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Zambia-Attacks on Justice 2002-Publications-2002 ZAMBIA Despite moves by officials to interfere with the judiciary in politically related cases, the country’s judges and lawyers generally strive to remain independent. However, poor administration of the judiciary, limited resources and lack of judicial personnel has led to severe backlog in Zambian courts. There has been a political clamp-down on perceived dissidents in advance of elections scheduled for the end of 2001. The authorities seem unwilling to prosecute those who commit human rights abuses. BACKGROUND Zambia gained independence from Britain on 24 October 1964 and Kenneth Kaunda became the first President of the Republic. On 2 August 1991, the adoption of a new Constitution introduced a multi-party system, thereby ending the monopoly of Kaunda’s United National Independence Party (UNIP). The first multi-party elections in November 1991 resulted in the victory of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) and the election of President Frederick Chiluba, a former trade unionist. The present Constitution, dates from June 1996. While similar to the 1991 Constitution, it contains amended provisions regarding the qualifications of presidential candidates and grants the President and the National Assembly increased powers in respect of their relationship with the judiciary. The May 1996 amendment required that a “person shall be qualified to be a candidate for elections as President only if (a) he is a Zambian citizen and (b) both his parents are Zambian by birth or descent”. This amendment had the direct effect of excluding former President Kaunda, whose parents were Malawian, from standing in the presidential elections. The UNIP boycotted the November 1996 elections that confirmed the government of MMD and President Chiluba. Executive power is vested in the President, who is elected directly by universal suffrage for a term of five years and may be re-elected only once. The President is the Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief. The President appoints the Ministers of his Cabinet from among the members of the National Assembly, and they are collectively answerable to the National Assembly. The President has the power to declare a state of emergency and to dissolve the National Assembly. Article 45 of the Constitution provides for the office of the Vice-President, who is appointed from among the members of the National Assembly and performs such functions as are assigned to him by the President of the Republic. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament, which consists of the President and the National Assembly. The National Assembly is composed of 150 members elected by universal, direct suffrage, with not more than eight members nominated by the President, and the Speaker, nominated by the members of the National Assembly. Traditional chiefs are not qualified to be elected as members of the Parliament. Legislation passed by the National Assembly must be assented to by the President in order to become law. Members of the Parliament form parliamentary committees with the mandate to consider specific matters or bills. The Constitution also provides for a House of Chiefs, an advisory body composed of 27 chiefs from the various provinces. International Commission of Jurists 401 Zambia – Attacks on Justice, eleventh edition The country is divided into nine provinces, including the capital of Lusaka, each of which is administered by a centrally appointed Provincial Secretary and a partially elected Provincial Council. The provinces are subdivided into 55 districts, each administered by a centrally appointed Governor and a partially elected District Council. Presidential and parliamentary elections are to be held on 27 December 2001. At the beginning of 2001 President Chiluba had seemed eager to amend the Constitution in order to seek a third term, but on 8 May 2001, following pressure from the opposition, international donors and even by members of his own cabinet, Chiluba announced that he would not stand for an unconstitutional third term in office. In the meantime, more than 20 dissident members of the ruling MMD party including the country’s Vice-President and eight ministers have been expelled from the Parliament. In May 2001, an impeachment petition was filed against President Chiluba before the House Speaker of the National Assembly. The petitioners, mostly MMD parliamentarians, obtained 65 signatures, enough to compel the Speaker to convene parliament to hear charges of gross misconduct against President Chiluba, who had come under intense criticism for corruption in his government. On 30 May 2001, the Parliament postponed the debate on the impeachment motion. HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES The human rights situation in Zambia deteriorated, with the government taking steps to silence political opposition. The independent media came under attack and human rights NGOs and political parties were threatened with deregistration. The absence of adequate enforcement mechanisms and a lack of political will has led to a general culture of impunity for those who commit human rights abuses. Human rights mechanisms Zambia is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Zambia is also a member of the African Union (formerly Organisation of African Unity). Zambia has not submitted a single report under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, although its first report was due in 1988. Zambian scholars have stressed that despite the fact that the country has ratified various international instruments, the police forces and other public officials had not been informed or received training in respect of their application.. The Constitution provides for an autonomous Human Rights Commission. It has been reported that the Zambian Permanent Human Rights Commission, established in May 1997, remained active only on non-contentious issues. It continued to issue statements about human rights abuses, notably employment grievances and prison conditions, but avoided criticism of the Government. Of the 960 complaints handled since inception, 797 of the cases were labour related.. Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly Under Zambia’s Public Order Act, any group of citizens wishing to hold a public demonstration must notify the police seven days before the demonstration. However, the police have tended to abuse the law and have arbitrarily determined whether a gathering could or could not take place. International Commission of Jurists 402 Zambia – Attacks on Justice, eleventh edition Opposition parties, NGOs and other civil society groups were regularly denied permission to assemble or had their meetings cancelled on public security grounds. On 24 January 2000, following pressure from the Ministry of Information, the privately owned Radio Phoenix announced it was discontinuing a live phone-in program sponsored by a human rights NGO. On 19 August 2001, the government announced that Radio Phoenix had been suspended due to its failure to renew the licence under which it operates. Human rights activists fear that the decision to suspend the radio station is part of a wider campaign to silence the independent media prior to the elections scheduled for the end of 2001. Attacks on Zambian journalists appear to constitute reprisals for critical press coverage of President Chiluba and other top-ranking officials of the ruling MMD. Several journalists have been charged with criminal defamation of the Head of State under Article 69 of Zambia’s Penal Code that prescribes up to three years in jail for “any person who with intent to bring the President into hatred, ridicule or contempt, publishes any defamatory or insulting matter”. The most serious attack on the independent press was the prosecution of eleven journalists from the Lusaka daily The Post on charges of espionage for publishing a March 1999 report alleging that Zambia’s army could not withstand an attack from Angola. On 18 August 2000, all of the journalists were acquitted with the exception of editor Fred M’membe. On 21 December 2000, the Lusaka High Court finally acquitted M’membe in a ruling criticising the government’s abuse of the 1969 State Security Act, under which the journalists were prosecuted. However, on 17 August 2001, he was again arrested and charged with criminal libel over comments made about President Chiluba. The newspaper had published an editorial and stories in which two politicians accused the President of diverting four USD millions which was meant to buy maize through a Canadian company in 1997. The journalist spent eight hours in custody before a magistrate ruled that the arrest and charges were illegal. On 21 August 2001, Fred M’membe surrendered to the police to face charges of defaming President Chiluba, as the government announced that the President could no longer ignore the accusations of impropriety and had decided to clear his name in court. Editor M’membe along with reporter Bivan Saluseki and former Labour Minister Edith Nawakwi, who was quoted in the article, were accused of subjecting Chiluba to hatred, ridicule or contempt. Arbitrary arrest, detention and prison conditions Criminal suspects are often arrested on the basis of scant evidence and police stations frequently become “debt collection centres”, as police officers acting upon unofficial complaints detain debtors without charge. The Magistrates and Judges Association identified congestion in prisons as an extremely serious problem. Prison conditions remain harsh, and, according to official statistics, prisons designed to hold 6,000 prisoners held over 12,000 persons. In 1999, the High Court issued a decision banning corporal punishment in the country. The court system undertook efforts to ensure that the ban was upheld and the Chief Administrator of the High Court publicly reminded magistrates of their obligation to uphold the ban.
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