prayers for the first family and for the country’s unity, peace and stability.
The body of President Sata who died on 28th October 2014 has since been taken to State House where it will lie in state awaiting burial tomorrow at Embassy Park opposite the Cabinet office.
Mugabe is a genuine man, he described Sata just as he was, and how we knew the two gentlemen.
I can’t wait for his speech tomorrow.
All you keyboard warriors in the Internet cafes writing ill of a loving president
We lost who LOVED YOU and me need to have your mind checked.
Here is the man who died for us, by working very very hard. Like Jesus who died for
Our sins and we want to be associated by him, I would like us to refrain writing
Ill of a gallant leader such as MS. Let us show respect and I demand exactly at 11am we all hold
A minute silent wherever we are as we remember Mr Sata.
People it is the least he deserves.
I think you all for this gesture you shall all do.
Thanks
Mugabe is spot on. Birds of the same …………. flock together.
I strongly believe Zambia has been saved by …………………
Now is the time for Zambians to boot PF a bunch of liars and thieves out.
Farmers disappointed, nurses fired,tribalism promoted,cost of living up, PF intra party violence, Bemba only top positions created,induced by elections, reckless borrowing, unplanned/unfunded infrastructural projects, rampant corruption,lawlessness, selective justice,…………………all characterise the PF(Panga Family) party.
I don’t think any sane Zambian will be voting PF to continue living under PF’s lies and tribalistic view to governance.
I urge Zambians to think UPND and HH as the only solution to stop the PF’s misrule.
Viva UPND and HH.
Who are you people talking about?? I keep wondering… “Are these people describing the Sata that was President of Zambia or are they just being kind for the sake of funeral etiquette? I don’t know this Sata that Mugabe is describing.
People are either loved or hated by their actions.
I hated the animal in Sata not him. The animal in him was responsible for his misguided governing style.
Sata is the worst………………………………… to ever ………………….Zambia.
He mocked his colleagues in sickness and death, and he is getting a test of his own medicine.
Sata …………. ………………….
Happy are those who wont miss Sata!
Even the worst criminal, becomes a saint and the best person to have ever lived when he/she about to go six feet under because he will no longer be here to cause more problems.
Yeah yeah yeah ….blah blah …. I get it Sata was the best President for PF minions Not all Zambians. Mange bazanya manzi, new president is coming to change every thing.
Kamuya mukashike, tulitendelwe nafyo ifyamalilo!
No wonder the entire World greave’s, that’s an impact by Uncle Rob Mugabe and to be Honest “He goomed men of intergrity”. My wish is to have leaders like Him forever & I’ll always respect Him. Tshepiso SA.
Sata is as fit as fiddle says Katema and Kapeya. He is just having a coffin testing moment/holiday!
He will not be allowed to speak. Zambians hate dictators so please let him keep his zimbabwe, we will keep our Zambia…
Let us face the facts!
Bob has very, very few friends, so obviously the ones he has left are “dear” friends!
Even if they are just village ID!OTS!
Telling lies against other people will not help you to stop someone whom God has appointed to Lead Zambia.The whole story about Edgar Lungu is fake.When Edgar left school he went straight to UNZA for his law degree.From UNZA he joined Ministry of Legal Affars(now called Ministry of justice) in the dept of Legal Aid.You can ask Winter Kabimba , Prof Haasungule or Joe Chilaizya as some of the former school mates at UNZA.For his stint in the cadet training was an in-service training after working at Ministry of Legal affairs.He was not discharge because of the brown bottle-awe bane ubo bufi fititi.You ask the guy he was with during training as a cadet at Miltez in Kabwe;- You can ask the current Deputy Commander of Zambia Army.As for GBM the mother is Ndebele from Zimbabwe and does not qualif
uli chipuba iwe mushota. you are comparing sata with jesus?
Both are gallant sons of Africa who changed the ideologies of leadership and were adored across continents
There’s would be a massive loss and I hope Mugabe remains at the helm for another 10 years or so.
Mr Sata will be dearly lost and his legacy is all there for all to see.
Thanks
This is the WORST website I have ever visited. LT kindly revert back to your old version of the website. I am finding it hard to read and post comments on this new version. PLEASE.
See, I can’t even respond nicely to Mushota’s use.less comments as I can’t see them.
Uncle Bob, still going strong despite growing old and having a monkey-ish figure…
Pretty he also was visited by persons of greater standings in the world than any corrupt presdeints in Africa.
