Frederick Chiluba

Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (30 April 1943 – 18 June 2011) was a Zambian politician who was the second president of Zambia from 1991 to 2002.

He and several leaders in ZCTU were detained in 1981 by President Kenneth Kaunda for calling a wildcat strike that paralyzed most of the Zambian economy.

The union leaders were released after a judge ruled their detention as unconstitutional.

In 1987, he successfully withstood challenge to his chairmanship of NUBEGW that would have put his ZCTU position in jeopardy.

In 1990, soon after UNIP gave up its monopoly on power, he helped form the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), and became its presidential candidate in the snap 1991 election called as part of the deal that ended one-party rule.

Due in part to festering resentment at UNIP's 25-year rule (including 17 years as the only legal party), Chiluba defeated Kaunda in a massive landslide, taking 75 percent of the vote to Kaunda's 25 percent–the second-biggest margin of victory for a contested election in Zambian history.

Chiluba took office on 2 November of that year.

Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as the candidate of the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD), defeating long-time President Kenneth Kaunda.

On 29 December 1991, he declared Zambia a Christian nation.

He was re-elected in 1996.

He won re-election to a second five-year term in 1996 despite a lawsuit questioning his birthplace and hence his eligibility for the post.

Chiluba attempted to deport Kaunda on the grounds that he was a Malawian.

He amended the constitution in order to stop citizens with foreign parentage from standing for the presidency, aimed at disqualifying Kaunda.

Some candidates in the 1996 presidential elections challenged his eligibility on these grounds, claiming that he or his real father was born in Zaire.

However, he was raised in the Copperbelt of Zambia and this contributed to his taking up of unionism.

In 1997 his government survived a coup attempt after which Chiluba immediately declared a state of emergency and began jailing, without charges, persons suspected of involvement in the coup.

These included several Zambian politicians, including those from opposition parties and the country's previous President, Kenneth Kaunda.

Frederick Chiluba and his second wife, former First Lady of Zambia Vera Tembo, with whom he had nine children, divorced in 2000 after thirty-three years of marriage.

In connection to European corruption allegations against him in the late 2000s, it was revealed that a Swiss shop had produced over 100 pairs of size 6 shoes for him with two inch heels, many monogrammed.

His careful appearance and taste for fine suits became a trademark, and was noted during his corruption trial.

In a particularly harsh example, Roy Clarke, writing in The Post, ran a recurring column which lampooned the President during his time in office as "a vain, cross-dressing, high-heel wearing, adulterous, dwarf thief".

Political opponents make reference to these charges and traits in their criticisms of Chiluba's rule.

Candidate Michael Sata, for instance, has played on this popular stereotype of Chiluba, charging that "Chiluba's thinking is as tall as he is... We are not going to steal money, we are not going to plunder, we are not going to buy suits, we are not going to buy shoes. We are not going to give girls houses..."

President Kaunda famously referred to Chiluba as the "Four-foot Dwarf" during Chiluba's rise in opposition politics.

His attempt to deport Kaunda was unsuccessful as Kaunda's Zambian citizenship was confirmed by the Lewanika and Others vs. Chiluba Supreme Court ruling in 2000.

As he was unable to run for a third term in 2001, former Vice President Levy Mwanawasa instead ran as the MMD candidate and succeeded him.

In late 2001, Chiluba divorced his second wife, Vera, with whom he had nine children, namely Helen, Miko, Hortensia, Castro, Chongo, Kaindu, Huldah, Frederick Jr and Verocia.

On 6 May 2002, Chiluba married his third wife, Regina Mwanza, the former chairperson of women's affairs for the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD), in Lusaka.

Chiluba's personal appearance and dapper dress as well as his short stature (Chiluba stood just 1.5 m (5 ft) tall) was taken notice of both by his supporters and opponents throughout his career.

Tembo has gone on to pursue a political career of her own, becoming MMD Chairperson for Women's Affairs, being elected to the Zambian Parliament, and becoming deputy Minister of the Environment in 2006.

After leaving office, Chiluba was the subject of a long investigation and trial regarding alleged corruption; he was eventually acquitted in 2009.

He was born to Jacob Titus Chiluba Nkonde and Diana Kaimba and grew up in Luapula Province where he was born from.

Chiluba has married thrice.

Frederick Chiluba did his basic education at Mambilima Mbolo special school and his secondary education at Kawambwa boys technical Secondary School in Kawambwa, where he was expelled in the second year for political activities.

He became a bus conductor, and later a politician due to his charismatic personality.

He worked as city councilor before becoming an accounts assistant at Atlas Copco, and rose in his rankings, in Ndola where he joined the National Union of Building.

Chiluba was acquitted of all corruption charges in August 2009.

Chiluba had also been described by the BBC as "a fervent born-again Christian [whose] private life was the subject of much gossip."

Chiluba went on to win the chairmanship of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

This declaration was included in the 2016 Constitutional Amendment Bill which is part of the current Constitution of the Republic of Zambia.