Vera Tembo (born July 25, 1953) is a

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

n politician and member of the

Movement for Multi-Party Democracy The Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) also known as New Hope MMD is a political party in Zambia. Originally formed to oust the previous government, MMD controlled an absolute majority in parliament between 1991 and 2001, when its past lead ...

(MMD). She served as the

First Lady of Zambia First Lady of Zambia is the title attributed to the wife of the president of Zambia. Zambia's current first lady is Mutinta Hichilema, who has held the office since 24 August 2021. The first lady of Zambia plays the ceremonial role of the spous ...

from 1991 until her separation from her former husband,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Frederick Chiluba Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (30 April 1943 – 18 June 2011) was a Zambian politician who was the second president of Zambia from 1991 to 2002. Chiluba, a trade union leader, won the country's multi-party presidential election in 1991 as th ...

, in 2001. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, she made her political comeback by being elected to the

National Assembly of Zambia The National Assembly is Zambia's unicameral legislative body. Between 1972 and 1990, Zambia was a one-party state with the United National Independence Party (UNIP) as the sole legal party. The current National Assembly, formed following elect ...

from Kasenengwa constituency.

Biography

Tembo was married to

, with whom she had nine children, for thirty-three years, until he announced their separation in 2000. Chiluba became

President of Zambia The president of Zambia is the head of state and the head of government of Zambia. The office was first held by Kenneth Kaunda following independence in 1964. Since 1991, when Kaunda left the presidency, the office has been held by seven othe ...

in 1991, making Tembo the country's

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

from 1991 until their divorce. Tembo left the State House, the presidential residence, shortly after Chiluba's announcement and moved in with family in

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...

. Their divorce became final on September 25, 2001, when an

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within Law, secular and Religious law, religious legal systems for declaring a marriage Void (law), null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually ex post facto law, retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is c ...

was granted by a local court in Ndola after thirty-three years of marriage. Vera Tembo described the circumstances of her separation and divorce from Chiluba as "humiliating." She campaigned during the 2001 general election by urging Zambian women to vote in the election. She also signaled her intention to enter politics. Chiluba left office in December 2001 after failing to win support for a third presidential term, which was banned by the country's

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. Former President

married his girlfriend, Regina Mwanza, in 2002, a few months after his divorce from Tembo was finalized. By early 2002, Zambian newspapers reported that Tembo was living in poverty after Chiluba had allegedly frozen her

bank account A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transactions between the bank and a customer are recorded. Each financial institution sets the terms and conditions for each type o ...

. She filed a $2.5 U.S. dollar

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against Chiluba as part of the divorce settlement. The Zambian government offered Tembo financial assistance in May 2002 after she listed her personal possessions in an

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

. In 2006, Tembo ran for the Kasenengwa constituency seat in the

as a Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) candidate. She won the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

and became the first woman to represent Kasenengwa, a largely rural seat in her home Eastern Province, in the National Assembly. In October 2006, shortly after the election, President

Levy Mwanawasa Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (3 September 1948 – 19 August 2008) was the third president of Zambia. He served as president from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. Mwanawasa is credited with having initiated a campaign to rid the corrupti ...

appointed Tembo as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources in his

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. Vera Tembo, who was re-appointed as Deputy Minister by Mwanawasa's successor, President

Rupiah Banda Rupiah Bwezani Banda (19 February 1937 – 11 March 2022) was a Zambian politician who served as the fourth president of Zambia from 2008 to 2011, taking over from Levy Mwanawasa, who died as the sitting president. Banda was an active participant ...

, held the ministry portfolio from 2006 until 2011, when she left the National Assembly. In 2010, Tembo oversaw the relocation of

black rhinoceros The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis'') is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania ...

es to

North Luangwa National Park North Luangwa National Park is a national park in Zambia, the northernmost of the three in the valley of the Luangwa River. Founded as a game reserve in 1938, it became a national park in 1972 and now covers 4,636 km². Like the South Luangw ...

and other natural areas of Zambia, citing the program as a boost to both the country's environment and the

tourism industry Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

. In March 2015, Vera Tembo announced that she had become a Christian

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and had founded a new church called the Healing International Ministry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tembo, Vera 1953 births Living people First Ladies of Zambia Members of the National Assembly of Zambia Movement for Multi-Party Democracy politicians People from Eastern Province, Zambia Women government ministers of Zambia 21st-century Zambian women politicians 21st-century Zambian politicians Zambian Christian religious leaders