President Hakainde Hichilema suspended three members of the country’s Constitutional Court on the recommendation of the Judicial Complaints Commission (JCC) in a decision that was announced on 23 September. The involvement of the suspended judges in controversial rulings that sustained the presidency of Hichilema’s predecessor, Edgar Lungu, have raised concerns about improper political influence on the judiciary. In 2016, the judges had dismissed a petition from Hichilema challenging Lungu’s election victory and in 2021 had been part of a decision that allowed the latter to stand for a third presidential term, despite a two-term constitutional limit. In September, they were due to decide on Lungu’s eligibility to contest the 2026 election, in which he is expected to be Hichilema’s main challenger. The Law Association of Zambia raised concerns that the complaint that triggered the JCC’s investigation and recommendation mirrored similar complaints against the judges that the Commission had previously dismissed.

Sources: Cabinet Office, British Broadcasting Corporation, The Africa Report, Lusaka Times

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

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was sentenced to 18 months in prison with hard labour, having been convicted of defaming the President under a law repealed in December 2022.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

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    

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