Simon Kapwepwe: Difference between revisions

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 [[Nchanga|Chingola district]]), and then a teacher at Wusakile Primary School in [[Kitwe]].