10 Things You Didn’t Know About Reuben Chitandika Kamanga
The Zambian liberation freedom fighter, politician and statesman Reuben Chitandika Kamanga was born on the 2nd of August in 1929.
He was educated at Munali Secondary School.
Kamanga was imprisoned several times during the independence struggle especially during the period 1959–60.
In 1958 Kamanga along with other senior males from the Eastern Province joined the United National Independence party (UNIP).
Reuben later went to live in Cairo from 1960–1962.
Before Zambia’s independence he served as the deputy president of the United National Independence Party and as Minister of Labour and Mines.
Following the attainment of independence on 24th, October 1964, Kamanga was appointed and became Zambia’s first Vice-President under President Kenneth Kaunda. As the country’s first Vice President, He served for three years before Kenneth Kaunda changed him to serve in a different cabinet post.
In 1983 Reuben was appointed to the Central Committee in charge of Rural Development.
He retired from politics in 1991 following the political defeat of UNIP to the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD).
Kamanga later died on 20 September at his home in 1996. In October 2014, the Kamanga family wrote a letter to the Zambia Government asking them to rename the Chipata District hospital after Ruben Kamanga, saying that he deserves to have something in his name for how influential he was during the fight for independence.