He featured for Zambia Schools and his impressive performances saw him being called to the senior national team the following year when he made his full international debut in a friendly against Uganda on 4 July 1968 at Kitwe’s Scrivener Stadium.

[1] He was left out of the Zambia's tour of Uganda in October of that year but was back later that month as reserve goalkeeper for the World Cup qualifier against Sudan which Zambia won 4-2 but lost the second leg by the same score line and were eliminated due to a strange rule by FIFA which favoured the team that won the second leg in the event of a tie.

The following month, he was left out of the national team for failing to report to camp and his club revealed that he had been missing from Luanshya since featuring for Zambia against Uganda.

In 1980, Mwape's younger brother Kenny played in goal for Zambia giving the siblings a unique record.

Mwape made a comeback when he captained a young Zambian team to the CECAFA tournament and the following year, he traveled to CAN 1982 as a reserve goalkeeper.