 It was officially opened on 8th Sept 1983 by the then President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda.It started out as an engineering prep-school while under the sponsorship of the mining conglomerate Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM) but now runs under the auspices of the Zambia Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church.The meaning of the word "Mpelembe" derives from the native translation of the word antelope, which was a prominent figure on ZCCM's logo.