Background
Newstead Zimba was born on February 9, 1937, at Lundazi, Eastern Province, near the Malawi border.
Newstead Zimba was born on February 9, 1937, at Lundazi, Eastern Province, near the Malawi border.
Educated from 1950 to 1956 at Eliphase Elementary School, Mankaka Primary School, Mwase Middle School and Chasefu Upper School. In 1957 he went to Katete Secondary School.
After a teacher training course at Katete he began teaching in 1959 at Kaloko Primary School and moved in 1962 to Fibobe Primary School. In 1965 he went to Ndola Main School where he became headmaster in 1967.
As a member of the United National Independence Party from 1960 and a member of the NUT since 1962, he has always been active on the political front. In 1971 he became full-time president of the NUT and later that year acting president of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions. He attended a conference of the International Labour Organisation at Geneva.
His forthright and, occasionally, brash style brought him into early conflict with the Minister of Labour and Social Services, Wilson Chakulya. On July 14, 1972, Chakulya accused him of stirring up trouble between the workers and the government by “repeated Press outbursts” and incitement to strike. Chakulya said: “It is a pity that his mouth is getting a little too big and the earlier he shuts up the better.” But Zimba with full backing from his members shrugs off such attacks.
Controversial trade union boss from the National Union of Teachers, often in clashes with the government. Not afraid to take on cabinet ministers even when they warn him to “shut up”. His vigorous defence of workers' rights has sometimes shown the government to be inept over industrial relations and at other times has exposed the unions’ weakness in collective bargaining. Off-duty he is an ardent football fan and a keen filmgoer.