The case of Lusaka, Zambia by Chileshe L. Mulenga Contact: Dr Chileshe Leonard Mulenga Institute of Economic and Social Research Source: CIA factbook University of Zambia, P. O. Box 30900,Lusaka, Zambia Phone: 294671 (office), 292756 (home) Fax: 294291 Email: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] INTRODUCTION Lusaka is the capital city of Zambia, a country in the The paper draws on available secondary data and on Central African Plateau with an average altitude of the personal experience of the author arising from more 1,000 to 1,400 m above sea level. Zambia is generally than twelve years of active involvement in planning, considered to be a Southern African country, because of promotion and evaluation of living conditions and proj- its strong social and economic ties with the countries in ects and programmes designed to improve the environ- the Southern African sub-continent rather than those in mental and socio-economic conditions of slums in Central and Eastern Africa. Zambia lies between lati- Zambia. Although the concept of slums adopted by the tudes 100º and 180º south and 220º and 330º east. It is United Nations 2003 Global Report on Human landlocked and shares borders with eight neighbouring Settlements is broad and encompasses various settle- countries. Zambia has a land area of 752,614 km2 and ment types ranging from inner-city deteriorated tene- a population of just over 10 million (UNDP 2001). ments to squatter and illegal sub-divisions, the settle- This city report on slums and poverty in the city of ments that may be described as slums in the Zambian Lusaka is divided into three main sections. The first context are identified or defined within this approach. section provides a physical, demographic and socio- Before identifying or defining urban settlements that economic background to the city. It also analyses the might be described as slums in Zambia, however, a history, economy and governance of the city. The background or urban context is essential. The report second part of the report analyses the slums found in therefore provides Zambia’s urban context, before the city and the welfare of the residents of the city in analysing the history of Lusaka and the emergence of general and those of the slums in particular, and then its slums. goes on to examine the socio-economic characteristics and profiles of the residents of Lusaka’s slums. The third part of the report discusses the development of policy initiatives aimed at improving conditions in the A. THE URBAN CONTEXT CONTEXT Lusaka slum areas. Some conclusions presented at the IN ZAMBIA AND DEVELOPMENT end of the report focus on the prospects for improved OF THE CITY OF LUSAKA environmental conditions in the slums and improved living conditions for the residents of the slums of The development of Zambia’s urban centres can only Lusaka. be traced back as far as the annexation of the territory Urban Slums Reports: The case of Lusaka, Zambia now called Zambia by the British South African mostly of Afrikaner origins. The BSAC which was admin- Company (BSAC) between 1899 and 1900. Before that istering the territory at the time on the basis of a royal most of the territory was under the control of different charter obtained from the British monarchy was African Kingdoms. The people throughout the territory, compelled to grant the growing white population around however, lived in fear of the so-called slave traders, who Lusaka with the right to manage their local affairs. An attacked communities, enslaved their captives and sent elected Village Management Board was thus estab- them to the east or west coasts through present day lished in 1913 with the mandate of managing the affairs Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola respectively for of an emerging service centre. The original size of onward shipment to the Middle East, Western Europe Lusaka, which was under the jurisdiction of the Village and South America as slaves. Thus, at the time when Management Board was a narrow strip of land along the Zambia was brought under European colonial rule, there railway line. It was 5 km in length and 1.5 km wide with were no major urban centres, perhaps because activi- the railway being the centre of the area under the juris- ties of the slave raiders had destroyed stable communi- diction of the Lusaka Village Management Board ties and their economies. Zambian cities and towns thus (Williams, 1984). The city has since been extended to date back only to the early 1930s, while the country’s 360 km2, while a recently completed integrated develop- urbanisation has largely resulted from the copper mining ment plan proposes to extend the city boundary beyond industry, which transformed the economy from a stag- this to bring the Lusaka International Airport and a nant one based on labour migration to the South African substantial amount of rural land within the city boundary. and Southern Rhodesian mines and farms in the early The proposed extension if approved will bring a substan- years of colonial rule to a vibrant economy based on a tial amount of land within the city boundary and probably growing mining industry in the post second world war help resolve the current shortages of land for burial sites period. However, Zambia’s mining industry, which has and disposal of the city’s solid waste. been the backbone of the national economy began to The rapid growth of Lusaka, however, began in stagnate and decline in the mid-1970s. The situation earnest in 1931, when it was designated as the new worsened in the 1980s due to low copper prices, declin- capital or principal administrative centre of Northern ing production and a rising debt burden. The pace of Rhodesia, as Zambia was then called. Its selection as urbanisation in Zambia has, however, generally mirrored the new capital was due to its central location on the the economic trends in the dominant copper mining main north-south axis of the railway line, which was industry (Gann 1964; Hall 1965). expected to become the centre of development. The Most of the cities and towns in Zambia emerged in central location of Lusaka was also evident from being two zones. Firstly, along the railway line that was the intersection of the main roads to the north and south, constructed for the purpose of connecting the rich and east and west. Lusaka was also within easy reach copper mines in the Katanga region of the then Belgian of the Copperbelt, the country’s economic heartland. Congo to the South African ports. Secondly on the Furthermore, unlike other equally central locations, Copperbelt, where towns and cities emerged around the Lusaka had substantial underground water resources in copper mines. Other towns also emerged around its limestone/dolomite aquifers, which could provide the administrative centres that were established for admin- city with adequate water throughout the year. Lusaka is istering the large sparsely populated territory. The urban thus a planned city. Its original plan was made by population in Zambia is, however, concentrated in the Professor Adshead, who conceived the city of Lusaka as cities and towns of the Copperbelt. The towns around an administrative centre only. The original plan did not the copper mines grew most rapidly between 1945 and therefore provide for other economic activities other than the immediate post independence period. Lusaka, government administration, domestic and menial serv- however, has been the fastest growing city in the post ices. Industrial activities and a large population of independence period. This can be attributed to its role Africans were in particular not anticipated to form part of as the administrative centre of a newly independent the city of Lusaka (Collins 1969; Williams 1984). country whose leaders were keen to play a role in inter- Industrial activities, however, became part of the national affairs. As a result, Lusaka had to provide facil- Lusaka Development plan during its implementation. ities to hold international conferences, such as the The government planner responsible for implementation summit for the head states of the Non-Aligned of the plan, J. T. Bowling modified the original plan and Movement held in Lusaka in 1970, followed by the provided for light and heavy industrial areas. The area Commonwealth Heads of State summit in 1979. between Church Road, the railway line and the Great Lusaka started as a railway siding in 1905, when the East Roads was, for example, zoned for light industrial railway line that was constructed primarily to transport activities, while heavy industrial activities were allocated copper from Katanga Province in the present day the immediate western side of the shopping area, which Democratic Republic of Congo to the seaports of South had emerged to the west of the railway line. The shop- Africa reached Lusaka. Within a few years, however, ping area, on the other hand, was designated to move to Lusaka attracted a number of white settler farmers the hilly and more attractive, well-drained land on the 2 UNDERSTANDING SLUMS: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 Ridgeway, south-east of the railway line. their husbands and fathers to urban centres. Despite The principal planners of Lusaka never intended it to the restrictions that were placed on the residence of be a large city. Its initial total area was only 2.6 km2. It Africans in urban centres, an urbanised African popula- was, however, increased to 18 km2 in 1931, then 36, tion emerged and Lusaka like other Zambian towns has and 139 and 360 km2 in 1961, 1969 and 1970 respec- always been predominantly an African city. In this tively (Collins 1969; Pasteur 1979).