WEZI KAUNDA’s ASSASSINATION DURING THE MMD REGIME-Police arrests two suspects. However, Mulenga claims that his co-accused, Banda, is innocent.
The 47-year-old son of Kenneth Kaunda (KK), then former president of Zambia, was fatally shot on 4th November , 1999 on Wednesday, at night in the driveway of his home in Lusaka.
Wezi Kaunda, a successful businessman and retired army major who was a rising figure in his father’s opposition United National Independence Party (UNIP), had been the target of death threats; but chose to remain in the country his father led to independence from Britain in 1964, the party spokesman said.
Wezi, who was the chairman of the opposition party’s key Lusaka provincial district branch; expected to assume a top post in the opposition party the following month, was returning home with his wife and had pulled into their driveway when he was accosted by four gunmen, Muhabi Lungu, said in a telephone interview (The New York Times, Nov. 5, 1999/ The Guardian, Sunday 14 Nov, 1999).
According to Didre (Wezi’s wife), Wezi told the gang: ‘I am Major Wezi Kaunda. Please take my car, take whatever you want. I am not resisting. Spare my life and my wife. Just take the car.’
But the gang replied: ‘We know who you are. Do you think we don’t know? Shoot him.’ The men ordered Kaunda out of the car and shot him in the stomach, back and shoulder. He was rushed to hospital, where he died a few hours later. The car was found abandoned, but nothing had been stolen (The Guardian, Sunday 14 Nov, 1999).
KK’s head of security, Mr Moyce Kaulung’ombe, said the motive for the shooting was political.
“Major Wezi was trailed by the people who killed him. They knew what they were looking for. He was murdered for political reasons. This is clearly an assassination,” he said.
A police spokesman, Mr Richard Mwanza, said one suspect had been arrested. Three others were still on the run.
Wezi Kaunda, was at the same time chief aide to his father, the main rival to then President Frederick Chiluba and was KK’s third son and the most politically active.
Unlike his father, Wezi Kaunda did not have a bodyguard.
A spokesman at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka said that Wezi was able to talk for a while after being admitted at around 9 p.m. that Wednesday night.
Mr Basil Kabwe, administrative secretary of KK’s UNIP, said: “It is well known that Wezi was a thorn in the flesh of this government (MMD), and his death must be put at their doorstep.
The rabid hatred for Kenneth Kaunda and his son has tragically ended in the ghastly death of Wezi,” he said (The Irish Times, 5 November, 1999).
But, KK said that his son’s enemies included both people within President Frederick Chiluba’s government, and “rebels” within the UNIP.
Though, Police said they believed car hijacking was the motive for the murder.
Otherwise, the first suspect, Moses Mulenga, appeared in court and was charged with murder and aggravated robbery while KK’s daughter, Catherine; fearing for her safety if she were to return to Zambia, was granted asylum in South Africa (BBC, 8 November, 1999).
Additionally, KK was said to be out of the country when his son (Wezi) was killed and was en route back to Zambia the very night.
According to The Guardian, Sun 14 Nov 1999 three senior Scotland Yard detectives were sent to Zambia to assist in solving the case, highlighting its international profile and the attention it received back in Britain.
Interestingly, when the suspect appeared in court, he was not satisfied with the charge, “My Lord, I do understand that I am charged with aggravated robbery and murder but the actual thing which transpired was assassination,” Mr Mulenga (one of the two suspects) said, according to a court report in the Times of Zambia.
Mr Mulenga, a bus driver before his arrest, gave no indication of who had ordered the assassination. But he said that one suspect who was still at large, and another who was shot dead by the police, were also involved.
However, Mr Mulenga said that his co-accused, Amon Banda, was innocent.
”I have so far explained details of our plot to the necessary authorities but no appropriate action has been taken,” Mr Mulenga told the court (BBC- 8 May, 2000).
Before Wezi’s assassination, KK’s car was attacked in March 1999 in a similar incident. A gunman opened fire on his car as he stopped to enter the grounds of his residence. Although the Lusaka police, as well as its rapid deployment unit, inspected the scene, the police did not publish an official report of the incident ( Human Rights Watch, November 4, 1999).
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