LUSAKA, Zambia – Zambia’s chief justice Irene Mambilima died in Egypt on Sunday after being taken ill during an official visit, state television reported.
She was 69.
President Edgar Lungu’s principal private secretary Simon Miti told state media that Mambilima – the country’s first female chief justice – had been in Egypt since June 10 on official duty.
She was hospitalised with an undisclosed illness but later died, Miti said without providing further details.
Mambilima was appointed Chief Justice on February 26, 2015. She had been a lawyer since 1977 after graduating from the University of Zambia and later the University of London.
In 2003, she served as sessional judge of the Supreme Court of The Gambia. She also twice served as head of the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
