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

  • Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba
  • Saviour Chibiya
  • Hakainde Hichilema
  • Rajan Mahtani
  • Sylvia Masebo
  • Clever Mpoha
  • Susan Mulikita

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
  • 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:

  • Chitimukulu
  • Mwata Kazembe
  • Chief Kanongesha
  • Chief Monze
  • Litunga
  • Paramount Chief Mpezeni
  • Chief Mporokoso

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

Authors

  • Dambisa Moyo
  • Field Ruwe
  • Binwell Sinyangwe
  • Wilbur Smith
  • Ellen Banda-Aaku
  • Namwali Serpell
  • Fwanyanga Mulikita
  • Kenneth Kaunda
  • Andrew Kaumba

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
  • Smokey Haangala - Zambian journalist, poet, writer, composer, musician

Physicians

  • Aaron Mujajati
  • Natasha Salifyanji Kaoma, medical doctor, and organization founder

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.

  • 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

See also

  • History of Zambia
  • List of Zambia-related topics
  • List of Mbunda Chiefs in Zambia

References


Zambian Tribes

6 Zambian Traditional foods you must try Zambian Kitchen Egyptian

Zambia Nshima Zambian food, African food, Food

Zambia People Zambian People African States, African Men, Tres Belle

The Zambian People