Mbeki extends condolences
2008-08-20 16:16
Pretoria - President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday extended his condolences to the Zambian people following the death of the country's President Levy Mwanawasa.
"The government and people of South Africa and indeed the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC) region are deeply saddened to learn of the untimely death of our brother and leader President Mwanawasa," Mbeki said in statement.
Mwanawasa, 59, died in a Paris hospital on Tuesday. He had been receiving treatment after having a stroke at the end of June.
Following the SADC summit at the weekend Mbeki said the body would miss Mwanawasa's "invaluable contribution to the region's political and economic development".
Mwanawasa recently held the chairmanship of the SADC.
"The people of South Africa... extend their heartfelt condolences to the government and people of Zambia and to his widow Maureen Mwanawasa and the children," added Mbeki.
The Young Communist League said Mwanawasa's death was a loss to his family and the people of Zambia.
The league applauded Mwanawasa's firm stance on the Zimbabwean leadership impasse and his helping find a lasting solution to help those oppressed in Zimbabwe by what it called President Robert Mugabe's dictatorship.
"As the YCL we say to the people of Zambia, Dr Mwanawasa has not died; he joins the living in ideas.
"His political leadership and dedication to the democratisation of the (SADC) region will serve as an inspiration to those striving for democratic change in both Zimbabwe and Swaziland, and elsewhere on the continent."
- SAPA