Rupiah Banda

Rupiah Banda married Hope Mwansa Makulu, in 1966 and had three sons with her. Hope died of breast cancer in 2000 and he was devastated by the loss of his beloved wife.

He then met Thandiwe, a political science teacher, more than 30 years his junior. The couple went ahead with their relationship in spite of the huge age gap and got married. His second wife bore him a set of fraternal twins.

He has two sons from previous relationships in addition to the children from his two marriages.

Rupiah Banda was born on 13 February 1937 in the town of Miko, Gwanda, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to Zambian migrant workers. His parents, Bwezani and Sarah Banda, had come to Zimbabwe in search of job opportunities.

He spent his childhood in Zimbabwe where he was initially sponsored by a local Dutch Reformed Church preacher and later by the family of B. R. Naik who helped him financially and enabled him to get a good education. The Naiks were prominent political activists and because of their association, Rupiah too became interested in politics from a young age.

He received his secondary education from Munali Secondary School where he proved to be a bright student. While at Munali, he became a member of the Zambian African National Congress (ZANC) headed by the late Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula.

He earned a scholarship to study at the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Here too he excelled academically and received a scholarship from the International Union of Students to study Economic History at Sweden’s prestigious Lund University and earned the equivalent of a Bachelors degree in 1964.

His interest in politics increased with time and eventually he became disillusioned with the ZANC’s moderate approach and left it to join the youth wing of Kenneth Kaunda’s United National Independence Party (UNIP).

Rupiah Banda began his diplomatic career as Ambassador to Egypt, a role he served in until 1967. This job was a very enriching experience for him as he gained invaluable experience in diplomacy and conflict resolution.

He became Ambassador to the United States in April 1967 and held this post for the next two years before he returned to Zambia to accept appointment as the Chief Executive of the Rural Development Corporation.

He embarked on his commercial career in 1970 when he was appointed as the General Manager of the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBOARD) a forerunner to today’s Food Reserve Agency.

He also served as the General Manager of the Rural Development Corporation until 1974. During his tenure as the General Manager, he contributed towards the development of agriculture in the country.

He was made Zambia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York in 1974. During this period he also served as Chairman on the UN Council for Namibia. After about a year at the U.N., he was appointed to the Zambian Cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1975-76).

As president, Rupiah Banda gave priority to economic development of Zambia. Towards this end, he made efforts to promote Zambian trade with other countries.