Zambia’s former Vice President Guy Scott has passed away at the age of 82

Zambia’s former Vice President Guy Scott, who in 2014 became Africa’s first white head of state in two decades when he briefly served as acting president, has passed away at the age of 82, according to a statement from the government on Wednesday.

Scott passed away in Lusaka at his farm located in the Leopards Hill area following an illness, as stated by the government.

Scott held the position of vice president under “King Cobra” Michael Sata from 2011 to 2014 and assumed the role of acting president following Sata’s death in October 2014, continuing in that capacity until January 2015.

Scott’s short time in office marked him as Africa’s first white head of state in two decades, following the departure of South Africa’s F.W. de Klerk in 1994.

A Cambridge-educated economist born in Zambia to Scottish parents, Scott was constitutionally prohibited from participating in the subsequent presidential election due to the fact that neither of his parents was born in Zambia.

President Hakainde Hichilema has granted Scott a state funeral, as stated by the government.