Johannesburg - Zambia’s new President Edgar Lungu is in Joburg for medical tests and possible surgery for a condition which he said could prove fatal if not treated immediately.
He arrived on Tuesday and was due to have a specialist medical examination today.
The SABC interviewed Lungu at Milpark Hospital on Tuesday and reported he had been admitted.
However, Zambian officials insisted he was just visiting a former MP colleague of his and that he had returned to his hotel in Pretoria on Tuesday night.
They said that he would consult a doctor elsewhere today.
Lungu, who was elected last year after his predecessor Michael Sata died in office, was remarkably frank about his health in the interview with the SABC.
He looked well as he talked to the reporter and said he felt fine and could continue working.
“But you can’t take these things for granted because what they detect could prove fatal in the near future or far future. So they (the doctors) think it’s better to seize it in time.”
Lungu fell ill while addressing a meeting in Zambia on Sunday and was hospitalised. Officials said he was suffering from a narrowing of his oesophagus, which carries food from the mouth to the stomach that needed to be treated urgently.
Independent Foreign Service