Many Ugandans are proud of the newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani. He was born in Uganda and has dual citizenship.
Some people described him as “their own” person, saying he was an inspiration to them.
A journalist who mentored him during his teenage internship at one of Uganda’s leading newspapers told the BBC there was “a lot of excitement” about his rise in Uganda, especially because of his young age. According to the CIA World Factbook, Uganda’s average age is 16.2, the second lowest in the world.
Zohran, 34, is the son of renowned Ugandan academic Professor Mahmood Mamdani, and his mother Mira Nair is an acclaimed filmmaker.
Journalist Angelo Izama told the BBC’s Newsday program that the young Mamdani was “shy at first” when working with him, but was “determined to get the job done”.
He said he “very much likes” Uganda’s capital, Kampala, which Zoran frequently mentions.
Mahmood Mamdani grew up in Uganda and worked at Makerere University, Uganda’s main and oldest university, for more than 10 years. He met his wife in Kampala while researching Mississippi Masala, a film about the expulsion of Asians from Uganda under Idi Amin.
Professor Mamdani is known for his anti-colonial scholarship that examines the legacy of colonialism in Africa and its impact on governance, identity, and justice.
Makerere University professor Okello Ogwang said he was “delighted” by Zoran’s success and described him as “a colleague’s son. This is a man from home.”
“One of us is there,” he told the BBC.
“It gives us hope that the children we raise are the hope of this world. As a continent… we are missing the greatest resource we have: our youth.”
Many Ugandans had never heard of Zoran until he was elected, but one student at the university said people were “very happy” and that he had proven anyone can rise above their background.
“It’s a morale booster, especially for us young people,” said Abno Collins Kuloba. “No matter where you grew up, poor or rich, you can make it big like (Mamdani) did.”
Another student, Chemtai Zamzam, said he was happy for himself and the people of Uganda. She said Mamdani inspired her as a young person. “It shows that we can be anything we want as long as we put faith and determination into it.”
The new market is also being celebrated elsewhere on the continent.
Abdul Mohamed, an Ethiopian and former senior official at the United Nations and the African Union, describes Mahmoud Mamdani as “a renowned scholar of African politics” and an interrogator of power and justice.
Having known Zoran since childhood, he said he inherited his father’s “commitment to Pan-Africanism,” his parents’ “courage to think freely,” and their belief that people “can belong anywhere.”
He said Zoran’s rise was both symbolic and practical, especially for young Africans, and called on them to take lessons in politics from him.
“I think through him the power and beauty of multi-racial, multi-religious identity found its voice, and Africa is largely a multi-racial, multi-religious society,” he says.
He added that, as Zoran showed, young people must organize and build political action and “avoid despair and pure anger.”
Uganda holds elections next year. President Yoweri Museveni, 81, is seeking re-election after nearly 40 years in power.
The Mamdani family also spent about three years in Cape Town, South Africa, after Mahmood was appointed Chair of African Studies at the University of Cape Town in the 1990s.
Some South Africans are also proud of his historic election.
Rashied Omar, imam of Cape Town’s Claremont Road Mosque, hailed his victory as an “amazing achievement” and said Zoran’s “formative years were a small part of our church.”
He said Zohran began his Islamic education at a mosque and his schooling at St George’s Grammar.
“It is inspiring to see how Zoran’s early South African experiences, however minor, left a lasting impression on his political consciousness and helped shape his creative, community-based approach to politics,” Dr Omar said.
“As South African social justice activists, we can now learn from Zoran’s example how to practice progressive politics that resonates with a new generation and builds bridges across race, class and faith,” he added.
South Africa’s fourth largest party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which advocates left-wing economic policies, also welcomed Zoran’s victory as historic.
“His election represents not only a transformative moment for New Yorkers, but a powerful signal to the world that progressive justice-seeking leadership is emerging even at the heart of the global capitalist order,” the party said in a statement.
In Nigeria, a Christian pastor who supports President Bola Tinubu also welcomed Zoran’s victory.
Pastor Okezie J Atañi has said in X that Nigeria “cannot be intimidated” by US President Donald Trump. His threats could not subdue the 34-year-old Zoran.
Last week, President Trump accused Nigeria’s government of failing to protect Christians and threatened military action to stamp out Islamist militants.
Government officials have said the jihadists are not targeting any particular religion and have killed people of all religions or none at all.
Additional reporting by Mohammed Allie in Cape Town and Mansur Abubakar in Abuja.
