Background
John Mwanakatwe was born on November 1, 1926, son of a works foreman in government building, at Chinsali, Northern Province. Moved to Lusaka in 1928.
John Mwanakatwe was born on November 1, 1926, son of a works foreman in government building, at Chinsali, Northern Province. Moved to Lusaka in 1928.
Educated at Munali Secondary School then sent in 1941 at his elder brother’s expense to Adam’s College, Natal, South Africa.
After obtaining his teacher's diploma he left Adam’s College in December 1948 to teach at Munali Secondary School. He continued his studies and achieved his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History in December 1950. Despite his degree he was paid only 60% of what a European teacher with the same qualifications earned. He protested but failed to change the system. He left in July 1957 to become headmaster at Kasama High School. In July 1960 he became the first African education officer at Livingstone.
He entered government service in an unprecedented way on his appointment in June 1961 as Assistant Commissioner for Northern Rhodesia in London. A year later he returned to prepare his election campaign as an Upper Roll candidate at Luapula in the Northern Province. He was the only African to capture an Upper Roll seat from a White. In the coalition government formed by UNIP and ANC he became Parliamentary Secretary for Labour and Mines from December 1962 to January 1964.
At the elections in January 1964 he was returned unopposed as MP for Mweru in the north and was appointed the Minister of Education. In his spare time he pursued his legal studies which he began in London and passed his bar finals for a Law degree in November 1964.
In September 1967 he became Minister of Lands and Mines. He was returned unopposed to Parliament for Kawambwa in December 1968. In February 1969 he was given the newly-created post of Secretary-General to the government with .ministerial rank as a special adviser to President Kaunda. It was a measure of his esteem that Mwanakatwe was transferred to be Minister of Finance at a crucial period when a policy of austerity had to be imposed.
National.
Pillar of the Kaunda governments ever since independence in 1964. Former teacher and educationist with a record of firsts: first African from Northern Rhodesia to gain a university degree, first African headmaster at Kasama, first African education officer. Dependable with an official brief as Finance Minister but more at ease in education circles than in the world of international finance. A stocky friendly figure who neither smokes nor drinks alcohol.
Married Margaret Chipawpata in 1952.