Reaction & Resistance to Neo-liberalism in Zambia

Abstract

This paper explores the current Zambian discourse around neo-liberal economic polices, in particular its expression in a trade union-led campaign against the privatisation of the Zambian National Commercial Bank (ZNCB). It locates the origin of these protests in the impact of economic liberalisation programmes implemented by the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) since 1991. The paper studies the privatisation of the economically strategic copper mining industry and, taking as a case study the mining town of Luanshya, explores the linkages between a secretive and corrupt privatisation process, and its human consequences for mineworkers, their families and communities. It finds that the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) sought to implement privatisation regardless of legal requirements, social consequences, and the future sustainability of the mining industry. It surveys the development of opposition to privatisation amongst civil society organisations, particularly trade unions, and seeks to identify emerging Zambian alternatives to neo-liberalism, including new models of popular control of strategic economic resources, and a renewed authoritarian nationalism that feeds on popular resentment of the effects of neo-liberal policies.

Acknowledgments

This paper draws on material collected whilst the author was a Ph.D. Research Student at the University of Sheffield. It draws on material collected during research visits to Zambia in September to October 2001 and August 2002 to March 2003, particularly on interviews carried out with present and former officials of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Mineworkers' Union of Zambia (MUZ), and other unions. I am grateful to the Beit Fund and the University of Sheffield for their generous financial support of these visits.

Notes

1. Inter-African Network for Human Rights & Development (Afronet), Citizens for a BetterEnvironment (CBE), & Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), Zambia: Deregulation and the denial of human rights; Submission to the OECD Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Lusaka, Kitwe, Oxford, March 2000), p. 234.

2. This is a finding of the Afronet/RAID/CBE report. I am indebted to RAID's Patricia Feeney for additional information on this subject; the conclusions drawn are my own.

3. Interviews with former MUZ officials and mineworkers, including Evelyn Musonda, Cameron Pwele and Anton Kaluba, 2002-2003.

4. Interviews with Henry Mukuka, Luanshya Mpatamatu sub-Branch Chairman in 1998, 16 December 2002; and Cameron Pwele, 17 March 2003.

5. Discussions with George Mulenga, MUZ Organising Secretary, December 2002.

6. Economics Association of Zambia meeting, Lusaka, 12 March 2003.

7. Discussions with senior MUZ officials, Kitwe, Oct 2002-March 2003.

8. MUZ Head Office File MUZ/15/13/81: other government ministries and government bodies, 1981-2001.

9. This point is made by Austin Muneku, ZCTU Director of Research, various discussions 2001 and 2002.

10. ‘Feeding the Nation’, ZNBC TV, 13 March 2003.

11. BBC World Service, Focus on Africa, 16 November 2004.

12. See for example, The Post, 10 May 2003, Mwanawasa meeting with World Bank Country Director Paul Schafer.

13. Sympathetic and supportive views of Mugabe and Zanu-PF were found in numerous discussions during recent visits to Zambia.