List of Zambians

Last updated February 26, 2025

This is a list of famous or notable Zambians, or people of Zambian descent, or people who have influenced Zambia listed in the following categories, and in no particular order:

Businesspeople

Politics

Politicians

Presidents

Kenneth David Kaunda – President – 1964–1991
Frederick Titus Jacob Chiluba – President – 1991–2001
Levy Patrick Mwanawasa – President – 2001–2008
Rupiah Bwezani Banda – President – 2008–2011
Michael Chilufya Sata – President – 2011–2014
Dr. Guy Scott – Acting President – October 2014–January 2015
Edgar Lungu – President – 2015–2021
Hakainde Hichilema – President – 2021–Current

Vice presidents

Reuben Chitandika Kamanga – Vice President – 1964–1967
Simon Kapwepwe – Vice President – 1967–1970
Mainza Mathias Chona – Vice President – 1970–1973
(post abolished thereafter and reintroduced in 1991)
Levy Patrick Mwanawasa – Vice President – 1991–1994
Godfrey Miyanda – Vice President – 1994–1997
Christon Tembo – Vice President – 1997–2001
Enoch P. Kavindele – Vice President – 2001–2003
Nevers Mumba – Vice President – 2003–2004
Lupando Katoloshi Mwape – Vice President – 2004–2006
Rupiah Bwezani Banda – Vice President – 2006–2008
George Kunda – Vice President – 2008–2011
Dr. Guy Scott – Vice President – 2011–2014
Inonge Wina – Vice President – 2015–2021
Mutale Nalumango – Vice President – 2021–Current

Prime ministers

Mainza Chona – Prime Minister, 1973–1975, 1977–1978
Elijah Mudenda – Prime Minister, 1975–1977
Daniel Lisulo – Prime Minister, 1978–1981
Nalumino Mundia – Prime Minister, 1981–1985
Kebby Musokotwane – Prime Minister, 1985–1989, Secretary-General, UNIP 1989–1991, Opposition President, 1992
Malimba Masheke – Prime Minister, 1989–1991 (post abolished thereafter)

Others

Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika – former minister/democratic campaigner
Anderson Mazoka – former opposition leader (1998–2006)
Austin Liato – former minister/labour leader, former Pan-African Parliament MP
Besa Mumba – youngest female commercial pilot
Besnat Jere – former Pan-African Parliament MP
Chibesa Kankasa – Zambian freedom fighter and politician^[1]
Crispin Shumina – former MP, former Pan-African Parliament MP
Dickson Jere – former Special Assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations, under Rupiah Banda
Edward Makuka Nkoloso – former director of Zambia National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy
Elias Chipimo Jnr – retired opposition leader
Gladys Nyirongo – former Lands Minister
Hakainde Hichilema – opposition leader (2006–2021 (Became president))
Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika – diplomat, former UNICEF Regional Adviser for Africa, Presidential Candidate (2001)
Kabinga Pande – former Foreign Affairs Minister
Kalombo Mwansa – former Foreign Affairs Minister
Luke Mwananshiku – former Finance Minister
M. K. Mubanga – former Pan-African Parliament MP
Mundia Sikatana – former Justice Minister
Ompie Nkumbula-Lieventhal – former MP, former Pan-African Parliament MP
Patrick Anthony Mwewa Chikusu – Deputy Minister of Health in the Republic of Zambia
Peter Daka – Minister of science and technology, former Pan-African Parliament MP
Ronnie Shikapwasha – former Information Minister
Susan Nakazwe – former Mayor of Lusaka
Thokozile Muwamba – first female fighter pilot
Vaughan Gething - former First Minister of Wales
Nina Tapula, Zambia's first female military pilot

Traditional rulers

Chieftainships are listed here. These articles cover all holders of the traditional titles; prominent individual holders may also have their own articles, usually in People in the History of Zambia below.

Other notable traditional leaders include:

Religious figures

Emmanuel Milingo – Christian leader, has established the 'Married Priests Now' organisation in the USA
Adrian Mung'andu – Catholic archbishop of Lusaka

Sports

Footballers

Athletes

Boxers

Other sports

Corné Krige captain of South African rugby Springbok world cup
Ellis Chibuye
Felix Bwalya
George Gregan captain of Australian rugby team
Madalitso Muthiya
Obed Mutanya
PG Nana
Samuel Matete world champion 400m hurdles
Yunus Badat
Amon Simutowe
Bob Hesford England rugby
Daffyd James Wales rugby
Phil Edmonds England cricket
Neal Radford England cricket
Jeff Whitley Northern Ireland football
Robert Earnshaw Wales football
Ian McCallum South Africa rugby Springbok
Roy McCallum South Africa rugby Springbok
Satwant Singh International rally driver
Steve Arneil youngest ever international rugby player aged 16 and karate expert

Artists

Musicians

Backxwash, Zambian-Canadian rapper
Denise Chaila, Irish and Zambian rapper, singer, poet, grime, and hip hop artist
Matthew Ngosa
Paul Ngozi, musician, band leader of the Ngozi Family rock band
Sampa The Great, singer, rapper, songwriter
Yo Maps

Authors

Chess players

Amon Simutowe

Zambian lawyers

Likando Kalaluka - Attorney General of the republic of Zambia from 2015 to 2021
Chipokota Mwanawasa - Special Assistant to the Zambian President for Public Policy from 2021 to date.
Nelly Mutti
Bokani Soko - Prominent business and lawyer

