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Constitutional framework
Zambia’s initial constitution was abandoned in August 1973 when it became a one-party state. The constitution of the Second Republic provided for a “one-party participatory democracy,” with the United National Independence Party (UNIP) the only legal political party. In response to mounting pressures within the country, the constitution was changed in 1991 to allow the reintroduction of a multiparty system.
Under the terms of the constitution, the president, who is head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces, is elected by universal adult suffrage to no more than two five-year terms. He is empowered to appoint the vice president, the chief justice, and members of the High Court on the advice of the Judicial Services Commission. During the president’s absence, his duties are assumed by the vice president. From elected members of the legislature, called the National Assembly, the president also appoints a Cabinet that consists of ministers, deputy ministers, and provincial deputy ministers. In 1996 the government enacted constitutional amendments that barred foreign nationals and those with foreign parentage from running for president, a change that generated heated debate.
Local government
Central government is represented throughout Zambia by the provincial government system, by which resident ministers—each of whom is the president’s direct representative—are appointed by the president to each of the provinces. The provinces are divided into districts, each of which has a district council chairman responsible to the provincial deputy minister; the district council chairman is particularly concerned with political and economic developments. His civil service counterpart is the district executive secretary. The cities of Lusaka, Ndola, and Kitwe have councils and mayors, but the formerly separate management of mine townships on the Copperbelt has been abolished.
Justice
The court system consists of the Supreme Court, the High Court, subordinate magistrate’s courts, and local courts. Because the law administered by all except the local courts is based on English common law, decisions of the higher British courts are of persuasive value; in fact, a few statutes of the British Parliament that were declared by ordinance (decree) to apply to Zambia are in force so far as circumstances permit. Most of the laws presently on the statute book, however, have been locally enacted by ordinance or, since independence, by Zambian acts.
The Supreme Court consists of the chief justice, deputy chief justice, and several other justices; it is the court of last resort. The High Court is presided over by a chief justice and is basically an appellate court. There are three classes of magistrate’s courts, with progressive degrees of criminal and civil jurisdiction. Local courts consist of a president sitting alone or with other members, all appointed by the Judicial Services Commission. Jurisdiction is conferred by the minister of justice and may encompass any written law, but punishment powers are limited. Local courts also deal with civil cases of a customary nature. Customary law is followed when it is not incompatible with other legislation.
The judiciary remains formally independent. The president appoints the chief justice and, on the advice of the Judicial Services Commission, also appoints other judges; however, the constitution severely restricts the president’s powers of dismissal, and on occasion judges have not shrunk from challenging the authority of the government or party. At the same time, the scope of the judiciary was seriously limited by presidential powers of preventive detention under emergency regulations brought in at the time of Rhodesian UDI in November 1965 and subsequently regularly renewed by the National Assembly. The ending of these state-of-emergency regulations on Nov. 8, 1991, was one of the first acts of the new government.
Political process
The president is elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage; election to the National Assembly, which is conducted simultaneously, is also largely decided on this basis, although a small proportion of National Assembly members are nominated by the president. There is a 27-member House of Chiefs, with a two-year-term rotating membership. It has no legislative function: it may consider bills but not block their passage. Women hold a number of positions in the Zambian political process, including posts in the National Assembly, the Cabinet, and the Supreme Court, and the country’s ethnic groups are well represented in the political system.
Zambia’s major political parties include the MMD, the United Party for National Development (UNDP), the UNIP, and the Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD). Just prior to the 2006 presidential elections, the UNDP, UNIP, and FDD organized themselves into the United Democratic Alliance, with each of the party leaders serving as a co-president.
Security
Zambia’s armed forces consist of army, air force, and paramilitary contingents, of which the army is by far the largest. Service is voluntary. Zambian troops have served as United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in several missions throughout the world.
Health and welfare
With about one-tenth of the adult population living with HIV/AIDS, Zambia is among the world’s countries most severely affected by the disease. Efforts to combat the disease, particularly those in the 2010s, led to a decrease in the number of adults infected with HIV and the number of AIDS-related deaths. Tropical diseases present in Zambia include malaria, schistosomiasis (bilharziasis), and parasitic infections such as leprosy. Leprosy has been contained, and leprosariums have given way to outpatient treatment. Schistosomiasis, a debilitating disease spread by waterborne snails, is widely found in riverine areas. Sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis), spread by the tsetse fly, is prevalent in the more sparsely populated tsetse-infected areas.
In spite of great progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, it is still a leading cause of death in Zambia. Other major causes of death include tuberculosis (related to HIV/AIDS), malaria, respiratory infections, and diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Death from heart disease is rising among the more affluent.
In the years following independence, considerable investment was made in the hospital system, which includes a number of general hospitals in the main towns, many smaller hospitals (some of which are mission-run), and rural health centres. The University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka is used by the medical school of the University of Zambia, which graduated its first doctors in 1972. A government Flying Doctor Service provides medical services in remote rural areas. Psychiatric services are based at the Chainama Hills Hospital in Lusaka, to which are linked small psychiatric units in other centres. There is a specialist pediatric hospital in Ndola. Despite local training, Zambia suffers from a shortage of doctors and other specialist staff. This is particularly true of the rural areas, despite the existence of a number of well-run mission hospitals.
In 1978 Zambia adopted Primary Health Care, a preventive and curative health program with the goal of achieving health care for all. The ailing economy in the 1980s adversely affected the quality of health care available to the population at the time that HIV/AIDS was beginning to have a major impact. The 1990s brought the development of Healthnet, a system developed to overcome communication problems between health centres and hospitals. Overall, the number of health facilities run by the government, mines, and missions has risen steadily; nevertheless, the number remains far short of demand. There is a widespread belief in alternative medicine, including reliance upon traditional healers.
In traditional Zambian society, kinship groups look after the well-being of their members. Elders are given the important task of advising in village affairs. In the towns, however, family ties have weakened, necessitating the development of government welfare services concerned with juvenile delinquency, adoption, and the care of the aged, indigent, and disabled. Voluntary and nongovernmental agencies are a growing phenomenon. Many draw upon funds from outside Zambia, thus drawing skepticism from government circles about their contribution to sustainable development and their ability to adhere to national priorities. Nevertheless, these organizations make a major contribution to the care of the less fortunate in society. The contributory National Provident Fund provides retirement benefits for those in paid employment (a minority of the labour force, including many town dwellers, are engaged in informal employment). Refugees have been a major problem, notably those fleeing conflicts in Angola and Mozambique, and the country once gave haven to many who had fled from Rhodesia during UDI and from South Africa.
Housing
There is a stark contrast between high-density squatter settlements, known as compounds or shanties, and less-crowded areas with more spacious and luxurious residences, known as mayadi. The high level of rural-to-urban migration has generated a housing problem in the urban areas. Public housing could be made available to only a few, and shanty compounds sprang up to house the majority. “Site and service schemes” designate areas for self-help housing and provide basic services such as roads and water. In Lusaka the World Bank assisted with major schemes to upgrade existing squatter areas. Nevertheless, there is a sharp contrast between the spacious bungalows in the leafy suburbs, many built for Europeans before independence but now occupied by wealthy Zambians, and the cement-block and tin-roofed houses of the dusty and crowded townships.
