PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela on Thursday afternoon expressed his condolences to the family of Wezi Kaunda, son of former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, who died on Thursday morning after being gunned down in Lusaka. “He was a prominent figure. His death was a tragedy,” Mandela said at a function to hand over documents from the Rivonia trial which sentenced him to life imprisonment. Kaunda died early on Thursday after being shot by gunmen in an apparent car theft, hospital sources said. The University Teaching Hospital said Wezi Kaunda suffered four bullet wounds in an attack on Wednesday night. He was a key adviser to his father, who still leads the opposition United National Independence Party (UNIP) after losing 1991 elections to President Frederick Chiluba. Wezi served as deputy minister of home affairs in Kaunda’s last government.