The brother of Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa was found dead in an Arcadia hotel in Pretoria on Saturday morning, police said.
International media liaison representative Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said Rex Mwanawasa (43) was found in a room at the Best Western Pretoria Hotel around 10am.
He was last seen alive at about 4am on Saturday. Mwanawasa was found lying in bed by the hotel owner, Remmy Mukosa, who he is related to. The door to the room was unlocked.
There were no visible wounds and an inquest docket has been opened.
Mwanawasa, who arrived in the country on Thursday, was in South Africa on private business. He was a sales manager for a company in Zambia and was apparently alone in the country.
Martins-Engelbrecht said a post-mortem would be conducted on Monday. She could not confirm media reports that Mwanawasa was last seen alive at in the company of a woman.
Representative for the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria, Dennis Kapata, confirmed Mwanawasa’s death, but said the High Commissioner would not comment as Mwanawasa was not part of the government.
”Mr Mwanawasa was found dead in his hotel room. Police are investigating,” Kapata said.
On Saturday, Mukosa, who is Mwanawasa’s cousin, said he found the president’s brother in bed after he was unable to reach him.
”I saw Rex last night when he visited me at my house. We arranged to meet on Saturday morning at 11am. But after trying contact him on numerous occasions and phoning his room during the course of the morning and getting no reply, I had to go to the hotel and found him in bedroom. It looked like he died in his sleep.”
When asked whether Mwanawasa was last in the company of a woman, Mukosa said: ”That’s utter nonsense and rubbish. Rex was with my nephew at my house. They left late and he first dropped my nephew off at his flat before going to his hotel room. But obviously police are investigating any foul play…”
Mukosa said Mwanawasa was engaged to be married. Department of Foreign Affairs representative Ronnie Mamoepa said: ”At this stage we don’t know the cause of Mr Rex Mwanawasa’s death and I am sure that an autopsy will reveal that.
”The South African government extends its heartfelt condolences to the Zambian President Mr Levy Mwanawasa, their family, friends and colleagues.” – Sapa