Frederick Chiluba remains one of the most controversial figures in modern African history. Rising from humble beginnings in the Copperbelt as a trade unionist, Chiluba would eventually become the second President of Zambia and the first democratically elected leader of the multi-party era.

In this deep historical documentary, we explore the remarkable story of Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba — from his early life in Kitwe and his rise through the powerful Zambian trade unions, to his dramatic political rivalry with Zambia’s founding president Kenneth Kaunda.

Chiluba’s leadership transformed Zambia’s political landscape. He led the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) to victory in the historic 1991 elections, ending nearly three decades of one-party rule under UNIP. His presidency introduced sweeping economic reforms guided by the IMF and World Bank, privatization of state industries, and major political changes.

Yet his legacy remains deeply divided.

After leaving office, Chiluba faced major corruption allegations, including accusations of embezzling millions of dollars from the Zambian state. His famous monogrammed suits, hundreds of shoes, and luxury lifestyle became symbols of the corruption charges that dominated his later years.

Despite the controversy, many Zambians still regard Chiluba as a hero of democracy who helped usher Zambia into the era of multiparty politics.

Cecil John Rhodes, PC, DCL (July 5, 1853 – March 26, 1902^[1]) was a British-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. Rhodes was born in Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire and became the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 60 percent of the world's rough diamonds. At one time De Beers controlled 90 percent of the global diamond market. Rhodes was an ardent believer in colonialism and was the colonizer of the state of Rhodesia, which was named after him. Rhodesia (later Northern and Southern Rhodesia) eventually became Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively.

Rhodes profited greatly by exploiting Southern Africa's natural resources, proceeds of which founded the Rhodes Scholarship upon his death. Rhodes is famous for having declared: "All of these stars … these vast worlds that remain out of reach. If I could, I would annex other planets."^[2] In the context of what has been called the Scramble for Africa, Rhodes was one of the most significant and influential promoters of Britain's imperial interests. He believed that British power could make war an impossibility, since Britain would police the world. He thought the British were destined to rule other peoples, for whose rights he had little concern. Despite his racist assumption many students from former British colonies have benefited from the Rhodes Scholarship.

In January 1971, Idi Amin’s forces overthrew the then President of Uganda Apollo Millton Obote, while he was on a visit to Singapore to attend a Commonwealth conference. Idi Amin became the president of the country and I am sure we all know how his story ended.

Obote’s story and both of his stints in power have largely been overshadowed by Idi Amin, yet Obote was also accused of widespread human rights abuses and according to some sources the deaths attributed to his governments are greater than those of Amin.

At the same time, Milton Obote’s contribution to the nationalist anticolonial struggle and the important role he played in founding the modern Ugandan nation in the first period of his rule seems almost indisputable.

However, his overall life history and political career in particular continues to divide opinions amongst many of his critics and admirers. Who was he, how was he able to come back into power, and what happened in both of his stints in power.

In this Episode of African Biographics, we cover the life story of Apollo Milton Obote, Uganda’s President who was deposed by Idi Amin and then came back to power.

South Africa’s former president Frederik Willem de Klerk has died at the age of 85. As it’s last white minority leader he steered his country towards the end of apartheid - for which De Klerk and Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize.

On 1 February 1991, South Africa’s then president, Frederik Willem de Klerk, announced the repeal of the country’s last apartheid laws. By the end of the year, racial segregation was finally consigned to the past in South Africa - on paper at least. Together with Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison for this battle, de Klerk forever changed South Africa and wrote global history. Although de Klerk was originally a supporter of racial segregation, in the end he was the one charged with the job of ending apartheid. In the year 1993, de Klerk and Mandela, who would succeed him as president one year later, received the Nobel Prize for Peace. De Klerk was vilified by some, praised by many, but despite his great deeds he always remained in the background. The documentary film: The Other Man - F.W. de Klerk and the End of Apartheid, opens a completely new perspective on the life and work of South Africa’s last white president.

Charles William Dambudzo Marechera (4 June 1952 – 18 August 1987) was a Zimbabwean novelist and poet who is recognised as one of the best writers in Zimbabwe. His career was short lived as he died at 35.

Marechera was born in Rusape in an unstable family and this has reportedly been attributed as being the major factor which shaped his behavior. His father, Isaac, worked in a mortuary and Marechera stated that his father was killed by the Rhodesians whom he began to detest.^[1] His mother, Venenzia Masvotwa was reported to have been a maid who later reverted to being a prostitute after the death of his father.^[2] This was because the family wanted to make ends meet.

Marechera was awarded a scholarship to study at St Augustine's Mission for his secondary education. Whilst at St Augustine, Marechera did not get along with all his teachers whom he accused of propagating the supremacy of the whites. This was because of the teaching syllabi which was colonial in orientation.^[1]

In 1972, he was enrolled at the then the University of Rhodesia, present day University of Zimbabwe (UZ) where he was doing a Bachelor of Arts Degree.^[2] It was reported that whilst at the institution, Marechera was notorious for bedding his fellow female college mates and he was rumored to have contracted a sexually transmitted disease at some point.^[2] The following year, he was expelled from the institution for protesting against racial discrimination together with 150 other students.^[2]

Marechera published his first novel, House of Hunger whilst in the United Kingdom in 1978. Marechera was awarded a scholarship to study at the New College at Oxford University in the United Kingdom in 1974.^[3] He was then expelled after he had attempted to set the college on fire.