With all due respect, he arranged Richard Branson who is coming soon, had George Bush the man who rid of Sadam Hussein and is adored world wide, he had Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, these are major players unlike the other dodgy presidents you would have prefered to have wanted to visit Zambia.
You and I know that the man contributed and worked as a civil seravnt for argubaly the rest of his life, in number terms for almost 5 decades!
I realise he probably rubbed you the wrong way, but this is not the time, please accord him the respect he desrved and do not share anything otherwise.
At 11am tomorrow please accord him a min silence respect.
Thanks
@Mushota… you are now behaving desperate. George Bush… that reminds me Sata tried to pull a Mugabe on George Bush and he ended up looking desperate like yourself..NOW. Mugabe is one of the African leaders you refer to as corrupt. Thank goodness he NEVER rubbed me the wrong way otherwise I’ld have his offspring.
Sata worshipped Mugabe “heroic” acts….. even named his party PF after Mugabe’s ZANU PF. This even reminds me of Sata “sleeping” at some meeting – he was imitating Mugabe there as well. WOW what a life!
Stop it, not funny at all.
Respect the departed, and pay respect to someone who has done more to Zambia tan you have ever done to your own mother.
People like you are a disgrace to this beautiful country. You should be ashamed of disrespecting a loving president.
MHSRIP
Thanks
@Mushota….. hit the nail on the head, didn’t I? Did I read funny? Am stating facts……… forgot to add thar Mugabe was the only sitting president to visit Sata whilst in power.
Pretty, stating it as it is huh, i like your stance…
I have posted your reply elsewhere because of this dodgy changed site, which I am finding hard to like.
In summary here is a FORMAL REQUEST.
At 11am put your hand on your chest for exactly 1 minute and wherever you are and maintain a minute silence, everyone.
Let us give the president a respectful stand off.
This is not a request, it is a demand.
Thanks
@ Mushota
Stick your “demand” up your ASS! ID!OT
Well said Mugabe. Sata was one of a kind. When did Lusaka times change the outlook of their page ? Hmm this is strange. I somehow don`t like it.
I agree, it is horrible just horrible.
Thanks
Oh yes it is. Super horrible.
Eulogy of one dictator for another dictator
Sata was a mortal like all men. Those of you who thought he will never die and continue to worship him are f.ools. It is blasphemous to compare a dead man like Sata to Jesus Christ. Get over it, Sata is DEAD. Be sensible in your grieving.
@ Mushota
“Here is the man who died for us, by working very very hard. Like Jesus who died for Our sins and we want to be associated by him…..”
Too bad he died in an expensive London hospital paid for by poor Zambians
We should have crucified him instead!
laughing out loud “we should have crucified him ourselves!” Now that is the height!!! lol
Actually, the CABINET DID INDEED CRUCIFY HIM, instead of Relieving him of his duties to recuperate, as demanded by calling a Medical Board, in their wisdom, was the better option – Thank you cabinet!!!
You are right Mugabe is good, this is why he has too many enemies. I remember those years gone-by when I worked for Duly Motors and when Sata was Lusaka’s District Governor.
He came and bought 4 x 65 passenger Buses for the Council and for 4 days on, he toiled as a conductor therein; just to show the Council that ‘Passenger Transport’ was lucrative business and that Councils should go into it to raise revenue especially after the local councils sold ALL their houses and lost revenue.
Unfortunately and true to our Zambian “culture” all those plans, good as they were for the poor travelling masses of Lusaka, went away soon after he left and corrupt kawalalas set in.
I for one will forever miss this great man and I shudder to imagine what will become of Zambia now. Go well…
Spoken like a champion
The man will be solely missed
Thanks
@Mushota… you are now behaving desperate. George Bush… that reminds me Sata tried to pull a Mugabe on George Bush and he ended up looking desperate like yourself..NOW.
Mugabe is one of the African leaders you refer to as corrupt.
Thank goodness he NEVER rubbed me the wrong way otherwise I’ld have his offspring.
Mugabe and corruption and worst leadership are synonymous of western leaders in describing Mr Mugabe.
I will distance myself from comments regarding Mugabe but what I shall do is defend the man we lost unexpectedly.
A man who is arguably too good to be replaced as a leader, a man who was YOUR president,and a man who DESERVES our respect.
Please accept this as a formal request on yourself to disengage any tasteless remark to him until the very least 12th October 2014.
