Enter Africa's first white democratic president

30 October 2014 - 02:13 By ©The Daily Telegraph, Staff reporter
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PRESIDENT PALE MALE: Guy Scott greets defence and security chiefs in Lusaka shortly after taking over as acting president of Zambia following Michael Sata's death
PRESIDENT PALE MALE: Guy Scott greets defence and security chiefs in Lusaka shortly after taking over as acting president of Zambia following Michael Sata's death
Image: CHIBALA ZUL/AFP

Zambia reverted to "white rule" yesterday when a Cambridge-educated economist became acting president of the country after the death of the incumbent.

Guy Scott, previously the vice-president, was promoted to the top job after the demise of Michael Sata on Tuesday.

Scott, 70, became the first white leader of an African country since FW de Klerk stepped down as president of South Africa in 1994.

Scott, who will serve for 90 days until a new election is held, said that his sudden promotion was "a bit of a shock to the system" but added "I'm very proud to be entrusted with it."

Sata, 77, died on Tuesday at the KingEdwardVIIHospital, London.

Until his death the acting president of Zambia was Edga Lungu, the defence minister, but Scott said he had stepped into the position at the cabinet's instruction and in accordance with the constitution.

He said he was now the first white president of a democratic African government, with the possible exception of "the Venetians in the days when they ran the world".

Scott said: "Everyone is getting used to calling me 'Your Excellency' and I'm getting used to it. There are truckloads of guys following me on motorbikes. It's very strange."

Asked why he thought he had been chosen by the cabinet to be Zambia's interim leader, he pointed to his "seniority within the party, in government". "The president kept me as his vice-president despite a lot of efforts by people to get me taken down. And I happened to be there when he died."

He said that he last spoke to Sata, who flew to London almost two weeks ago, several days ago.

Asked if Sata had said that he wanted him to take over the presidency, Scott said: "He said he was happy that I was there, to take over if needed."

Under a clause in the constitution that dictates that only those whose parents were born in Zambia can be president, Scott's promotion is expected to last no longer than 90 days.

Said Scott: "I won't run for the presidency at the election because, constitutionally, I can't."

Zambia, formerly the British Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia, achieved independence in 1964. The colourful and plain-speaking Scott is popular among his countrymen.

But in May last year he stoked a diplomatic incident when he called South Africans ''backward''.

According to the UK's The Guardian, Scott said: ''I hate South Africans. That's not a fair thing to say because I like a lot of South Africans but they really think they're the bees' knees and actually they've been the cause of so much trouble in this part of the world.

"I have a suspicion that the blacks model themselves on the whites now that they're in power."

He compared President Jacob Zuma to De Klerk, saying: "He tells us, 'You just leave Zimbabwe to me.' Excuse me, who the hell liberated you, was it not us?''

The Zambian government distanced itself from Scott's remarks.

As agriculture minister, Scott was credited with steering his country out of a food crisis in the early 1990s.

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