Many Ugandans are expressing their pride in the newly elected mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and retains dual nationality.
Some have described him as one of “their own”, saying he inspires them.
A journalist who mentored him during his teenage internship at one of Uganda’s leading newspapers told the BBC that there was a “lot of excitement” in Uganda about Mamdani’s rise especially because of his young age. Uganda has the second-lowest median age worldwide of just 16.2, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Zohran, 34, is the son of Prof Mahmood Mamdani, a prominent Ugandan academic, while his mother, Mira Nair, is an acclaimed filmmaker.
Journalist Angelo Izama told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the younger Mamdani was “initially shy” while they worked together, but was “absolutely determined to get things done”.
He says Zohran is “very fond of Kampala”, Uganda’s capital, which he often mentions.
Mahmood Mamdani was raised in Uganda and worked for more than a decade at Makerere University, the country’s main and oldest university. He met his wife in Kampala while she was researching Mississippi Masala, a film about the expulsion of Asians from Uganda under Idi Amin.
Prof Mamdani is known for his anti-colonialist scholarship, which examines the legacy of colonialism in Africa and its impact on governance, identity and justice.
Makerere University professor Okello Ogwang says he “feels great” about Zohran’s success, describing him as the “son of a colleague. This is somebody from home”.
“We have one of us there,” he told the BBC.
“It gives me hope that the children we are raising are the hope of this world. As a continent… we are missing out on the greatest resource we have – the youth.”
While many Ugandans had not heard of Zohran until his election, a student at the university said people were “very happy”, saying it proved that anyone could rise above their background.
“It gives morale, especially to us as youths,” said Abno Collins Kuloba. “Wherever you have grown up, be it poor or rich, you can become something big, like what [Mamdani] has done.”
Another student, Chemtai Zamzam, said she was happy, for herself and Ugandans. She said Mamdani was an inspiration to her as a young person, as “it shows we can become anything we want as long as we put faith and determination”.
The new mayor is also being celebrated elsewhere in the continent.
Abdul Mohamed, an Ethiopian who is a former senior UN and African Union official, describes Mahmood Mamdani as “a distinguished scholar of African politics”, a man who interrogated power and justice.
He says having known Zohran since infancy, he sees him as having inherited his father’s “commitment to pan-Africanism”, his parents’ “courage to think freely,” and their belief that one can “belong everywhere”.
He says Zohran’s rise is symbolic and practical especially to young Africans, asking them to draw from him lessons in politics.
“I think through him, [the] power and beauty of multi-ethnic, multi-religious identity found its voice. And Africa is by and large a multi-ethnic and a multi-religious society,” he says.
He adds that as Zohran has demonstrated, young people need to organise and build political action and “avoid despair and avoid pure anger”.
Uganda is holding elections next year, with 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni seeking another term after almost 40 years in power.
The Mamdani family also spent at around three years in Cape Town, South Africa, after Mahmood was appointed the Chair of African Studies at the University of Cape Town in the 1990s.
Some South Africans have also been taking pride in his historic election.
Hailing his victory as as a “remarkable achievement”, the imam of Cape Town’s Claremont Road Mosque, Rashied Omar, said that Zohran’s “formative years were shaped, in small part, in our congregation”.
He said that Zohran began his Islamic education at the mosque, and started his schooling at St George’s Grammar.
“It is inspiring to see how Zohran’s early South African experiences, though modest, made 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 Zohran’s example, how to practise progressive politics that resonates with new generations and builds bridges across race, class, and faith,” he added.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the fourth-biggest party in South Africa which champions left-wing economic policies, also hailed Zohran’s victory as historic.
“His election represents not only a transformative moment for the people of New York but also a powerful signal to the world that progressive justice-driven leadership is rising even in the heart of the global capitalist order,” the party said in a statement.
In Nigeria, a Christian pastor who is a supporter of President Bola Tinubu also welcomed Zohran’s victory.
Pastor Okezie J Atañi said on X that Nigeria “cannot be threatened” by US President Donald Trump, whose “threats could not subdue” the 34-year-old Zohran.
Last week, Trump threatened to take military action to tackle Islamist insurgents in Nigeria, accusing the government of failing to protect Christians.
Government officials responded by saying that jihadists were not targeting members of a particular religion and that they had killed people from all faiths, or none.
Additional reporting by Mohammed Allie in Cape Town and Mansur Abubakar in Abuja
