Chiluba: A hero turned villain

Zambia's former president Frederick Chiluba, right, who died yesterday aged 68, was a one-time democracy hero whose reputation was left in tatters by his life of luxury once in office.

When he ended the 27-year rule of Zambia's founding president Kennneth Kaunda in 1991, Chiluba was hailed for saving the country from one-party rule.

But after unsuccessfully trying to stay in power beyond his scheduled 10-year term, and as evidence of his personal excesses mounted, he was derided as a little more than a common thief and convicted by a court in London of pocketing $46-million of state funds.

Chiluba became president of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, a coalition of unions, civic and church groups.

Initially welcomed by the West, he won praise for his emphasis on democracy, human rights and government transparency.

This diminutive leader - he was 1.5m - oversaw the sale of more than 250 state companies to private firms.

He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds buying suits, shoes and shirts when millions of his people lived on less than a dollar a day.

In 1997, he survived a military coup and then used the incident to detain several of his opponents, including Kaunda.

After serving the constitutionally allowed two terms in office, Chiluba attempted to amend the constitution to run for a third term but he met vigorous resistance.

In his teens, Chiluba worked as a bus conductor and sisal cutter in Tanzania before making his way to the newly independent Zambia where he came to prominence as chairman of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions where he was at the helm for 17 years.

Chiluba was married to Vera Tembo for 33 years, with whom he had nine children before he divorced and married Regina, a former women's leader.