Kaunda won kudos abroad for what was considered to be his gracious response to electoral defeat, but the new government was less magnanimous. It placed him under house arrest after alleging a coup attempt; then declared him stateless when he planned to run in the 1996 election (on the grounds that his father was born in Malawi), which he successfully challenged in court. He survived an assassination attempt in 1997, getting grazed by a bullet. One of his sons, Wezi, was shot dead outside their home in 1999.
AuthorGavin Evans
Gavin Evans is a Lecturer, Culture and Media department, Birkbeck, University of London. He was born in London but grew up mainly in Cape Town. After a year of studying in Texas, he returned to South Africa to become intensely involved in the anti-apartheid struggle in various capacities. Along the way, he studied economic history and law before completing a Ph.D. in political studies. He worked as a journalist for several South African newspapers and as a foreign correspondent for a Rome-based news agency. Over the past 15 years, he has lectured in media law, media theory and journalism at the Culture and Media department at Birkbeck College, Cardiff University and at the London School of Journalism. He has recently written for The Guardian, The Daily Mirror, The New Internationalist, International Business Times, BBC History Magazine and Die Zeit among others. He has written nine books including a memoir 'Dancing Shoes is Dead' (Doubleday and Black Swan) and his latest, on race 'science', 'Skin Deep' (OneWorld). He broadcasts regularly for the BBC World Service and runs for England in his age group in the marathon.