https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7213-4337
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ABSTRACT
Much of the scholarly work on politics in Zambia’s one-party state stresses the non-competitiveness of its parliamentary elections and holds that politicians were unable to cultivate the power of patronage because the political system was heavily weighted against the practice. This article uses a case study of Michael Sata, an individual politician who was twice elected Member of Parliament in Zambia’s capital city in the 1980s, to offer a two-fold reassessment of elections and patronage politics during the one-party state. First, it reveals how Sata successfully built links with leading business elites who, in the expectation that he would help them secure their businesses, financed his electoral campaigns. Second, it shows how Sata, who also simultaneously served as Governor of Lusaka, secured his re-election by using public resources to establish patronage support networks, expressed through the construction of housing units for his constituency’s burgeoning population. More broadly, the article demonstrates that it was possible under the one-party state to mobilise political support outside the party structures and build patronage networks that challenged the logic of centralised control. For the most part of one-party rule, however, these power bases were not visible and can only be uncovered through detailed case studies.
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my gratitude to the two anonymous JEAS reviewers, whose constructive feedback helped to improve the final version of this article. I am also grateful to Aaron Griffiths for his useful comments on an earlier version of the paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 Mulford, “Northern Rhodesia”.
2 Tordoff and Molteno, Politics in Zambia.
3 For Sata’s biography, see Sishuwa, “I am Zambia’s Redeemer”. For Sata’s time in opposition, see Sishuwa, “Join Me to Get Rid of this President”, 11–33.
4 Gertzel, The Dynamics of the One-Party State in Zambia.
5 Wanyande, “Democracy and the One-Party State,” 78.
6 Macola, Liberal Nationalism in Central Africa, 147.
7 Ibid., 150.
8 Cheeseman, “The Rise and Fall of Civil-Authoritarianism in Africa”.
9 Posner, Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa.
10 Larmer, “Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa,” 651.
11 Central Statistical Office, 1980 Population and Housing Census of Zambia, 5.
12 Chikulo, “The Impact of Elections in Zambia’s One Party Second Republic,” 37–49.
13 Ibid., 48.
14 Baylies and Szeftel, “Elections in the One-party State”.
15 Posner, Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, 174.
16 Bratton, The Local Politics of Rural Development.
17 Ibid., 246.
18 Roberts, A History of Zambia, 230.
19 Ibid.
20 Larmer, “Zambia’s Mineworkers and Political Change, 1964-1991,” 81.
21 Ibid., 82.
22 Larmer, Mineworkers in Zambia, 46.
23 The World Bank, “Zambia – Country Economic Memorandum,” 73.
24 Chan, Southern Africa, 201.
25 Larmer, Rethinking African Politics, 242.
26 Baylies and Szeftel, “The Fall and Rise of Multi-Party Politics in Zambia,” 75–91.
27 Larmer, Rethinking African Politics, 242.
28 Ibid., 243.
29 Baylies and Szeftel, “The Fall and Rise,” 80.
30 Mulford, “Northern Rhodesia,” 13.
31 Larmer, “‘A Little Bit Like A Volcano’ – The United Progressive Party and Resistance to One-Party Rule in Zambia, 1964-1980,” 49–83. Also see Sishuwa, “A White Man Will Never Be a Zambian”, 519.
32 Baylies and Szeftel, “Elections in the one-party state”, 29. Voter turnout was to improve in subsequent years. For instance, it increased to 67 per cent in 1978 before declining to 65.6 per cent in 1983 and 59 per cent five years later.
33 Larmer, “Zambia’s Mineworkers and Political Change, 1964-1991,” 154.
34 Larmer, Rethinking African Politics, 124.
35 Interview, Neo Simutanyi, Lusaka, 13 January 2014.
36 Larmer, “Chronicle of a Coup Foretold,” 391–409.
37 Nordlund, Organising the Political Agora.
38 Larmer, Mineworkers in Zambia.
39 It is worth noting that Zambia went back to the IMF after 1988 and that this was one of the key elements that delegitimised the one-party state.
40 MacMillan, The Lusaka Years, 260.
41 Times of Zambia, 15 March 1990, 1.
42 Nordlund, Organising the Political Agora, 101.
43 This section draws heavily from Sishuwa, “I am Zambia’s Redeemer”.
44 Interview, Michael Sata, Lusaka, 13 January 2013.
45 Interview, Rodger Chongwe, Lusaka, 28 November 2015.
46 Ibid.
47 Interview, Michael Sata, Lusaka, 13 January 2013.
48 Chikulo, “The Impact of Elections,” 38.
49 Posner, Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, 174.
50 Ibid.
51 Times of Zambia, 1 November 1983, 7.
52 Interview, Derick Chitala, Lusaka, 22 October 2015.
53 UNIP, The UNIP Manual of Rules and Regulations,13.
54 Interview, Michael Sata, 13 January 2013.
55 Ibid.
56 Interview, William Banda, Lusaka, 23 October 2015.
57 Ibid.; Interview, Derick Chitala, Lusaka, 22 October 2015.
58 Interview, William Banda, Lusaka, 23 October 2015.
59 Interview, Derick Chitala, Lusaka, 22 October 2015.
60 Interview, Martha Zulu, Lusaka, 26 October 2015.
61 Interview, Joan Irwin, Johannesburg, 6 May 2014.
62 Ibid.
63 Interview, Kenneth Kaunda, Lusaka, 19 October 2015.
64 Interview, Joan Irwin, Johannesburg, 6 May 2014.
65 Ibid.
66 Interview, Joan Irwin, Johannesburg, 6 May 2014.
67 Interview, Michael Sata, Lusaka, 13 January 2013.
68 Interview, Stelios Sardanis, Lusaka, 26 September 2014.
69 Interview, Joan Irwin, Johannesburg, 6 May 2014.
70 Ibid.
71 Interview, Martha Zulu, Lusaka, 26 October 2015.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.
74 Interview, Derick Chitala, Lusaka, 22 October 2015
75 See, Ambler, “Alcohol, Racial Segregation and Popular Politics in Northern Rhodesia,” and Crush and Ambler, Liquor and Labour in Southern Africa, 339–66.
76 Interview, Sikota Wina, Lusaka, 29 November 2015.
77 Interview, Carl Irwin, Lusaka, 14 May 2015.
78 ZNBC Television Main News, 23 February 2012.
79 Interview, Rupiah Banda, Lusaka, 12 February 2013.
80 Times of Zambia, 25 April 1985, 1.
81 Central Statistical Office, 1980 Population and Housing Census of Zambia, 3.
82 UNIP, The National Policies for the Decade 1985-1995, 32.
83 Zambia Daily Mail, 7 December 1983, 1.
84 Zambia Daily Mail, 23 September 1985, 1.
85 Interview, Lovemore Mudenda, Lusaka, 27 November 2015.
86 Interview, Michael Sata, Lusaka, 13 January 2013; Interview, Lovemore Mudenda, Lusaka, 27 November 2015.
87 Ibid.
88 Interview, Michael Sata, Lusaka, 13 January 2013.
89 Zambia Daily Mail, 29 October 1988, 1.
90 See Hyden and Leys, “Elections and Politics in Single-Party Systems” and Barkan and Okumu, “Semi-Competitive Elections”, 88–107.
91 For Sata’s activities during decolonisation, see Sishuwa, “I am Zambia’s Redeemer,” 27–89.
92 Interview, Neo Simutanyi, Lusaka, 13 January 2014.
93 Ferguson, Expectations of Modernity, 12.
94 See Sishuwa, “Michael Sata, Party Branding and the Politics of Historical Memory in Zambia.”