Media and TV

Jonah Buyoya - Zambian journalist
Mary Mbewe - Zambian journalist, and executive editor^[2]
Smokey Haangala - Zambian journalist, poet, writer, composer, musician^[3]

Physicians

Aaron Mujajati
Natasha Salifyanji Kaoma, medical doctor, and organization founder^[4]

Other people born in/related to Zambia

Steve Arneil – Karate Kyokushin practitioner born in South Africa, but lived in Zambia
Joseph and Luka Banda – Conjoined twins
Lukwesa Burak – Sky News anchor based in London
Norman Carr – British wildlife conservationist who set up national parks in Zambia
John Edmond – Zambian-born Rhodesian singer
Phil Edmonds – English cricketer born in Lusaka
Robert Earnshaw – Zambian-born Welsh international football player
Stanley Fischer – Zambian-born Deputy Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and Governor of the Bank of Israel
Tawny Gray – sculptor
George Gregan – Zambian-born captain of the Australian Wallabies Rugby Union team
Amy Holmes – Zambian-born (Zambian father, American mother), The Blaze news anchor and CNN political contributor
Daffyd James – Zambian-born Welsh international rugby player
V. M. Jones – Author
Arthur Kalaluka – military officer
Corné Krige – Zambian-born South African Springboks Rugby Union team captain
Robert Lange – Zambian-born record producer and songwriter
Chilu Lemba – Radio and TV presenter
Rozalla Miller – British/Zimbabwean singer born to a Zambian mother
Dambisa Moyo – International economist and best-selling author, born and raised in Lusaka
Martin Mubanga – Zambian extrajudicial prisoner of the United States
Monica Musonda – Lawyer turned entrepreneur
Rungano Nyoni – Zambian-born Welsh director
Nsofwa Petronella Sampa – Psychological counselor and HIV activist
Emeli Sandé – British singer, Zambian father
Denise Scott Brown – Zambian-born American architect
David Shepherd – British conservationist who has painted Zambian wildlife
Kapelwa Sikota (1928–2006) – First Zambian registered nurse
Hammerskjoeld Simwinga – Conservationist/environmentalist
Peter Amos Siwo – Pioneering graduate and civil servant
Wilbur Smith – Zambian-born (Ndola) British/South African author
Jeff Whitley – Zambian-born played for Northern Ireland

Other prominent figures in the history of Zambia

This is a list of deceased historical figures (or sub-lists of them) in Zambia and its antecedent territories, and combines Zambians, Africans and non-Zambians including British people and Northern Rhodesians.^{[ citation needed ]}

Robert Edward Codrington – colonial administrator of the two territories ruled by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) which later became Zambia
Father Jean-Jacques Corbeil – Canadian missionary and ethnographer of Bemba culture
Dan Crawford – missionary pioneer
Bishop Joseph Dupont – missionary pioneer
Sir Stewart Gore-Browne – called Chipembele by Africans, soldier, pioneer white settler, builder, politician and supporter of independence in Northern Rhodesia
List of governors of Northern Rhodesia
List of governors-general of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Evelyn Dennison Hone – last governor of Northern Rhodesia
Alice Lenshina – leader of the Lumpa religious sect
General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck – leader of German East Africa forces of World War I
Lewanika – Litunga of the Lozi
David Livingstone – British Scottish missionary-explorer
Michael Mataka – first native Zambian to become police commissioner
Mwata Kazembe – Chief of the Kazembe-Lunda
Mpezeni – warrior-king of one of the largest Ngoni groups of central Africa
Nalumino Mundia – Prime Minister, 1981–1985
Alick Nkhata – popular Zambian musician and broadcaster in the 1950s through to the mid-1970s
Baldwin Nkumbula
Harry Nkumbula – Nationalist leader who assisted in the struggle for the independence of Northern Rhodesia from British colonialism
Mwene Chitengi Chiyengele – Mbunda chief who led his tribesmen from north-eastern Angola to Bulozi, western Zambia around 1795.
Cecil Rhodes – English-born businessman, mining magnate, and politician in South Africa and an ardent believer in colonialism and imperialism, founder of the state of Rhodesia
Sebetwane – Basotho chief who fled from Shaka Zulu, eventually conquering and settling in Western Province
Mamochisane – daughter of Sebetwane, succeeded him as Makololo queen
Sekeletu – Makololo King of Barotseland in western Zambia from about 1851 to his death in 1863
Alfred Sharpe – British administrator and agent for Cecil Rhodes
Lawrence Aubrey Wallace
Roy Welensky – leader of white trade union and settler politician
Rohan Oza creator of Vitamin Water in the US, sold to Coke a cola

References

↑ "Freedom Fighter and Politician Mama Chibesa Kankasa has died". Lusaka Times. 29 October 2018.
↑ Caroline Wafula (8 September 2020). "Zambian Editor Mary Mbewe Wins Media Leadership Award". Daily Nation. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
↑ Chanda, Davies M.M (2014-08-15). "Smokey Haangala remembered". Times of Zambia .
↑ "Skoll | Faith Kaoma". skoll.org. Retrieved 2018-10-05.

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[LT-1] "Freedom Fighter and Politician Mama Chibesa Kankasa has died". Lusaka Times. 29 October 2018.

[2] Caroline Wafula (8 September 2020). "Zambian Editor Mary Mbewe Wins Media Leadership Award". Daily Nation. Retrieved 6 March 2021.

[times.co.zm-3] Chanda, Davies M.M (2014-08-15). "Smokey Haangala remembered". Times of Zambia .

[4] "Skoll | Faith Kaoma". skoll.org. Retrieved 2018-10-05.

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