Michael Chilufya Sata (born 1937) is a
ZambiaThe Republic of Zambia is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is...
n politician, the former chief executive of the ruling
Movement for Multiparty DemocracyThe Movement for Multi-party Democracy is a political party in Zambia. Originally formed to oust the previous government, MMD controlled an absolute majority in parliament between 1991 and 2001, when its past leader, Frederick Chiluba was president of the country...
(MMD) and a close partner of former President
Frederick ChilubaFrederick Jacob Titus Chiluba is a Zambian politician who was President of Zambia from 1991 to 2001. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy , defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda....
. As leader of the opposition
Patriotic FrontThe Patriotic Front abbreviated PF movement is a Zambian opposition political party . It is the main political party in Zambia today . The Party was formed by Michael Sata as a breakaway party of the MMDin 2001...
(PF), Sata, popularly known as "King Cobra", emerged as the leading opposition presidential contender and rival to incumbent President
Levy MwanawasaLevy Patrick Mwanawasa was the 3
rd President of Zambia. He ruled the country from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. He is credited for having initiated a campaign to rid the country of corruption...
in the
2006 presidential electionOn 28 September 2006 Zambia will hold popular elections to determine the legislative and executive branches of government. The incumbent party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy led by President Levy Mwanawasa, will face a stiff election challenge from the opposition front-runner Michael Sata,...
, but was defeated by Mwanawasa, according to official results. He ran again as the PF candidate in the
October 2008 presidential electionA presidential election was held in Zambia on 30 October 2008 following the death of the incumbent President Levy Mwanawasa on 19 August 2008; the election had to be called within 90 days of the date of death...
, but was narrowly defeated by
Rupiah BandaRupiah Bwezani Banda is the President of Zambia. During the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, Banda held important diplomatic posts and was active in politics as a member of the United National Independence Party . Years later, he was appointed as Vice-President by President Levy Mwanawasa in October...
, according to official results.
He was born and brought up in
MpikaMpika is a town in the Northern Province of Zambia, lying at the junction of the Great North Road to Kasama and Mbala and the Tanzam Highway to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It also has a railway station on the TAZARA Railway about 5km away....
, Northern Province.
Michael Chilufya Sata (born 1937) is a
ZambiaThe Republic of Zambia is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is...
n politician, the former chief executive of the ruling
Movement for Multiparty DemocracyThe Movement for Multi-party Democracy is a political party in Zambia. Originally formed to oust the previous government, MMD controlled an absolute majority in parliament between 1991 and 2001, when its past leader, Frederick Chiluba was president of the country...
(MMD) and a close partner of former President
Frederick ChilubaFrederick Jacob Titus Chiluba is a Zambian politician who was President of Zambia from 1991 to 2001. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy , defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda....
. As leader of the opposition
Patriotic FrontThe Patriotic Front abbreviated PF movement is a Zambian opposition political party . It is the main political party in Zambia today . The Party was formed by Michael Sata as a breakaway party of the MMDin 2001...
(PF), Sata, popularly known as "King Cobra", emerged as the leading opposition presidential contender and rival to incumbent President
Levy MwanawasaLevy Patrick Mwanawasa was the 3
rd President of Zambia. He ruled the country from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. He is credited for having initiated a campaign to rid the country of corruption...
in the
2006 presidential electionOn 28 September 2006 Zambia will hold popular elections to determine the legislative and executive branches of government. The incumbent party, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy led by President Levy Mwanawasa, will face a stiff election challenge from the opposition front-runner Michael Sata,...
, but was defeated by Mwanawasa, according to official results. He ran again as the PF candidate in the
October 2008 presidential electionA presidential election was held in Zambia on 30 October 2008 following the death of the incumbent President Levy Mwanawasa on 19 August 2008; the election had to be called within 90 days of the date of death...
, but was narrowly defeated by
Rupiah BandaRupiah Bwezani Banda is the President of Zambia. During the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, Banda held important diplomatic posts and was active in politics as a member of the United National Independence Party . Years later, he was appointed as Vice-President by President Levy Mwanawasa in October...
, according to official results.
