22 Mar Waicha Ndhlovu Yambala

Mrs. Waicha Ndhlovu Yambala is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Housing Authority, (NHA) a quasi-government Institution under the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development (MIHUD). The NHA’s mandate is to regulate all housing developments in Zambia and to provide decent and affordable housing to all Zambians.

Waicha is a Lawyer by profession, with 17 years’ experience at the Zambian Bar and experience in civil litigation, corporate, investment and construction law. She served as senior Associate at Messrs Ranchhod Chungu Advocates and briefly at Stanbic Bank as a Legal Counsel before joining the NHA as a Legal Counsel.

In 2018, Waicha became the first female Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned housing development and regulatory Authority. At NHA, Waicha superintends over 5 portfolio Directorates of the NHA, that is; – Consultancy and Projects Management, Construction, Real Estate Management and Sales, Finance and Corporate Planning as well as Legal and Administration. She further supervises the Audit and Procurement departments of the Authority. Some of her duties include infrastructure projects structuring and fundraising, supervising of construction projects, structuring joint ventures arrangements and mergers, superintending over incorporation of joint venture companies, supervising procurement of various projects, structuring and management of various Public Private Partnerships for the NHA, management of investment properties, supervising finance and corporate planning, attending to Legal matters, offering Board Secretarial services, among many others duties.

Waicha has been instrumental in the on-going restructuring of the NHA which involves the repositioning of the Authority into a housing regulatory Authority, and the setting up of a housing development Fund which are underway. The repositioning of NHA is preceded by a complete review of the NHA Act which is now at drafting stage.

The repositioning of NHA is poised to elevate NHA to a strong financial position of influence in the housing sector as a regulator and most pronounced housing development player. In this process, NHA has transformed into an Authority with integrity, strongly linked departmental teams that share the great vision of making decent and affordable housing available to all. Change management and teambuilding has underscored great resilience and excellent delivery skills over the last two years while enhancing the NHA Team’s capacity to achieve and deliver superior quality projects.

Waicha holds Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Zambia, a post graduate diploma in Legislative Drafting from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE), a post graduate certificate in Risk Management from Zambia Institute of Banking and Financial Services, a Certificate in Taxation from ZIALE, a Degree in Ministry studies from Christian Family Church Bible College. She is an Arbitrator, a Court annexed Mediator, a commercial Mediator, an Investment Advisor and Stock Broker.

Waicha has spearheaded the commencement of and ongoing construction of the NAPSA Pension Scheme Project, the construction of houses for the MIHUD and the new Kabwe Housing Development Project among others.

Currently the NHA is preoccupied with structuring housing projects to be delivered through Public Private Partnership. At the Moment, seven Concept Notes are on the table for discussions.