Prior to this, Marechera was always in constant confrontation with his lecturers. He had also been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and he had refused to go for a therapy.^[3] His brother stated that Marechera was cursed by their mother who was also cursed by her relatives, hence she was mandated to pass on the curse to one of her children and she chose Marechera.^[2] Marechera's girlfriend, Flora Veit Wild opined that Marechera was against the idea of receiving treatment because he argued that it would make him lose his distinct personality.^[4]

The publication of House of Hunger made Marechera a renowned novelist who was now sought after in the UK. He spent his earnings on women and alcohol. He then became a writer-in-residence at the University of Sheffield and Leeds University.^[5] He was later arrested and spent four months in a Welsh jail for theft and illegally possessing marijuana.^[2]

From his 1978 publication, Marechera created his own distinguished style from his contemporaries. He was propagating individualism and this made people classify his work as being alien to Africa. Upon his return to Zimbabwe in 1982, he refused to be co-opted into the nation-building post-independence project.^[3] He was skeptical about Robert Mugabe and he publicly criticised him. His novel, Mind Blast or The Definite Buddy was banned after it was published, Marechera was arrested and was held in the police cells for 6 days.^[2] The ban was however lifted.

In 1984, Marechera became a teacher at Peoples' College but was later dismissed. He was then arrested during the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in the same year after he had complained that he was attacked by an army colonel.^[2]

Marechera succumbed to an HIV and AIDS-related disease. Wild stated that Marechera began to have health problems in February 1986.^[4] He was, however, unable to look after himself as he spent his money on women and alcohol. In 1987, he was diagnosed as being HIV positive and still he denied to live with his family arguing that they were after his money.^[4] Thus no one else was there to take care of him.

Lucky Dube (born August 3, 1964, died October 18, 2007) was a reggae musician from Johannesburg, South Africa. He was named Lucky because when he was born in poor health, and the doctors thought he would die. But he survived, so was named Lucky. In his youth, Lucky lived with many different family members, singing in bars and in church. He eventually formed a band with some friends, but they could not afford to purchase instruments. Eventually, Lucky wrote a play which he and his bandmates performed, earning enough money to buy a guitar. Their band was then called Skyway, and they played in the mbaqanga style.

Two years after Skyway's formation, Lucky joined Richard Siluma's Love Brothers. He stayed with them for several years, before switching to reggae in the early 1980s. His first major success in that field came at the influential Sunsplash festival in Jamaica.

Lucky's "Together as One" was the first song by a black artist to be played on a white radio station in South Africa. His two most popular albums, Prisoner and Slave, are among the most renowned and best-selling in South Africa's history. One of Lucky's favourite singers was the late Peter Tosh.

On the 18th of October 2007, Lucky was shot dead in an attempted car jacking in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Known as "the last of the Pharaohs", Farouk was the last King to rule in the land of the Nile. The era of monarchy and royalties ended up with him. July 23rd was the last day of the King’s rule in Alexandria. On the royal boat "Al Mahroussa", he sails with his family to Capri, and from there, he starts his journey into exile. This documentary entitled "Farouk Wal Manfa" (Farouk and the exile) starts from the end and works its way backwards. It compiles all the visual ele-ments, gathering hidden stories about the King and his extended family. What did his life in Ita-ly look like? What happened to Queen Nazli, Queen Farida and Queen Nariman? How did Prin-cess Fawzia, Princess Faiza, Princess Faika, Princess Fathia and Princess Fawkia live? Was he miserable, lonely, broken? How did he die? All those questions and more are raised and a lot of the enigma clarified in this unique documentary that was filmed in Cairo, Capri, Napoli, Rome, Geneva, Monte-Carlo, Paris, Los Angeles and Beirut. "Farouk Wal Manfa".

Kofi Atta Annan was born into an Aristocratic family in Ghana. He rose to head the United Nations as it’s seventh Secretary-General between January 1997 to December 2006. Annan is remembered for reforming the UN, and also brokering peace in various conflicts zones around the world.

Biography of Libyan Revolutionary Leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi many years before he was friendly with the West and ultimately killed - murdered - assassinated.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He chaired the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) group from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist, during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist–Leninist, and as a socialist after the 1990s. His policies have been described as Mugabeism.

Mugabe was born to a poor Shona family in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia. Following an education at Kutama College and the University of Fort Hare, he worked as a school teacher in Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Ghana. Angered that Southern Rhodesia was a colony of the British Empire governed by its white minority, Mugabe embraced Marxism and joined African nationalist protests calling for an independent state led by representatives of the black majority. After making anti-government comments, he was convicted of sedition and imprisoned between 1964 and 1974. On release, he fled to Mozambique, established his leadership of ZANU, and oversaw its role in the Rhodesian Bush War, fighting Ian Smith's predominantly white government. He reluctantly took part in the peace negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom that resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement. The agreement ended the war and resulted in the 1980 general election, in which Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory. As Prime Minister of the newly renamed Zimbabwe, Mugabe's administration expanded healthcare and education and—despite his professed Marxist desire for a socialist society—adhered largely to mainstream, conservative economic policies.