Early years
He was born and brought up in
MpikaMpika is a town in the Northern Province of Zambia, lying at the junction of the Great North Road to Kasama and Mbala and the Tanzam Highway to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It also has a railway station on the TAZARA Railway about 5km away....
, Northern Province. He worked as a police officer, railwayman and trades unionist before entering politics in 1963. He worked his way up through the rough-and-tumble rank-and-file of the former ruling
United National Independence PartyThe United National Independence Party is a political party in Zambia. It governed that country from 1964 to 1991 under the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda....
(UNIP) to the governorship of
LusakaLusaka is the capital and largest city of Zambia. The two main languages spoken in Lusaka are English and Nyanja. It is located in the southern part of the central plateau of the country, at an elevation of 1300 m . It has a population of 3,100,000 and is considered one of the fastest growing...
in 1985. As Governor he made his mark as a man of action with a hands on approach. He cleaned up the streets, patched roadways and built bridges in the city. Afterward he became a Member of Parliament for Kabwata constituency in Lusaka. Though once close with then President
Kenneth KaundaKenneth David Kaunda, affectionately known as KK served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991.-Early life:...
, he became disillusioned by Kaunda's dictatorial style and he left the UNIP to join the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) during the campaign for multi-party politics.
After Frederick Chiluba defeated Kaunda in 1991, Sata became one of Zambia's most instantly recognisable faces. Under the MMD, he served as minister for local government, labour and, briefly, health where, he boasts, his "reforms brought sanity to the health system".
In 1995, he was appointed minister without portfolio, the party's national organising secretary during which his political style was described as "increasingly abrasive".
However, when Chiluba nominated Levy Mwanawasa as MMD candidate in 2001, Sata left the MMD and set up a new party, the Patriotic Front (PF). He contested the 2001 election but did not do well - his party only won one seat in parliament.
2006 election and afterwards
Sata contested the
September 2006 presidential electionA presidential election in Zambia was held on September 28, 2006. Incumbent president Levy Mwanawasa of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy was re-elected to a second term...
as a populist championing the causes of the poor in the face of Mwanawasa's economic reform policies. While the slate of candidates contesting the election frequently resorted to personal attacks and insults, Sata's remarks were at times quite scathing. At one campaign event in particular, Sata was reported to have ripped apart a cabbage in front of his supporters. The cabbage was a reference to Mwanawasa's speech impediment, which was the result of an injury sustained in a 1992 car crash. He has also accused Mwanawasa of "selling out" Zambia to international interests, and at one event, he referred to
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
as a country and
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
as a sovereign state. In response,
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
, which is interested in Zambia's
copper reservesCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
, threatened to cut off relations with Zambia if he was elected. Sata's right hand man in the campaign was Dr. Guy Scott, the
Patriotic FrontThe Patriotic Front abbreviated PF movement is a Zambian opposition political party . It is the main political party in Zambia today . The Party was formed by Michael Sata as a breakaway party of the MMDin 2001...
secretary general. Scott is a white Zambian politician. He served a number of ministerial positions during the Chiluba government. Sata also received the public backing of Chiluba.
Initial results from the election gave Sata the lead, but further results put Mwanawasa in first place and pushed Sata into third place. Interim results released after votes from 120 of 150 constituencies were counted put Mwanawasa on just over 42% of the vote;
Hakainde HichilemaHakainde Hichilema is a Zambian politician and the President of the United Party for National Development . He replaced Anderson Mazoka after an interparty election, organized by functioning party president Sakwiba Sikota, which followed Mazoka's death in May 2006...
had 28%; and the Michael Sata had slipped to 27%. When opposition supporters heard that Sata had slipped from first to third place, riots erupted in Lusaka. On October 2, the Zambian Electoral Commission announced that Mwanawasa had officially won the election; final results put Sata in second place with about 29% of the vote.
Sata was arrested in early December 2006, accused of making a false declaration of his assets when applying to run for president in August, along with other charges. He was questioned by police and released on bail. If convicted, he could have received a prison sentence of least two years. As a convict, he would also be unable to hold public office. Sata said the charges were politically motivated, and in court he pleaded not guilty to them. On December 14, the charges were dropped on the grounds that the declaration of assets was not made under oath.
