Zambia is a developing country, and it achieved middle-income status in 2011. Through the first decade of the 21st century, the economy of Zambia was one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, and its capital, Lusaka, the fastest-growing city in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Zambia's economic performance has stalled in recent years due to declining copper prices, significant fiscal deficits, and energy shortages. The economy has been reliant on mineral extraction since the 1920s, in particular copper.
The United Party for National Development (UPND) is a prominent political party in Zambia, founded in December 1998 by Anderson Mazoka, a former executive of the Anglo American Corporation. The party emerged as a significant opposition force following a split from the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD). The UPND positions itself as a centrist party with strong ideological commitments to social and economic liberalism, advocating for policies that support free-market principles, human rights, and democratic governance.
Anderson K. Mazoka was a Zambian politician and President of the United Party for National Development (UPND), the current ruling party.
Hakainde Hichilema is a Zambian businessman, farmer, and politician who is the seventh and current president of Zambia since 24 August 2021. After having contested five previous elections in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016, he won the 2021 presidential election with 59.02% of the vote. He has led the United Party for National Development since 2006 following the death of the party founder Anderson Mazoka.
The Cabinet of Zambia is the executive body of the government of Zambia, responsible for the administration and implementation of national policies and laws. Comprising ministers appointed by the President, the Cabinet advises the President on key issues and oversees various government departments and ministries. The Cabinet is led by the President and includes the Vice-President, who assists in coordinating government activities and representing the President in their absence. Each minister is responsible for a specific portfolio, such as health, education, or finance. Currently the Cabinet operates under the presidency of Hakainde Hichilema, who assumed office on August 24, 2021. The Cabinet plays a crucial role in shaping the country’s legislative agenda and ensuring effective governance.
Christine Kaseba is a Zambian physician, surgeon and politician who served as the First Lady of Zambia from September 2011 until her husband's death in October 2014. She is the widow of former President Michael Sata, who died in office on October 28, 2014. Kaseba made an unsuccessful bid for President of Zambia in the January 2015 special presidential election to succeed her husband. She was appointed Zambian Ambassador to France on April 16, 2018.
Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a Zambian politician who served as the sixth president of Zambia from 26 January 2015 to 24 August 2021. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. Following Sata's death in October 2014, Lungu was adopted as the candidate of the Patriotic Front in a Convention of the Patriotic Front in Kabwe, for the January 2015 presidential by-election, which was to determine who would serve out the remainder of Sata's term. In the election, he narrowly defeated opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema and took office on 25 January 2015.
Irene Chirwa Mambilima was the Chief Justice of Zambia from 2015 until her death in 2021. She also served as Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Zambia and presided over the 2006 and 2011 general elections and the January 2015 presidential by-election. She was part of several election observer missions including in Liberia, Kenya, Mozambique, and Seychelles. Her other international assignments included serving as Sessional Judge of the Supreme Court of The Gambia in 2003. Mambilima sat on the International Board of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) as a Director of the Africa Region. She was also a member of several professional associations including the Zambia Association of Women Judges, the Editorial Board Council of Law Reporting, the Child Fund (Zambia), Women in Law Southern Africa, and the Council of the Institution of Advanced Legal Education.
Sylvia Masebo is a Zambian entrepreneur, politician, and National Assembly of Zambia representative for Chongwe constituency with the United Party for National Development (UPND). Sylvia Masebo holds a degree in Banking and Finance. She first stood on the ticket of Zambian Republican Party (ZRP) in 2001, then the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) in 2003, then the Patriotic Front (PF) in 2011, and then the UPND in 2021.
Joseph Kalimbwe is a Zambian politician, author and activist. Previously, he was president of the African Union youth simulation in 2014 and president of the student representative council of the University of Namibia in 2017. He has written for the Namibian Sun, and has published three books including Persecuted in Search of Change in 2017, The Pain of An Empty Stomach in 2015 and Teenage-Hood & the Impact of the Western World in 2014.
Prime TV is a private television station in Lusaka, Zambia, that was founded, and first broadcast on 20 January 2013. Prime TV was critical of government activity in Zambia, which resulted in attempts from the government to close it. On 9 April 2020 it was closed by the Zambian government. Following Hakainde Hichilema elected as President of Zambia, Prime TV was reopened.
Princess Kasune Zulu is a Zambian politician and the member of the National Assembly of Zambia for Keembe since 2016. She is a prominent AIDS activist, the first National Assembly member to announce she was living with the condition.
General elections were held in Zambia on 12 August 2021 to elect the President, National Assembly, mayors, council chairs and councillors. Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development was elected president, defeating incumbent Edgar Lungu of the Patriotic Front.
Events in the year 2021 in Zambia.
The inauguration of Hakainde Hichilema as the 7th president of Zambia was held on 24 August 2021. President-elect Hichilema won by a landslide with over 996,000 votes between him and the Incumbent president Edgar Lungu who got 1,814, 201 votes in the August 2021 presidential election. Hakainde Hichilema took the oath alongside Mutale Nalumango as the Vice-president of Zambia. The venue for the inauguration was National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka. Attendance was supposed to be restricted to invited guests only due to the Covid-19 preventive protocols, but was later made open to the public resulting in a filled out stadium The day of the inauguration was declared a public holiday in Zambia by president Edgar Lungu.
Sean Enoch Tembo is a Zambian politician, certified accountant and president of the Patriots For Economic Progress political party. He participated in the 2021 presidential elections where he came out number thirteen out of sixteen candidates with a total of 1,813 votes representing 0.04%.
Kondwa Sakala-Chibiya is a Zambian lawyer and Vice Chair for the Human Rights Commission, and former President of SADC Lawyers Association. She is a board member of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, and currently serves as a member of the Judicial Service Commission, following her appointment by Hakainde Hichilema.
Sarah Sayifwanda was a Zambian politician who served as Minister of Gender and Development, Minister of Transport and Communication and Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives. She was also the Zambian representative to the African Union and Pan-African Parliament.
Elias Munshya is a Zambian lawyer, politician and diplomat who serves as Zambia's High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand. He was appointed by President Hakainde Hichilema to the position in 2023.
