Zambia

Monthly Event Reports GSOD Indices

Zambia exhibits mid-range performance across all categories of the Global State of Democracy framework, although the range of scores within that band is broad. Participation is at the upper-end, while Rights and Rule of Law are on the border of low and mid-range. Over the last five years, Zambia has experienced notable advances in a number of factors related to Representation, Rights and Participation, due in part to the milestone 2021 election in which reform promises raised hopes after the electoral defeat of incumbent Edgar Lungu. It has also, however, suffered declines in Access to Justice. 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 more than 70 per cent of revenue.

Following independence from British colonial rule in 1964 and lasting until 1991, the country was led by President Kenneth Kaunda, remembered both for his strong anti-apartheid stance as well as 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. Inequality 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.

In the future, it will be important to watch Absence of Corruption, as a new anti-corruption effort has resulted in the arrest of several former government ministers; this project is likely to continue, as some argue that more action is needed in this area. 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.

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.

December 2022 | President Hichilema abolishes death penalty and controversial defamation law

On 23 December President Hakainde Hichilema announced that he had signed into law legislation abolishing the death penalty and a controversial colonial-era law criminalizing defamation of the president. The defamation law had long been used by Zambian governments to silence their critics and rights groups have alleged that the practice had continued (and even increased) under Hichilema’s presidency. Analysts and activists have welcomed its repeal but cautioned that free expression continues to be threatened by other repressive legislation that remains in place. Zambia has maintained a moratorium on executions since 1997 but at the end of 2021 257 people were on death row.

Death Penalty Hakainde Hichilema

September 2022 | Hichilema’s government announces repeal of colonial-era defamation law

During his opening of the new session of Zambia’s National Assembly on 9 September, President Hakainde Hichilema announced that his government is to table legislation repealing a colonial-era law criminalizing defamation of the president. The law has long been used by Zambian governments to silence their critics and rights groups have alleged that this practice has continued (and even increased) during Hichilema’s presidency. On 1 September the leader of the opposition Patriots for Economic Progress party, Sean Tembo, was arrested under the law after criticizing the president for raising fuel prices – although he was later charged with the lesser offence of hate speech. Hichilema has been under increasing pressure from activists within and outside of Zambia to deliver on his 2021 campaign promise to repeal the defamation of the president law.

Hakainde Hichilema