Proflight Air Services flight PFZ705, a DHC-8-311, sustained serious damage after encountering a hail storm on a flight from Livingstone to Lusaka in Zambia. From the reporting point Kurma, the aircraft was met with significant weather. At 13:01 UTC the pilots requested a heading of 040ø to avoid it. After clearing the weather, which was indicated on the weather radar, they routed direct to the Non Directional Beacon ?Lima Whisky?. On descent, they checked for weather on the radar and no heavy precipitation was showing. However, the aircraft entered the cloud and visibility was reduced significantly. Passing through Flight Level 160 at a speed of 190 knots, they entered a storm and there was a sudden violent shake of the aircraft; the auto pilot disengaged and the cloud turned to a very dark grey colour with heavy banging of hail on the aircraft. They immediately executed a rapid descent; the windshield cracked and the Pilot Monitoring stated that they started losing aircraft systems as in Electrics, DC Gen 1, full rudder pressure and aircraft pressurisation. At 13:28 the aircraft safely landed at Lusaka. The cause(s) of the accident is attributed to:- a) Lack of appreciation by the cockpit crew of the Meteorological weather conditions prevailing in spite of the Meteorological aerodrome reports and forecast to the end that, the flight was routed directly into the Cumulonimbus storm rather than away from it. b) Commercial pressure could have contributed due to the 2 hours plus technical delay; the pilots chose a direct route which took the flight into the storm rather than to circumnavigate away from the storm. c) The pilot exhibited lack of good airmanship and judgment by failing to report the encounter of heavy turbulence to Air Traffic Control. This should have been done to contribute to the safety of flights from other aircraft by reporting the time, location and intensity of the encounter.