Mundia Sikatana ( 1938 – 14 June 2012;

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

) was a

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

n politician, diplomat and lawyer.

Career

In 2002, Siktana was appointed

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

. He and his government faced widescale media condemnation for banning

genetically modified maize Genetically modified maize (corn) is a genetically modified crop. Specific maize strains have been genetically engineered to express agriculturally-desirable traits, including resistance to pests and to herbicides. Maize strains with both trai ...

donations during a widescale famine in 2002. Upon the re-election of President

Levy Mwanawasa Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (3 September 1948 – 19 August 2008) was the third president of Zambia. He served as president from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. Mwanawasa is credited with having initiated a campaign to rid the corrupti ...

in 2006, Sikatana was appointed

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

on 9 August 2006. On 22 August 2007, the former ally of Mwanawasa was fired as foreign minister with Mwanawasa citing Sikatana's declining health. However, on 3 September, Siktana refuted that claim, citing instead his reputation as an anti-

Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Z ...

politician and Mwanawasa's better relationship with Mugabe following his appointment as head of the

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security coopera ...

. He trained as a lawyer and during the one party rule by the first president

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth David Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Dissat ...

, Sikatana championed the cause for justice and the respect of human rights.

References

1938 births 2012 deaths Zambian diplomats 20th-century Zambian lawyers Foreign Ministers of Zambia Agriculture ministers of Zambia {{Zambia-politician-stub