Mugabe's calls for racial reconciliation failed to stem growing white emigration, while relations with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) also deteriorated. In the Gukurahundi of 1982–1987, Mugabe's Fifth Brigade crushed ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland in a campaign that killed at least 10,000 people, mostly Ndebele civilians. Internationally, he sent troops into the Second Congo War and chaired the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–89), the Organisation of African Unity (1997–98), and the African Union (2015–16). Pursuing decolonisation, Mugabe emphasised the redistribution of land controlled by white farmers to landless blacks, initially on a "willing seller–willing buyer" basis. Frustrated at the slow rate of redistribution, from 2000 he encouraged black Zimbabweans to violently seize white-owned farms. Food production was severely impacted, leading to famine, economic decline, and international sanctions. Opposition to Mugabe grew, but he was re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2013 through campaigns dominated by violence, electoral fraud, and nationalistic appeals to his rural Shona voter base. In 2017, members of his own party ousted him in a coup, replacing him with former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa. He died in Singapore.

Having dominated Zimbabwe's politics for nearly four decades, Mugabe was a controversial figure. He was praised as a revolutionary hero of the African liberation struggle who helped free Zimbabwe from British colonialism, imperialism, and white minority rule. Critics accused Mugabe of being a dictator responsible for economic mismanagement, widespread corruption in Zimbabwe, anti-white racism, human rights abuses, and crimes against humanity.

Hastings Kamuzu Banda (15 February 1898[1][2][3][4] – 25 November 1997) was the prime minister and later president of Malawi from 1964 to 1994 (for the first year of his rule as it achieved independence in 1964, Malawi was the British protectorate of Nyasaland). In 1966, the country became a republic and he became president.

After receiving much of his education in ethnography, linguistics, history, and medicine overseas, Banda returned to his home country (then British Nyasaland) to speak against colonialism and advocate independence. He was formally appointed prime minister of Nyasaland and led the country to independence.[5] Two years later he proclaimed Malawi a republic with himself as president. He consolidated power and later declared Malawi a one-party state under the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). In 1970, the MCP made him the party's President for Life. In 1971, he became President for Life of Malawi itself.

As a leader of anti-communism in Africa he received support from the Western Bloc during the Cold War.[6] He generally supported women's rights, improved the country's infrastructure and maintained a good educational system relative to other African countries but also presided over one of the most repressive regimes in Africa. His totalitarian government regularly tortured and murdered political opponents.[7][8][9] Human rights groups estimate that at least 6,000 people were killed, tortured and jailed without trial.[10] As many as 18,000 people were killed during his rule according to one estimate.[11][12] He received criticism for maintaining full diplomatic relations with apartheid-era South Africa.

By 1993 he was facing international pressure and widespread protest. A referendum ended the one-party system and a special assembly ended his life-term presidency, stripping him of most of his powers. Banda ran for president in the democratic elections which followed and was defeated. He died in South Africa on 25 November 1997.

Many institutions bear his name. He upgraded the economic status of the country after independence. But his reign faced dark shadows when three prominent politicians were assassinated. Up to date he is accused of acquiring massive pieces of land.
He is Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya.

Kwame Nkrumah was born on September 21, 1909, in Nkroful, Gold Coast (now Ghana), and shepherded the country in its struggle for independence from Great Britain. He went on to be named life president of both the nation and his party, until the army and police in Ghana seized power in 1966 and he found asylum in Guinea.

Though he died almost four decades ago, Haile Selassie's legacy remains strong and valid.
"Faces of Africa" sought to unearth the events and memories of the man who dared to confront The League of Nations, now UN, pleading for their support in conquering the Italians who were preparing to attack Ethiopia.

Winnie Mandela, a freedom fighter and the ex-wife of the late former South African president Nelson Mandela. Loved by many for her struggle to free her husband but on the other side disputed because of complicity for murder. Now more than 20 years on after her husband's release from prison, she seems to be forgiven and certainly not forgotten. But will her legacy go down as a black saint or sinner? Faces of Africa investigates on who Winnie Mandela really is...

27 years on and Thomas Sankara's legacy still lives on. Sankara was a profound leader with deep love for his country, Burkina Faso. But he would not live long enough to see his vision change his country for better. He was assassinated. "Faces of Africa" takes you through Sankara's journey and how his ideas have stuck in the minds of the young generation, now seeking to resuscitate the country's economic and political status.

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A President, a military commander, revolutionary socialist and a member of Frelimo soldiers, Samora Machel from Mozambique. Faces of Africa takes you through his battles and struggles in life.

Olusegun Obasanjo popularly known as Chief Obasanjo is the former president of Nigeria. He served for two terms. Before becoming a president he served in the army and played a key role in the Biafran War. He is also known for ending the existence of coup regimes in Nigeria.