Nakatindi Yeta Nganga

Nakatindi Yeta Nganga (1922–1972)[1] was a Lozi aristocrat and Zambian politician. Jointly one of the first women elected to the National Assembly, she was also the country's first female junior minister.

Nakatindi Yeta Nganga
Member of the National Assembly for Nalikwanda
In office 1964–1968
Preceded by	Seat created
Succeeded by	Morgan Simwinji
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labor and Social Development
In office 1965–1966
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mines and Co-operatives
In office 1966–1967
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Co-operatives, Youth and Social Development
In office 1967–1968
Member of the House of Chiefs
In office 1968–1972
Personal details
Born	1922 Lealui, Northern Rhodesia
Died	1972
Political party	UNIP

Biography

Nakatindi was born in Lealui; her father was Yeta III, the Litunga of Barotseland. She attended the Tiger Kloof Educational Institute in South Africa, and between 1952 and 1964 she served on the Mongu-Lealui District Education Authority.[1] She was the first well-known woman in Barotseland to join UNIP,[1] and was the first Director of the UNIP Women's Brigade, a position she held until losing to Maria Nankolongo in internal elections in 1967.[2] She contested the 1962 Legislative Council elections in the Zambezi national constituency,[3] but was defeated by Job Michello of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress.

In the 1964 general elections, Nakatindi ran in the Nalikwanda constituency and was elected to the Legislative Council, which became the National Assembly upon independence later in the year. Alongside Margret Mbeba and Ester Banda, she was a member of the first group of women to be elected to the legislature.[4] She went on to become Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labor and Social Development in 1966,[1] the first woman to hold a junior ministerial position.[5] The following year she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mines and Co-operatives, before becoming Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Co-operatives, Youth and Social Development in 1967.[1]

Nakatindi remained a member of the National Assembly until losing her seat to Zambian African National Congress in the 1968 elections.[1] She then became a member of the House of Chiefs and governor of Sesheke District, positions in which she served until her death in 1972.[1]

Her daughter Nakatindi Wina, one of 11 children,[1] later also served as an MP and minister.[6]

References

1. Wim van Binsbergen (1987) Chiefs and the state in independent Zambia Journal of Legal Pluralism
2. Lubosi Kikamba (2012) The role of women's organisations in the political development of Zambia, 1964-2001: A case study of the UNIP Women's League and the Zambia National Women's Lobby Group University of Zambia
3. Alexander Grey Zulu (2007) The memoirs of Alexander Grey Zulu, Times Printpak Zambia, p228
4. Mbuyo Nalumango and Monde Sifuniso (1998) Woman power in politics, Zambia Women Writers Association, p48
5. Kamini Krishna & Friday E. Mulenga (2004) Contribution of Zambian Women and Indian Women to the Struggle for Freedom: A legend of Courage and Compassion ‘African Renewal, African Renaissance’: New Perspectives on Africa’s Past and Africa’s Present
6. Zambia: Women of substance: Their stories told Times of Zambia, 10 June 1998