When President Hakainde Hichilema announced in May 2022 that Zambia would soon abolish the death penalty, few took him seriously. Not only had he said little about it before, but he had shown a lack of urgency in honouring his election pledges to repeal repressive laws that undermine Zambians’ human rights and fundamental freedoms. Many were therefore caught by surprise on 23 December, when he made the pledge a reality, deservedly attracting plaudits from rights groups.
The death penalty was introduced in colonial Northern Rhodesia in 1931 as the punishment for anyone convicted of murder, treason or aggravated robbery. It was given effect by the criminal procedure code (CPC) two years later, backed by article 12 of the country’s bill of rights, unchanged since 1963. Since independence from Britain in 1964, Zambia has executed 72 people, with 380 currently on death row. The country’s founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, sanctioned 64 executions, while his successor Frederick Chiluba approved eight.
Since 1997, Zambian presidents have refused to sign execution orders, choosing instead to commute sentences to life imprisonment. The removal of capital provisions from the penal code is a positive step that marks the end of the use of a cruel, inhuman and degrading method of punishment. It also makes Zambia compliant with the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Also on 23 December, Hichilema assented to the repeal of a 1965 law on defamation of the president, which made it an offence – punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment – to publish “any defamatory or insulting matter … with intent to bring the president into hatred, ridicule or contempt”. This provision had been used to deter criticism through the threat of arrest and numerous convictions, including under Hichilema’s presidency. Its abolition is a victory for free speech and another positive step towards the promotion of human rights.
However, the president has left a number of repressive laws on the statutes. A key example is the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act, which was hurriedly enacted by the Edgar Lungu administration on the eve of the 2021 election, allowing the authorities to tap and confiscate electronic devices without proper safeguards. Some Zambians are already facing prosecution for breaching this law under Hichilema, who, in opposition, had promised to repeal it as his first act in office.
Another example is the Public Order Act, requiring any person who intends to convene a public meeting to give at least seven days’ notice, and conferring discretionary powers on the police to ban a meeting if they are unable, for any reason, to manage it. This colonial-era law has long been used in Zambia to restrict rights to assembly and free speech. Under Lungu, meetings of opposition parties and peaceful demonstrations by civil society were repeatedly curtailed. Violations are punishable by up to six years’ imprisonment.
Even the Penal Code Act, yet another colonial-era relic, contains provisions that criminalise libel and outlaw homosexuality, while its text is full of derogatory terms such as idiot, imbecile, vagabond and prostitute. None of this is arcane knowledge. Hichilema came into office when the statutory Zambia Law Development Commission had just finalised a 10-year comprehensive review of the penal code and the CPC. The commission handed its report to the minister of justice last February and recommended the immediate removal of several archaic provisions that restrict human rights, including capital punishment and the criminal defamation of the president.
A year later, the government is yet to provide any clear roadmap for comprehensive legal and constitutional reforms. The removal of the insult law and the death penalty – the latter of which is a change opposed by the majority of Zambians (one consultation found that nine out of the country’s 10 provinces favoured retaining it) – occurred only after western pressure.
Since the president has weakened civil society by co-opting into government nearly all the civic leaders who acted as a check on power under Lungu, the pace and direction of legal reforms appear to be at the mercy of western powers and actors. These include the US, the EU, the UK, and a gaggle of advisers from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, who have been working with the president’s office since March 2022. Western influence on policy remains a thorny matter. It has led to important reforms, but raises challenging questions about how to untangle good outcomes from bad process.
A law on access to information – defined by the UN as “the right to seek, receive, and impart information held by public bodies”, and widely accepted as a core part of freedom of expression – was promised yet not delivered by successive governments. Hichilema’s has followed suit, raising questions about the president’s commitment to fighting corruption; he has refused to publish the value of his assets despite being elected on a platform of accountability and transparency. The failure to release his net worth is especially concerning given his extensive business interests and makes it difficult to work out to what extent his economic policies are benefiting companies in which he has a stake.
Hichilema’s sporadic delivery of promised democratic reforms is part of a wider failure to act on his election pledges, including subsidising agricultural fertiliser, reducing the cost of living, tackling corruption, resolving problems in the mining industry that have left tens of thousands of jobs under threat, and addressing persistent shortages of drugs and other medical supplies in public hospitals. The resumption of crippling 12-hour daily power cuts has made a mockery of his assurances only a few months ago that his administration had ended the energy crisis. In this context, public opinion of Hichilema in Zambia contrasts with the praise he is receiving from the west.
Sishuwa Sishuwa is a historian and lecturer in modern history at the University of Zambia. Twitter: @ssishuwa
