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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Role of the 'party' in government under the one-party Constitution of Zambia: impact of the Harry Nkumbula and Simon Kapwepwe case
Author:Shimba, Lawrence
Year:1989
Periodical:Lesotho Law Journal: A Journal of Law and Development (ISSN 0255-6472)
Volume:5
Issue:1
Pages:9-29
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Zambia
Central Africa
Subjects:political parties
one-party systems
politics
constitutions
Nkumbula and Kapwepwe case (Zambia)
United National Independence Party (Zambia)
Abstract:The decisions in 1978 and 1979 of the High and Supreme Courts of Zambia in the 'Nkumbula and Kapwepwe case' are the first authoritative judicial pronouncement and interpretation to be made on the legal relationship between the 'party' and governmental organs as provided for both under the one-party Constitution of Zambia of 1973, and the United National Independence Party (UNIP) Constitution, which is an annex to the former. In deciding two preliminary issues, viz. whether it is lawful for the Attorney-General to represent the party in a one-party State of the Zambian type, and whether the UNIP is an entity in law which can sue and be sued in its own name, the High Court left it in no doubt that the party in Zambia is officially a 'fourth' organ of government, after the legislature, executive and judiciary. The UNIP Constitution is an integral part of the constitutional laws of Zambia. The case also enunciated the principle that in a de jure one-party State such as exists in Zambia, the only political party should be accorded a status above that of a mere private organization and be entitled to all State facilities of a material, legal, or administrative nature. The Constitution of Zambia, together with the resultant political practice, has established the party as the supreme institution in the land. Ref.
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