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Home Background Political Development of Zambia

Political Development of Zambia over the last hundred years

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By the end of the 19th Century the British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes had been able to take over the whole of Zambia under the auspices of the British South African Company (BSAC). In 1911 the territory was named Northern Rhodesia with its capital in Livingstone. Rhodes was determined to make Africa British from the Cape to Cairo and to prevent other colonial powers such as the Portugese getting their hands on it. The BSAC ruled with a rod of iron however eventually in 1923 the British Government recognised the excesses of the BSAC and took over Zambia, as a British Protectorate stating the interests of the Africans would be paramount. However, control under the British colonial office although more benign was little better in terms of distributing resources fairly amongst the inhabitants of the country. The white settlers were a privileged elite whilst the Africans were discriminated against in term of access to land and hence wealth.

President Chiluba

The discovery and opening up of the copper belt in the 1920s and 1930s had the effect of creating a single labour force which broke down tribal differences that the colonial governments had sought to build up in an attempt to divide the political aspirations of the African population. African nationalism was developing and in the period up to the Second World War there was periodic industrial action against the racist injustices of the colonial administration and the copper mines that it exploited.

In the early 1950s the Colonial Office agreed to Northern Rhodesia joining a Federation with Nyasaland (Malawi) and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). There was considerable Zambian opposition to this reorganisation as it was felt that much Zambian wealth from copper would subsidise the development of Southern Rhodesia at its own expense.

The campaign against the Federation developed into one for full independence. The more politically motivated nationalist leaders formed firstly the Zambia African National Congress which was originally banned by the Federation authorities and secondly in 1958 the United National Independence Party (UNIP). One leader who emerged was the charismatic Kenneth David Kaunda. He was given the leadership of UNIP.

The Winds of Change

By the 1960s the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan acknowledged that "there was a wind of change blowing through Africa." The days of colonial and minority rule were near to an end. The Federation was dissolved in 1963 and in January 1964 Zambia's first free elections were held and the UNIP won convincingly from the African National Congress. On October 24 1964 Zambia became an independent republic with Kenneth Kaunda as President. And there he remained in power for 27 years. Although the political system stared off as a one party participatory democracy it soon became an autocracy. During his time in power the economy saw periods of growth and decline.

The Move Towards Multiparty Democracy

In 1990 the economy was on the brink of collapse and there was a considerable political discontent with the government of President Kaunda. He was forced to concede to a general election. In October 1991 Kaunda and UNIP were defeated by the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), a coalition of interest groups, under the leadership of Frederick Chiluba. On taking office President Chiluba made sweeping economic reforms including the abolition of exchange controls, wholesale privatisation and deregulation.

In 1996 the warm response that world and especially the donor agencies had given to President Chiluba and his reforms had chilled somewhat as there was some feeling that he had resorted to underhand methods to ensure that Kenneth Kaunda could not stand as the presidential candidate.

In May of 2001 there was a setback for the governing MMD as senior members left to create the Forum for Democracy and Development. In December 2001, former vice-president, Levy Mwanawasa, narrowly won the presidential elections amid opposition party's claims of fraud and ballot-rigging.

His success followed some years in the political wilderness having resigned from the government in 1994, citing corruption as the reason and it is generally agreed that he has so far displayed a high degree of integrity in his public life. Although Mwanawasa was originally viewed as former President Frederick Chiluba's protégé, in 2002 he embarked on a far-reaching anti-corruption campaign against Chiluba and many of his supporters.

President Levy Mwanawasa © UN Photo

After Parliament voted to remove the ex-president's immunity from prosecution, Chiluba was arrested on corruption charges in 2003, accused of defrauding the Zambian state of almost $35m and sending the money abroad.

The Mwanawasa government has had to face continuing problems of foreign debt and HIV/Aids, as well as the presence of an estimated 300,000 refugees, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. President Mwanawasa has concentrated on agricultural reform and has declared his misgivings about the privatisation programme imposed by the IMF, saying its implementation has led to poverty, asset stripping and job losses.

In 2005 the Supreme Court finally rejected the opposition challenge to President Mwanawasa's 2001 election victory and he survived a challenge to his leadership of the ruling party, paving the way for his candidature in the 2006 presidential poll.

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Related Glossary Items:
Privatisation
Exchange Control