Zambia
Zambia has held regular multiparty elections for the past three decades, and currently scores are in the middle range across all categories of democratic performance. The country performs particularly well in Participation, scoring among the top 25 per cent of countries. Over the last five years, Zambia has experienced significant advances in Credible Elections, Civil Liberties, Judicial Independence and Civil Society. Zambia is a low income country that struggles with poverty and inequality, and it ranks within the bottom 25 per cent of the world with regard to Basic Welfare. Its economy is heavily reliant on copper mining, which accounts for 13 per cent of the country’s GDP and 30 per cent of the government’s tax revenue.
Zambia has a very ancient history, and was primarily inhabited by Khoisan peoples until the arrival of large numbers of Bantu peoples around 800 years ago. Through various institutional arrangements, Great Britain colonized the territory that includes modern Zambia beginning in the late 19th century. Zambia became independent in 1964. From independence until 1991, the country was led by President Kenneth Kaunda, who is remembered both for his strong anti-apartheid stance and his authoritarian rule. Kaunda invested heavily in education, but mismanaged the economic development of the country in his pursuit of a planned economy. The legacy of that era continues, and poverty, hunger, and inequality have only worsened. Poverty has grown, driven primarily by low access to wage employment among poor Zambians. Public debt remains very high, and the country experienced a sovereign default in 2021.
Since the first multi-party elections in 1991, multiple successive governments have continued to suppress public criticism or protest, including through harsh enforcement of libel laws. Zambian politics are driven in large part by ethnically heterogeneous geographic coalitions that are centered around the main economic industries in each region, such as copper mining in the north and agriculture in the south. Significant political debate centers on corruption, which is endemic and has diminished public trust in government. Development remains one of the government’s main priorities, but reliance on China for development progress has become a source of tension, largely because Chinese employers are accused of mistreating Zambians and because Chinese firms seek control of Zambian mines as a hedge against potential loan defaults. The country continues to face major health challenges, including a high HIV/AIDS disease burden.
Several human rights issues loom large on the Zambian political scene, as discrimination against several groups, including indigenous communities, remains common. LGBTQIA+ people in Zambia face widespread societal discrimination, and a sodomy ban remains on the books. Zambian women experience high levels of gender-based violence and face discrimination in education, employment, and other key sectors. Finally, people with albinism experience brutal attacks and ritualistic killings, and racial divides remain prominent.
As Zambia seeks to continue its recent progress, it will be important to watch aspects of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties. An anti-corruption effort that began in 2021 resulted in the arrest of several former government ministers and the establishment of an Economic and Financial Crimes Court. The initiative is highly politically relevant as some argue that faster action is needed in this area while others have warned of potential political influence on such prosecutions. Other reforms, including the abolition of the death penalty and a controversial law criminalizing defamation of the president, have won international praise. Zambian analysts and activists have, however, been more critical, pointing to reports that the president used the repealed defamation law to silence his critics and to his failure to deliver on many of his campaign promises of democratic reform.
(Last updated: August 2024)
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
July 2024
Zambia’s anti-corruption board dismissed following corruption allegations
On 18 July, President Hakainde Hichilema dissolved the board of Zambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), a move the presidency said was intended to ‘renew the [ACC’s] sacred mandate’. The dissolution came 10 days after a former member of the board alleged that the commission was corrupt and two days after the resignation of the ACC’s Director General, Thom Shamakamba. According to the whistleblower, O’Brien Kaaba, law enforcement institutions, including the ACC, were complicit in corrupt deals that undermined anti-corruption efforts by failing to prosecute politically-connected individuals. He laid the blame on Shamakamba and other senior officials, who he accused of receiving payments in exchange for ‘legally senseless settlements immunising some of the most corrupt individuals.’ Kaaba’s revelations were made in response to a report published by the state Financial Intelligence Centre earlier in July, which found that in 2023 corruption had significantly increased compared to previous years.
Sources: Mail & Guardian, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Amulufe Blog, Financial Intelligence Centre, ISS Africa
May 2024
Opposition politician sentenced for ‘Defaming President’ under repealed law
On 17 May, Raphael Nakacinda, secretary general of Zambia’s main opposition party, the Patriotic Front, was sentenced to 18 months in prison with hard labour, having been convicted of defaming the President under a law repealed in December 2022. The conviction related to 2021 comments in which he accused President Hakainde Hichilema of coercing the judiciary. The colonial-era defamation law had long been used by Zambian governments to silence their critics and in signing its repeal, Hichilema had described it as ‘inhibit[ing] the growth of democracy…’ However, the repeal did not apply retroactively and defamation cases such as Nakacinda’s, which were initiated before the repeal are still being prosecuted. When sentencing Nakacinda, the magistrate is reported to have said she wanted to deter others and NGO Human Rights Watch have warned that the case will have ‘a broad chilling effect’ on freedom of expression in Zambia. A growing number of commentators and CSOs have raised concerns about civic space shrinkage in the country.
Sources: Human Rights Watch, International IDEA (1), Vatican News, Zambia Monitor, International IDEA (2), Mail & Guardian
November 2023
Civil society reports warn of shrinking democratic space
In November, a month in which four opposition politicians were arrested in 24 hours, the Zambia Conference of Catholics Bishops (ZCCB) and the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), released reports warning that democratic space in the country is shrinking. The reports raised a very similar set of concerns, including an increase in the arrest of opposition party members, a failure to grant them bail for bailable offences and to expeditiously bring them before courts which, according to LAZ, suggested the arrests were being used as an intimidation tactic by the state. Both reports called for government institutions to stop interfering in the affairs of opposition parties, to show greater tolerance of dissenting views (LAZ highlighted that cybersecurity and other penal legislation is being used to arrest government critics) and end the abuse of the colonial-era Public Order Act, whose security provisions were being used by the police to deny opposition party members their right to protest.
Sources: The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, Law Association of Zambia, British Broadcasting Corporation, news24
Concerns about state interference in opposition party as new leadership confirmed
In November, civil society organisations and commentators raised serious concerns about state interference in the leadership selection of Zambia’s main opposition party, the Patriotic Front (PF). They allege that the Office of the Registrar of Societies and the Speaker of the National Assembly acted improperly to legitimise the leadership claims of one PF faction (headed by MP Miles Sampa) over another, following the party’s highly contested elective convention in October 2023. The alleged impropriety included acting on the instructions of Sampa’s faction to change the party’s leadership in the National Assembly and in the register of political parties, at a time that the leadership was still being contested in court and in a manner that was unconstitutional and fraudulent. Sampa’s leadership of the PF was confirmed by the acting Registrar of Societies on 30 November.
Sources: Mail & Guardian, Law Association of Zambia, Times of Zambia, News Diggers
April 2023
Largest opposition party threatened with de-registration
Zambia’s Chief Registrar of Societies, Thandiwe Mhende, has issued a notice of her office’s intention to de-register the country’s largest opposition party, the Patriotic Front (PF). In a letter dated 25 April, Mhende wrote that the PF was to be ‘cancelled’ for its failure to comply with a legal requirement to provide a complete list of the party’s office bearers. She wrote further that the party had previously been notified by her office of this non-compliance and that it now had seven days to explain why it should not be cancelled. The PF, which governed Zambia between 2011 and 2021, denied non-compliance and alleged the notice was an attempt to suppress the political opposition and that it constituted an ‘assault on democracy.’ In 2012, the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy, another former-ruling party, was de-registered shortly after losing power to the PF.
Sources: News24, Lusaka Times, Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation, Voice of America
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Global ranking per category of democratic performance in 2023
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Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time
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