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Political Competition and One-party Dominance in Zambia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Thomas Rasmussen
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Extract

This article concerns two important arenas of political competition in Zambia: on the one hand, between parties and, on the other, within the ruling party itself. Competition between political parties exists especially between the United National Independence Party (U.N.I.P.) and two small party rivals, the African National Congress (A.N.C.) and the United Party (U.P.). Many U.N.I.P. officials at various levels have looked forward to the establishment of a one-party state in Zambia, on the familiar grounds that minor opposition parties appeal to parochial loyalties: that they oppose constructive programmes irresponsibly and hamper their implementation: and that political opposition is a luxury which diverts time, energy, and money away from the important tasks of development. In pursuit of its objective of eliminating inter-party competition, U.N.I.P. has generally employed two different sets of tactics, based on different assumptions about the strength and potential of the two minor parties.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , October 1969 , pp. 407 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

Page 409 note 1 The best source on the politics of this period is Mulford, David, Zambia: the politics of independence, 1957–1964 (London, 1966).Google Scholar

Page 410 note 1 Calculated from provincial data contained in the First National Development Plan, 1966–1970 (Lusaka, 1966).Google Scholar

Page 412 note 1 Times of Zambia (Ndola), 26 02 1968.Google Scholar

Page 412 note 2 Zambia Mail (Lusaka), 6 12 1968.Google Scholar

Page 412 note 3 For an analysis of the December 1968 election, see Scott, Ian and Molteno, Robert, ‘The Zambian General Elections’, in Africa Report (Washington), 01 1969.Google Scholar

Page 413 note 1 Times of Zambia, 22 01 1968.Google Scholar

Page 414 note 1 Times of Zambia, 15 08 1968.Google Scholar

Page 414 note 2 ibid. 13 January 1969.

Page 414 note 3 Barotse Province also had an unusually large number of people who chose not to vote. The percentage poll in the ten contested constituencies in this Province ranged from to 55.6; in the remaining 67.7 contested constituencies in the whole of Zambia the lowest proportion of votes cast was 71 per cent.

Page 415 note 1 Scott and Molteno, op. cit.

Page 415 note 2 Annual Report of the Department of Labour, 1966 (Lusala), pp. 19 and 74.Google Scholar

Page 416 note 1 Tordoff, William, ‘District Government in Zambia’, in theJournal of Administration Overseas (London), 10 1968, P. 540.Google Scholar

Page 416 note 2 Times of Zambia, 24 October 1968.

Page 417 note 1 Wallerstein, Immanuel, ‘Elites in French-Speaking West Africa’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, (Cambridge), III, I, 05 1965, pp. 1–33.Google Scholar

Page 417 note 2 Times of Zambia, 26 August 1968.

Page 418 note 1 Zolberg, Aristide R. has made a similar point in Creating Political Order: the party-states of West Africa (Chicago, 1966), pp. 19 and 22.Google Scholar

Page 419 note 1 Some observers of the political scene cite tribalism as a major causal factor in explaining the excesses of political competition in Africa. For a critique of the efficacy of tribalism in explaining recent political events in Nigeria, see Sklar, Richard L., ‘Contradictions in the Nigerian Political System’, in The journal of Modern African Studies, III, 2, 08 1965, pp. 201–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 421 note 1 See Mulford, op. cit. pp. 150–9 and 211–28.

Page 422 note 1 Times of Zambia, 31 August 1967.

Page 422 note 2 The U.N.I.P. election results of August 1967 are reported and analysed by Rotberg, Robert I., ‘Tribalism and Politics in Zambia’, in Africa Report, 12 1967.Google Scholar