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The Archives of Zambia's United National Independence Party*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

M. C. Musambachime
M. C. Musambachime*
Affiliation:
University of Zambia
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Extract

In an introduction to a University of Zambia publication entitled A Catalogue of Unpublished Materials in Zambia, published in 1978, J. K. Rennie observed that in Zambia there were “many depositories or collections of private and official papers, the extent of whose holdings are imperfectly known and the state of whose preservation was uncertain.” The Catalogue, which was supposed to be the first in a series and was intended to be a “guide to unpublished primary materials … and an aid to research in history and social sciences,” identified thirty government and non-government depositories located in various parts of Zambia. The wealth and diversity of materials held in these depositories were of immense value and benefit to researchers— academics and students interested in historical studies requiring archival research. Rennie, and others who assisted him in locating and documenting these depositories, made what they called a “humble minor beginning in a much larger enterprise. This paper is intended as a further contribution to this enterprise.

In Zambia, one depository that is little known by social science researchers is the archives held by the ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP), located in Freedom House, the party headquarters at the southern end of Cairo Road, which forms part of the Research Bureau of the party. This archives holds important files formerly held by the African National Congress (ANC) formed in 1948 and disbanded in 1973 after the Chôma declaration which ushered in the one-party state and of UNIP, formed in 1960, which today is the only political party in Zambia.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 18 , 1991 , pp. 291 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1991

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Footnotes

*

I wish to express my thanks and gratitude to Dr. John Ngwisha, the Director of the Research Bureau and the Principal Advisor to His Honour the Secretary General of the Party and the staff for their kind assistance and many other kindnesses, and to Messrs A. B. Matongo and M. E. Kashmani for their valuable and concise comments on an earlier draft. All fact and errors of fact and judgment, however, are mine.

References

Notes

1. Rennie, J. K., ed., A Catalogue of Unpublished Materials in Zambia (Lusaka, 1978), 1–2.Google Scholar

2. Ibid., 5.

3. Ibid.

4. On the history of these parties, see Mulford, David, Zambia: the Politics of Independence, 1957-1964 (London, 1967)Google Scholar; Sikalumbi, K. Wittington, Before UNIP (Lusaka, 1977)Google Scholar; Makasa, Kapasa, March to Political Freedom (Nairobi, 1981)Google Scholar; Mwangilwa, Goodwin B., Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula: a Biography of the “Old Lion” of Zambia (Lusaka, 1982).Google Scholar

5. On the supremacy of the party see Pettman, Jan, Zambia: Security and Conflict (London, 1974), 239Google Scholar; Ollawa, P. E., Participatory Democracy in Zambia: The Political Economy of National Development (Hfracombe, 1979), 253–91.Google Scholar

6. Macpherson, Fergus, Anatomy of a Conquest: The British Occupation of Zambia, 1884-1924 (London, 1981).Google Scholar

7. United National Independence Party (UNIP), Library Regulations (1976) (as amended in 1987) (Lusaka, 1987), 16.Google ScholarUNIP, A Guide to Party Library and Archives (Lusaka, 1987), 1.Google Scholar

8. Cap 268, National Archives No. 44, of 1969, vol. 5, The Laws of Zambia.

9. Statutory Instrument No. 61 of 1977 The National Archives Act. The National Archives (Place of Deposit) (Declaration) order 1977 dd 3 March 1977.

10. Constitution of the United National Independence Party, 1979 (Lusaka, 1979), 42–43.Google Scholar

11. His writings on the national philosophy of Humanism, include Main Currents of Zambian Humanist Thought (Lusaka, 1973)Google Scholar; “The Concept of Man-Centredness in Zambian Humanism,” African Review, 3 (1973), 559–79Google Scholar; Zambian Humanism and Scientific Socialism: A Comparative Study (Lusaka, 1987).Google Scholar

12. Party Archives (PA) Freedom House (FH) ANC/1: Kenneth Kaunda (Secretary General of the ANC) to Divisional Presidents, 24 April 1964.

13. Mulford, Zambia; Sikalumbi, Before UNIP; Makasa, March to Freedom; Mwangilwa, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula; Macpherson, , Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia: The Times and the Man (Lusaka, 1974).Google Scholar

14. Chitambala, Frank M., History of the United National Independence Party, (Lusaka, 1984).Google Scholar

15. PA/FH: Descriptive List: ANC, 1.

16. This is also practiced in other Archives. See Mukula, P. M., Information about the National Archives of Zambia (Lusaka, 1981), 7.Google Scholar

17. UNIP, Party Library and Archives, 9.Google Scholar