Simon Kapwepwe
| Simon Kapwepwe | |
|---|---|
| Vice President of the Republic of Zambia | |
|
In office 1967–1970 |
|
| President | Kenneth Kaunda |
| Preceded by | Reuben Kamanga |
| Succeeded by | Mainza Chona |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
|
In office 1964–1967 |
|
| President | Kenneth Kaunda |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe 12 April 1922  Chinsali, Northern Rhodesia
|
| Died | 26 January 1980 (aged 57) Chinsali, Zambia
|
| Nationality |
Zambian
|
Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (April 12, 1922 – January 26, 1980) was the first vice-president of Zambia from 1967 to 1970.
Simon Kapwepwe was born on 12 April 1922 in the Chinsali district of the Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia (which then included the present day Luapula Province) . Although Chinsali was remote from the country's urban centres, it was an area of early educational development, because of the presence of two rival missions, the Presbyterian Livingstonia Mission of the United Free Church of Scotland(based at Lubwa (next to the Kolwe River from 1913) and the Roman Catholic White Fathers' Mission (based at Ilondola from 1934). Chinsali's first missionary was David Kaunda from Malawi, the father of Kenneth Kaunda (who became the first African Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia in 1963 and then the first president of Zambia in 1964). Simon Kapwepwe became the country's second vice-president. Kapwepwe started his primary education in Chinsali. He did his Standard 3 and 4 at Mwenzo, another mission of Livingstonia. In 1942 and 1943 he did his Standard 5 and 6 in Lubwa. In 1944 he became driver at the Public Works Department, and in 1945 a primary school teacher at Lubwa. In September 1947 he went to Tanganyika, looking for work, together with Kenneth Kaunda and John Malama Sokoni. In June 1948 he became an Assistant Welfare Officer with the Kitwe Municipal Council, location Chingola district), and then a teacher at Wusakile Primary School in Kitwe.
Due to his dissatisfaction with the policies of the colonial Northern Rhodesian government, he became a founding member of the Northern Rhodesian African Congress in 1948. This party was soon renamed the Africa National Congress (ANC) under the leadership of Harry Nkumbula. Kapwepwe was a member of the national executive and became secretary of the Kitwe Branch.
Kapwepwe secured an Indian Village Industrial Scholarship in 1950. He stayed in Bombay from 1950 to 1954, after studying Hindi in Nairobi. Subjects he studied were pottery and journalism. In October 1953 the Central African Federation (or the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) was created. The African majority's opposition to this new entity was organized by the ANC, but it was not very successful. On Kapwepwe's return to Northern Rhodesia in January 1955 he found the ANC leaderless, since both Harry Nkumbula and Kenneth Kaunda had been imprisoned for two months for distributing literature, considered subversive. Kapwepwe became then Acting President. When Nkumbula returned from prison, he appointed Kapwepwe to the position of Acting Provincial Organizer for Northern Province. In August 1956 Kapwepwe became Treasurer of the ANC, based in Lusaka.
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