He was one of a kind, and the greatest Zambian we may ever know. You know I am right
Thanks
@Mushota …..am i disrespecting him or stating facts? He himself disrespected his leader, president. For sure he was one kind of a man…. and we thank God for that….By the way don’t lecture me on ethics….
Soley means – by one person only.
Sorely means – greviously.
In this case you, Mushota, are probably right!
@ Wanzelu,
I think you need to have yo brain checked coz a normal human being cant have such unbridled hatred in his heart.Even in death u’ve continued to pour scorn on de late republican president.Anyway whatever goes up will surely come down.In my opinion the late president worked hard for this nation and in just 3 years he has left an indelible mark on the Zambian political scene which will unmatched for many generations to come.MHSRIP.
@Austine
Dont pretend that you will love the criminal who kills your family members after his death. Stop pretending you PF minions.
At least I m honest, I did not like him when he was alive, why should I pretend to like him after his death?
You are hypocrites and I am not.
@Austine
You are one of the few who benefited from Sata , thats why you talk like that.
I am still waiting for my money FRA owes me for the 3000 bags of maize I sold them back in July.
Of course you are right in your assertion that Sata left an indelible mark of confusion in PF and in Zambia. Thats why I like many sane Zambians wont miss him at all.
If you think Sata was the best President Zambia ever had you seriously need to have your brain checked. Even prominent PF members know what a liability to PF and the country Sata had become.
Happy are those who wont miss him!
Sad are those who scared of losing jobs given to them by Sata.
Sorry Austine, your job is on the chopping board as soon a new president takes over.
@Austine
“he has left an indelible mark on the Zambian political scene which will unmatched for many generations to come.MHSRIP.”your words of praise.
One reason his stinking legacy will be unmatched for generations to come is because Zambians have learned a big lesson never to let another mad man like Sata to rule Zambia again.
@Mushota, are you just simply ignorant or choose to show your stupidity on every article. As much as I do not criticise or insult the dead, I feel your view of the dictator Mugabe is useless, he has messed up a country that was feeding itself & many, many more. A good example of typical African leaders. Reason they are like that is because of people like you. Get a life.
Ba Lusaka Times, it’s not being afraid of change, but your new site sucks, not creative, inconsiderate of it’s users. Would you kindly take us back to your old site? It was more user friendly than the abomination you have thrust in our face?
“So Blair, keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe.”
Well Blair left the seat in London Mugabe is still keeping his seat… Yaba!
That is democracy at work! Unfortunately democracy DOES NOT WORK in Zimbabawe!
@ Wanzelu
Forgiveness is the best medicine that no doctor on earth can prescribe to heal yo soul.Let go that which you are keeping in yo heart.
for a complete month i have been offline and today i am shocked at this new web pattern introduced by ba LT,please revert to the previous version.
Mr Sata’s death was shocking even though he’s health was failing we were hopful he would do us well by staying a little longer and avoid the huge cost of a state funeral especially the unresolved party leadership and governance issues.May his soul rest in peace.
Scote let us down when he went Offkey to attack edger while mourning.He dented his image to unrepairable levels. Iam heading home tonight for the funeral.Wishing mother Zambia well even especially after the funeral tomorrow….
Mr Mugabe welcome to your friend’s funeral it is in order that you came.where was Scote?well maybe busy with other national duties.
Every one know…
But chi Mugabe che, he keeps checking off names on his list of dictators he has outlasted. That son of a scavenging hyena, probably looks at Kaunda and thinks he was a fool to give up his dictatorship. Now the only question is, between the Zim dictator and our ex dictator who will drop first?
ba LT, this is your show so all due respect to you. But how in the hell is the word f – o – o – l an expletive??
Chi Mugabe is a big chi dictator with no respect for democracy or constitution thats why he’s big friends with Sata.
Naimwe ba Mushota you cannot make a distinction between ‘sorely’ and ‘solely’. Makes me always wanna question your Phd credentials you always claim. You either went to half-baked university (located on top of a shop) in the UK. Real students go to Oxford or Cambridge. Sorely is an adverb describing a loss in a painful manner or if you want sore nichilonda which is painful. Sole means being the only one. So get it madam (you UNZA hater) stop humiliating yourself with your boastful comments because at the end of the day you are as empty as a PF cadre. You are the type even if Sata urinated on you but told you it was the beginning of the rain season in Zambia you would believe because you are so brainwashed. Styopeti!
