Sylvia Masebo (born March 7, 1963) 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. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

n entrepreneur, politician, and

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 ...

representative for Chongwe constituency with the

United Party for National Development The United Party for National Development (UPND) is a political party in Zambia, founded in December 1998 by Anderson Mazoka, a former executive of the Anglo American Corporation. The party emerged as a significant opposition force following a ...

(UPND). Sylvia Masebo holds a degree in Banking and Finance. She first stood on the ticket of Zambian Republican Party (ZRP) in 2001, then 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) in 2006, then the Patriotic Front (PF) in 2011, and then the UPND in 2021. She is the current Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in Zambia. She previously held positions as the

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

on two occasions (2005 - 2006 and 2021 - 2024), as the Minister of Local Government on two occasions (2003 - 2005 and 2006 - 2008) and as the Minister of Tourism and Arts (2012 - 2014).

Political career

Sylvia Masebo came to public prominence in the 1990s as Deputy Mayor of

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

and MMD Deputy Treasurer. Even before the mass defections from the MMD in response to Chiluba’s third-term ambitions, Masebo had led a large group of dissatisfied MMD members out of the party.Leenstra, Melle. (2012) Beyond the façade: instrumentalisation of the Zambian health sector
/ref> By the time of the 2001 general election, she had joined the newly established Zambia Republican Party (ZRP), headed by former Minister of Defence Benjamin Mwila. On the ZRP ticket, she was elected as a parliamentarian in Chongwe Constituency. In 2003, Masebo was one of the opposition parliamentarians who were co-opted by

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 ...

into his Cabinet, becoming

Minister for Local Government and Housing The Minister for Local Government Empowerment and Planning was a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the Minister did not attend the Scottish Cabinet. The minister supported the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, who has ...

. In August 2005, she was transferred to

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

to succeed Brian Chituwo. Masebo was instrumental in politically defending the reversal of the health reforms in Parliament. In 2006, she officially rejoined the MMD and would defend her seat on an MMD ticket in the 2006 general election. Following the elections, she returned to her old post as Minister of Local Government. After

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. Banda was an active participant in politics from early in the pres ...

was elected as the President of Zambia in 2008, Masebo was relieved of her Local Government ministerial duties. She was not in support of Banda’s succession of Mwanawasa. By the time of the 2011 general election, she had joined

Michael Sata Michael Charles Chilufya Sata (6 July 1937 – 28 October 2014) was a Zambian politician who served as the fifth president of Zambia from 2011 until Death and state funeral of Michael Sata, his death in 2014. A social democrat, he led the Patrio ...

’s party (the Patriotic Front) but failed to retain her parliamentary seat (MMD won the Chongwe seat). However, there was a by-election in November 2011, just 2 months after the general election, necessitated by Japhen Mwakalombe's resignation from the MMD. Sylvia Masebo stood again for the Patriotic Front in Chongwe Constituency, which she won. During Michael Sata's tenure, she was appointed as the Minister of Tourism and Arts in July 2012 and served until 20 March 2014, when she was dismissed. In July 2015, the Anti-Corruption Commission arrested Ms. Masebo and charged her with two counts of abuse of authority of office when she served as minister of Tourism and Arts. It was alleged that Ms. Masebo cancelled the procurement of a tender process of the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) hunting concession. She was acquitted of the charges. Ahead of the 2016 general election, Sylvia Masebo decided to stand for Chongwe again, this time as the

(UPND) candidate. After losing her seat to Japhen Mwakalombe (who now stood for her previous party, the Patriotic Front), she decided to appeal the results, which was unsuccessful. In the 2021 general election, she stood again as the UPND candidate for Chongwe, which she won. It was the fourth time that she was elected as the Chongwe Member of Parliament. She was then chosen as Zambia's Health minister for the second time by the newly-voted President

Hakainde Hichilema Hakainde Hichilema (born 4 June 1962), often known by his initials HH, is a Zambian businessman, farmer, and politician who is the seventh and current president of Zambia since 24 August 2021. After having contested five previous elections in ...

after being appointed firstly in October 2005. On 21 July 2024, the President decided to transfer Sylvia Masebo from her position as Minister of Health to being the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, thereby exchanging roles with Elijah Muchima.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masebo, Sylvia 1963 births Living people Members of the National Assembly of Zambia Movement for Multi-Party Democracy politicians United Party for National Development politicians Patriotic Front (Zambia) politicians Health ministers of Zambia Local government ministers of Zambia Tourism ministers of Zambia Women government ministers of Zambia 21st-century Zambian women politicians People from Lusaka Province Lands and Natural Resources ministers of Zambia