Zambia’s first Republican President Kenneth Kaunda has died at the age of 97 after battling Pneumonia.

He was admitted to the hospital at Maina Soko Medical Centre after feeling “unwell”, a statement from his office said earlier this week.

He was one of the last surviving figures from the anti-colonial struggle of the 1950s.

Kaunda also known as KK, served as the first Zambian President from 1964 to 1991.

He was born in the family of eight to an ordained Church of Scotland missionary and teacher.

His parents migrated from Malawi.