Government has with immediate effect canceled the appointment of Cosmas Chileshe as First Secretary for Press to the Zambian High Commission in Washington DC.

At a media briefing, Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji said Chileshe’s conduct of abandoning his matrimonial home to be with another woman, could not be condoned.

Malanji said Chileshe’s dismissal was with immediate effect adding that a replacement would soon be accredited to that country.

“We have decided to recall Mr Cosmas Chileshe who was the Press Secretary accredited to Washington DC. Diplomats are expected to uphold family values both in their public and private life. We have asked the Permanent Secretary to immediately do a note to the High Commission in Washington DC to recall Mr Chileshe. And he will be replaced immediately without waiting. The President is very disappointed in the manner that an official who was sent to Washington DC in a tag of a diplomat to go and start behaving in the manner that he was behaving where he abandoned his family whilst outside his station. That behaviour cannot be condoned, so he comes back immediately and he will be replaced immediately. I am sure that will teach other members in the diplomatic corps in our missions that they should fly the Zambian flag with integrity,” Malanji said.

Chileshe left his wife and four children for veteran broadcaster Maureen Nkandu.

And Malanji announced that India’s President Ram Nath Kovid was expected in Zambia for a three-day state visit at President Lungu’s invitation.

“I wish to inform the nation that at the invitation of His Excellency, Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Mr Ram Nath Kovid, President of the Republic of India, will undertake a State Visit to Zambia from 10th-12th April, 2018. During the visit, the two Heads of State will hold bilateral talks and witness the signing of several Memoranda of Understanding between Zambia and India, aimed at enhancing corporation in various sectors including the establishment of an Entrepreneurship Development Institute in Zambia, taxation, visa exemption on diplomatic passports and judicial corporation. The two Heads of State will also participate in the ground breaking ceremony of the Lusaka Roads Decongestion project which will be implemented with support from the Indian government,” Malanji said.

Meanwhile, Malanji disclosed that President Lungu had delegated Vice-President Inonge Wina and two other ministers to represent him at the burial of South Africa’s Apartheid Activist Winnie Mandela on Saturday.

“In South Africa on the death of Mrs Winnie Madikizela Mandela, the President has assigned her Honour the Vice-President, Mrs Inonge Wina to represent him on Saturday for the burial. She will be accompanied by the Minister of Lands, Honourable Jean Kapata and the Minister of Information Honourable Dora Siliya who is also our Chief Government Spokesperson. The President has done this with due consideration of the role that Zambia played in the liberation of South Africa,” said Malanji.