George Mwanza, the young mayor of Chipata, Zambia, has urged South African youth not to miss opportunities to make a difference in local government by being candidates in next year’s municipal elections.

Mwanza was 27 when he swept into office in the eastern Zambian city, on the border with Malawi, in 2021 as an independent candidate full of promises of change.

He became Zambia’s youngest mayor and the first to be elected independent of a political party since the country gained its independence in 1964.

Mwanza was rejected by the ruling party at the time, the Patriotic Front led by Edgar Lungu, the former president of Zambia, who died earlier this month in Tshwane.

“I was the first independent mayor. I was clearly rejected by the political party system. They said I was too young to be a mayor of a city for that matter, but the people gave me the vote through direct vote – one man, one vote,” Mwanza said on the sidelines of the two-day U20 African Mayors’ Assembly at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research in Tshwane this week.

According to Mwanza, he was told he was too young and could not be mayor, and other small parties approached him, but he had the resolve to work for the people independently.

He explained that in Zambia, the voting system allows registered citizens to vote for their preferred leader or mayor, enabling any young person with a dream to run for elections and gain citizen support.

Mwanza is proud to continue representing not only the citizens of Chipata but also the young African people hopeful for youth leadership and to be given an opportunity to lead in their various countries.

“South Africa needs young people in leadership, especially in local government, which interfaces with the challenges of the citizens every day. It requires young people with energy, fresh ideas to innovate at the grassroots level and drive change from the grassroots,” explained Mwanza, who studied at the Zambian Open University, University of Lusaka, and internationally in Amsterdam.

He encouraged young people in South Africa to run and take advantage of the 2026 local government elections and offer themselves for leadership.

“Africa needs them, it needs their innovation and energy. There is a lot of work in local government, it requires young people who can run 24/7. There is no holiday in local government,” Mwanza added.

He believes local government and cities are the engines of transformation for African economies and for countries on the continent.

Mwanza understands his responsibility does not end and stop with Chipata but also to send a voice to the African continent to entrust leadership to young people who can drive fresh ideas, innovation, and people-centred leadership.

“And this is what is so important about my election. We are working extremely hard to ensure that we provide services, embrace innovation, and young people and women with traditional knowledge on how they wish to address various challenges they face in entrepreneurship and how their daily lives can be improved,” he said.

The son of a local marketeer mother and a peasant farmer, Mwanza said seeing his parents experience injustice from those who are powerful politically sparked his interest in high office.

“So when I was growing up, I said I needed to be in a position of leadership so that I could protect those who are weak in society, so that is the desire to lead that started when I was young,” he remembered.

However, the other issue was the incapacity of the municipality to provide sanitation facilities for traders while collecting resources such as daily levies and so on.

“So I said, when I become a mayor and I’m able to provide, I’m going to provide sanitation facilities. I didn’t know that I would be the mayor, but I wanted to be in a position of leadership.” 

He said he decided to work on a three to four-year plan with the community, mobilise young people, and tell them that they also needed to participate in shaping the future.

And that is how he ended up planning to run as an independent, simply volunteering in communities with a local NGO supporting citizens to claim their right to development.

“That is what we were doing every day, and that gave me a lot of traction and direct contact with the citizens,” stated Mwanza.

In Chipata, Mwanza’s primary role is to make sure citizens can access services that they are duly entitled to from the municipality easily in the comfort of their homes.

“That is the reason why three years ago, we introduced the digital system for billing processes (so that) people can receive whatever notices and bills, or responsibilities that they have to contribute to their city, right in the comfort of their homes on their phones,” he said.

The service is available in both English and Ngoni, and it does not matter whether residents have big or small phones, but they are able to receive reminders, according to Mwanza.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za

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