On March 15, 2007, Sata was deported from
MalawiThe Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast and Mozambique, which surrounds it on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by...
shortly after arrival. Sata said that he was only there to meet with the business community, and alleged that the Zambian government had effected the deportation by falsely claiming that Sata was in Malawi to assist that country's former president,
Bakili MuluziElson Bakili Muluzi is a Malawian politician. He was the President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004 and is currently the Chairman of the United Democratic Front .-Presidency:...
. The Zambian government denied this, while the Malawian government gave no explanation for Sata's deportation. On April 6, Sata's lawyer said that he had initiated a lawsuit against the Malawian government for violating his rights.
After losing his passport in London in late 2007, Sata was issued another; however, on November 10, 2007, Minister of Home Affairs Ronnie Shikapwashya announced that Sata's passport was withdrawn temporarily because he had obtained the new passport without following the necessary procedures and proving that he needed a new passport. Shikapwashya said that an investigation would follow, that Sata had been interrogated, and that he could face arrest.
Sata suffered a heart attack on April 25, 2008 and was evacuated to Milpark Hospital in
JohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi or Jo'burg, is the largest city in South Africa. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, where he was said to be in stable condition on April 26. He reconciled with President Mwanawasa in May 2008.
Mwanawasa's death and the 2008 election
After Mwanawasa suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in France, Sata questioned the official claims about Mwanawasa's health on July 15, 2008, and he called for a team of doctors to be sent by the Cabinet to examine Mwanawasa; this team would then disclose Mwanawasa's actual condition. Mwanawasa died in office in August 2008. On August 25, Sata attempted to attend funeral proceedings for Mwanawasa at
ChipataChipata, population 223,000, is the capital of the Eastern Province of Zambia. The two languages spoken are Nyanja and [English language|[English]], though you might will some Indian languages, as there is a large number of Zambian Indians found.Formerly known as Fort Jameson, the city is located...
in Eastern Province; however, Maureen Mwanawasa, Mwanawasa's widow, ordered Sata to leave, saying that he was politicizing the event and that he had never reconciled with Mwanawasa's family. Sata, who was removed from the scene by security, said that he was only there to mourn Mwanawasa and that he had hoped to escort the body while it was taken to provincial capitals across Zambia; he maintained that his reconciliation with Mwanawasa himself was sufficient to justify his presence. He also said that Maureen Mwanawasa had acted inappropriately.
Sata was unanimously chosen as the PF's candidate for the
presidential by-electionA presidential election was held in Zambia on 30 October 2008 following the death of the incumbent President Levy Mwanawasa on 19 August 2008; the election had to be called within 90 days of the date of death...
at a meeting of its Central Committee on August 30, 2008. Accepting the nomination, he expressed the need "to scrub this country and wash it"; he also said that he would refrain from campaigning until after Mwanawasa's funeral. Despite his April 2008 heart attack, Sata said that he was healthy and in good condition.
Sata said that he would not accept a victory for Banda because there was "no way MMD can win", and he alleged that the Electoral Commission and the police were working together to rig the election. Although he held the lead in early vote counting, which reflected his strong support in urban areas, his lead grew smaller as votes from rural areas were counted. In the end, Banda overtook Sata, and final results on November 2 showed Banda with 40% of the vote against 38% for Sata. Sata subsequently stated that he had not been defeated and accused Banda of fraud.
Policies
Sata said on September 8, 2008 that he would protect Chinese investments if he was elected, abandoning the hostility towards Chinese investment that he had expressed during the 2006 presidential election campaign.
He is an enthusiastic supporter of the policies of President
Robert MugabeRobert Gabriel Karigamombe Mugabe is the current President of Zimbabwe.He has held power as the head of government since 1980, as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987, and as the first executive head of state since 1987...
of
ZimbabweZimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers...
. "Mugabe hasn't done anything wrong. It is the imperialists, the capitalist-roaders who say he is a villain," he said during the 2006 election. In 2008, he said that he would revoke licences for foreign investors if they resisted his orders to give at least a 25% stake in their companies to Zambians.
External links