Let the dead stay dumb…
Can this imbecile called Mushota get a life. Stop comparing Sata to Jesus, that is the height of blasphemy. I wonder what your parents would think if they saw all the rubbish you spend hours writing on this blog. Since you continue to repeat that you cannot believe that Sata is dead, why not let his ghost take up permanent residence in your bedsit, then maybe we will never have to read your tripe again.
An elected dictator, I have never heard of one. Mugabe is not a dictator and will never be one. Stop the African mentality of labeling your leaders according to the western world, the western world has its interests in Zimbabwe which Mugabe opposes with passion by siding with the local. Unlike Chiluba who sold us out, Mugabe is a hero.
@ Pipo
Either you simply delusional or a glorified arm chair critic. Zim used to be the bread basket of central africa, right now it can’t even feed its meagre population. You stop your mentality of labelling zeroes as heroes. Try and step into Zim for a bit and you will realise that the only side Bob is on is his.
This is not Bob’s game but the western world way of wanting him to look bad by sabotaging the economy of the country, since it was heavily dependent on them. The hand over of the land from the whites agreed but the whites did not want hand back the land and hence the issues that came up. But Bob was brave enough to give back that which belonged to his people. Let us give credit where it is due .
@cjay, the Western imposed sanctions has lead to the financial difficulties in Zimbabwe. Mugabe was very right to take action in redistributing land. He is not a dictator, but is a Leader seen fit to rule the nation in that land transition period. Mugabe alone would not have managed to remain in power. He was chosen and supported by all power bases within the gov’t to take on the task, otherwise the West would would have gone on to support a Whites in holding on to the Land. It was a long time after independence. Mugabe has been very kind to Morgan T, his opponent, therefore he us not acted like a murderous dictator as some say.
Noble as the idea may sound, property and land grabbing has not benefitted the people it was intended to in the first place. It is mugabe, his wife and his honchos that have benefited instead. How do you hand over farms to people without skills and resources and expect sustained economic output? Some farmers were forced to move from Zim to Zambia which might explain the bumper harvests in Zambia the last couple of seasons. You do the math.
@cjay, again you write like a deranged White African. We in Zambia despise our gov’ts action in resettling greedy white farmers/investors into Zambia.
Why do these white farmers never resettle in Europe so they can make these ‘farming’ contributions? Because they would NEVER get the opportunity to live like Kings there. Our African wealth and minerals they came to plunder from indigenous people and now after being shamed by the world on apartheid they try to maintain themselves at our cost, feigning superiority.
Africa has provided for White Africans, what they would never have had in all their generations. Mind your racist interpretations.
If land reform was bad economic policy, the West wouldn’t need economic sanctions which destroyed $42 billion worth of value to the Zimbabwean economy.
The fact is that they fear the success of land reform, because they know that South Africa, Namibia, Kenia and Botswana are next. And with the corporate land grab, which country escaped that World Bank policy?
Proof of success of land reform in Zimbabwe: the number of registered tobacco farmers at TIMB went from 1,500 ‘white farmers’ (lairds or landlords) to over 60,000 (small farmers), is and growing every year.
Google: 70,000 register to grow tobacco newzimbabwe)
Google: banks offer 60pc funding for tobacco farming herald
Robert Mugabe came to bat for his dear friend. His loyalty to Africa’s cause is something we used to have in Zambia. We need to revisit African Loyalty and be supportive to Zimbabwe to prevent disgruntled West from destroying innocent lives in Zimbabwe.
The continued Sanctions and Demonising of Robert Mugabe needs to end. The West must stop their fascist programmes in Africa. And most important is the disgraceful way PF bend to the West. We cannot be a corridor to destroy our neighbours.
Sorry, I got sidelined by the annoying postings of one cjay.
What I have to say on Mugabe’s comment that Sata has left unfinished his dream; is to remind PF and Zambia of Moses, and I am not comparing Sata to Moses!
However, there is a consistency in God’s way. He chooses His Men and Women Leaders to take on a Task of leadership. But note, Moses never made it to the promised land. The chosen ones were lead on by others until they came to their Righteous place.
So dear Zambia, we have to look closely for whom we choose to continue President Sata’s vision. For it was a good vision. We must work hard to include all Zambians into our wealth and well being.
I have noted the loss of Dignified Zambian-ess. Please indigenous people maintain our cultures and traditions.