Jean Kapata (born 25 December 1960) is a Zambian politician and former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.
Kapata worked as a theatre nurse before being elected to represent the Mandevu constituency at the 2006 election for the Patriotic Front. She was re-elected in 2011 and 2016. [1] [2]
Kapata served as Deputy Minister of Community Development, Mother & Child Health. On 2 October 2009, she was arrested with nine other Patriotic Front MPs after they protested the acquittal of former president Frederick Chiluba with car honks and whistles. They were released on 7 October. [3]
In 2014, Kapata was appointed by President Michael Sata as Minister for Tourism and Arts. [4] Under her tenure, the ban on big-game hunting cats in Zambia was lifted. [5] [6] In response to the international media attention surrounding the killing of Cecil the lion in neighbouring Zimbabwe, Kapata said, "the West seemed more concerned with the welfare of a lion in Zimbabwe than of Africans themselves." [7] [8]
Kapata was a member of the Zambia delegation to the United Nations 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2016. [9] In the lead up to the August 2016 election Kapata received death threats and her driver was attacked by armed men demanding to know where she was. [10] The MMD candidate for her constituency, Mary Phiri, accused Kapata of sending people to attack her campaign team. [11] On 27 September 2016, she became Minister for Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. [12] She was also the Patriotic Front's Chairperson for Elections. [13] [14]
Kapata is married and is a mother and grandmother. [11] In 2013, First Lady Christine Kaseba officiated the wedding of Kapata's daughter. [15]