Africa has its first white leader after death of Zambia's 'King Cobra'

Guy Scott named as acting leader after death of president Michael Sata. Africa has its first white head of state since apartheid after the death of the charismatic Zambian president dubbed 'King Cobra'.

Vice president Guy Scott was named the country's acting leader today ahead of a presidential election in three months to formally replace Michael Sata, who died last night aged 77.

The last white leader on the African continent was South Africa's last apartheid president, FW de Klerk, before Nelson Mandela famously won the country's first true democratic elections in 1994.

Zambia is mourning the death of Sata, a charismatic, chain-smoking father of eight who rose from being a British railway porter through decades of hard politics to become the country's president.

He had been in office for just three years and died at a private London hospital last night more than a month after he was last seen in public.

The president gained his nickname King Cobra for his 'scorched-earth' politics and venomous barbs against opponents, one of whom was charged with defamation for calling him a potato.

Photo: AFP