Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe was born on 12 April 1922 in the Chinsali district of the Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia.
He started his primary education in Chinsali.
Kapwepwe 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 thus in 1944 he became driver at the Public Works Department.
Simon in 1945 became a primary school teacher at Lubwa.
Therefore in June 1948 he became an Assistant Welfare Officer with the Kitwe Municipal Council, location Chingola district.
Simon Kapwepwe became the country’s second vice-president.
Due to his dissatisfaction with the policies of the colonial Northern Rhodesian government, he became a founding member of the Northern Rhodesian African Congress in 1948.
Kapwepwe turned his back on politics and went to live on his farm in Chinsali. In the spirit of national unity, Kaunda asked Kapwepwe to return to UNIP in September 1977, which he did.
He died on 26 January 1980, after suffering from a stroke two days earlier.