Andy Mazoka: Zambian politician and engineer Many Zambians know the late Anderson Kambela Mazoka as a leading opposition party leader who initiated the United Party for National Development (UPND). Little do they know that the politician was also an engineer credited as the designer of the first wind tunnel that was exhibited globally.
1993 - AKM & wife Mutinta at Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Annual Garden Tea Party.
1983 – Anderson K. Mazoka (AKM) in Schenectady NY
Anderson working during his Secondary School holiday at Central African Railway Systems (CARS).
2001 - Andy & Mutinta Christine Mazoka with Christine King Farris (Sister of the Late Martin Luther King Jr.) at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georiga.
His surviving family believes that success through hard work was important to Mazoka and that as a young child he was consumed by a love for reading. The family also fondly remembers him as a reliable, intelligent, generous, hard-working, energetic and charismatic man.
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Mazoka was born in Monze, Zambia on 22 March 1943 and died on 24 May 2006. His Father was a Peasant Farmer and his Mother died when he was seven years old. He worked briefly in Zambia before leaving for the United States of America for further studies and work graduating from
Union College New York in 1969 with a BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering. His senior thesis saw him design and build a wind tunnel in just 10 weeks marking him out as a gifted student. The tunnel dubbed “Mazoka Wind Tunnel” filled the basement of the Science and Engineering department and was used for the next three decades – attracting widespread media attention. Returning to Zambia in the 1970s with his engineering degree, Mazoka entered the business community and started as Assistant Mechanical Engineer at Zambian Railways in 1971 and became GM in 1976. In just two years, former president Kenneth Kaunda who realised his potential elevated him to general manager - a plum job that gave him heavy responsibilities. His genius saw him enter the international company Anglo American where he worked for 18 years becoming Managing Director of the Central African division for the last 10 years. He was also once the influential head of the Zambian Tourism Bureau, which saw him reach an agreement with a South African