Lusaka - Zambia's cabinet met Wednesday to make arrangements for President Levy Mwanawasa's state funeral as tributes continued to pour in for the man referred to by some in Zambia as the "people's president."

Mwanawasa, 59, who was renowned for his anti-corruption crusade and criticism of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, died in a military hospital in Paris after suffering a massive stroke in Egypt in late June.

South African President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday followed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, US President George W Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, African Union commission chief Jean Ping and other leaders in expressing his condolences.

"The government and people of South Africa and indeed the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC) region are deeply saddened to learn of the untimely death of our brother and leader President Mwanawasa," Mbeki who took over as SADC chairman from Mwanawasa at a weekend summit said in a statement.

SADC would miss his "invaluable contribution to the region's political and economic development," Mbeki said.

China's Foreign Ministry also sent condolences and emphasized the strong ties between the two countries. Chinese firms have invested heavily in copper mining in Zambia, Africa's largest copper producer.

The burly lawyer's death was the main talking point on the streets of the capital Lusaka, where shops, banks and businesses opened as normal. "Levy is dead," the Daily Mail newspaper announced simply in its front-page headline.

"Mwanawasa was a people's president," a Roman Catholic priest from the Copperbelt town of Ndola told a radio phone-in programme.

As part of the seven-day period of mourning announced by acting president Rupiah Banda Tuesday parliamentary business was suspended.

"This is a sorrowful day and sad time for our country, I therefore ask all of you to join the nation in calm, courageous and prayerful manner," National Assembly speaker Amusa Mwanamwambwa said.

The death of the man hailed as Africa's Mr Integrity has left a power vacuum in the former British colony, with no one person tipped to succeed him as head of the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD).

Vice-president Rupiah Banda became acting president on his death, in accordance with the constitution, but there are other figures who could emerge to challenge him for the party leadership before elections, which the constitution says must be held within 90 days of the president's death.

Opposition Patriotic Front leader Michael Sata, who was shopping at a downtown pharmacy, said the succession debate should be held over until after his funeral.

"All Zambians should keep calm and give the government the chance to mourn our departed president with dignity," Sata told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa.)