He had been feeling unwell and was admitted to the Maina Soko Medical Centre in Lusaka on Monday, according to an Al Jazeera report.

Kaunda will be remembered for standing up against white minority rule in Southern African countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

He was the youngest among eight children and his mother was a teacher, a rare profession for women in Africa in those days.

His political career started as the organising secretary of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress (NRANC) in the Northern Province of Zambia. But he split the NRANC in 1958 to launch the Zambian African National Congress (ZANC).

His organisation was banned by the British rulers a year after its formation and he was thrown into prison for nine months.

In 1959, ZANC became the United Party for National Development (UNIP).

The following year he was released from prison and elected the president of UNIP. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Kaunda committed himself to non-violent means to gain freedom for his country and started organising the Civil Disobedience movement which was called the Cha-cha-cha campaign.

He had a unique style of public speaking, repeating whole sentences to emphasise his thoughts all the while holding his white handkerchief in his left hand. 

His ideology was a synergy of traditional African values, Christian ethics and socialistic principles.

Using his persuasive oratory skills, Kaunda garnered mass appeal among the public and won independence for his country in 1964.

As the UNIP president, he ruled Zambia for 27 years.