ZAMBIA POLICE HISTORY

The Zambia Police Force in its current form has a very rich background. It is important to note that once upon a time, the responsibility of maintaining law and order was shouldered on the Northern Rhodesia Police Force from which the Northern Rhodesia Regiment, now the Zambia Army, originated.

The evolution of the Zambia Police Force is associated with the expansion of economic interests to the land north of the Zambezi river by the British South African Company(BSA), a privately owned enterprise which had its headquarters in South Africa. The main economic interest of BSA was to acquire mining rights in Northern Rhodesia and the first contact was with the Paramount Chief of Barotseland.

Chief Executive Officer of BSA, Cecil Rhodes sent an officer from Bechuanaland Police by the name of Lochner to negotiate a concession with authorities of Barotseland.The BSA Company was granted a charter in 1811 to expand its activities over the territory north of the Zambezi river. During this period, there was growing influence of German expansion from Tanganyika and the threat of slave trading by the Arabs in the north. This prompted Cecil Rhodes to expand the influence of the BSA in the land north of the Zambezi River. Northern Rhodesia was divided into two regions, the North Eastern Rhodesia and Northwestern Rhodesia. In order to accomplish the business mandate, the BSA organised armed forces comprising officers seconded from British regiment which was based in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia.

The evolution of the Zambia Police is associated with the events that took place in the divided areas of North-Eastern Rhodesia and North-Western Rhodesia.

The BSA Company penetrated the northern frontier of Northern Rhodesia from Blantyre, Nyasaland and the main aim of occupying the area was to halt German influence from Tanganyika and to fight slave trading by the Arabs. Before the BSA Company moved into the territory, the Imperial Commissioner of Nyasaland, Mr. H H Johnson was appointed as administrator of the Company and during this period, the Indian Police Force was raised and equipped.
An agreement was made in 1894 between the BSA and Her majesty, the Queen permitting the company to take over the administration of North-Eastern Rhodesia from the Imperial Commissioner. The BSA Company recruited its own Police Force and in 1900, the North-Eastern Order Council was passed which provided for the formation of the Police Force. The Police Force was formed and it became known as the North-Eastern Constabulary. By 1902, the number of Police officers rose to 385 and Police Station were opened in Mkushi, Kapopo, Muyanga and Feira.The Headquarters of North-Eastern Constabulary was at Fort Jameson now Chipata.
The main duty was to maintain law and order in North-Eastern Rhodesia. The Force was semi military as officers underwent training in musketry and were issued with rifles. As a rule, Police officers were not allowed to carry weapons when performing duties. The Police officers responsibility was to maintain law and order, carry out guard duties and escorting caravans.

A no man’s land between the two territories existed and each part had its own admistration. Lochner, an officer from Bechuanaland Police Force was sent by Rhodes to conclude the agreement and when authority was granted by Lewanika to expand its economic interests, the BSA company realised the need to institute a Police Force to accomplish the mission. The Police Force was constituted and it comprised European volunteers from Southern Rhodesia. The BSA title was relinquished and the company name became British South African Police.

The area of jurisdiction of the Force included Kafue Flats and the first Police Post was established at Fort Monze, the second one was opened at Kaleya in Mazabuka. It was from these posts that police patrols of the BSA Police Force were conducted around Kafue Flats and Batoka Plateau. Police Stations were also established in Kazungula, Sesheke and Kalomo.These areas were not suitable due to threats of disease like malaria. Kalomo was identified to be ideal and was made the headquarters of North western Rhodesia Police Force. The need arose to incorporate a body of native Police officers in the Force.

Authority was granted through the proclamation of 1899 to establish the Barotse Native Police. By 1902, there were five districts each supervised by the District Commissioner and each constituted a detachment of Barotse Native Police. The areas included Monze, Nkala, Kasempa, Lealui and Victoria falls.

The Northwestern Rhodesia Police Force and Northeastern Rhodesia Constabulary were amalgamated in 1911 to form the Northern Rhodesia Police Force with its headquarters in Livingstone. The first commandant of the police force was major F.A Hodson and the organization was a military one. A limited number of about 12 Europeans were recruited to perform civil police functions. These were deployed along the line of rail and performed duties in towns and districts while the bulk of the force was called military company.

When the First World War broke out in1914, the military branch of Northern Rhodesia Police Force was declared active. The military branch fought in areas outside the limits of the country while the civil police performed duties in the towns and districts. In 1924, through an ordinance, a Police Force which was purely civil in form, character and organisation was formed as part of reorganisation. Its functions and areas of jurisdiction were clearly re-defined by the Northern Rhodesia Ordinance. The Force had also the military branch where an entrant was required to serve at least three years before being transferred to Police duties. During this time, the British Crown took over the administration of Northern Rhodesia from the British South African Company.

In 1927, a training depot was opened at Livingstone for the Civil Police. In July, 1928, a further re-organisation took place. The Officer Commanding Town and District Police was re-designated as Commissioner of Police. Military ranks of sergeant-major 1st, 2nd and 3rd class and Sergeants, were re-designated as Inspector and Assistant Inspectors. By 1932, the civil branch of the force had grown larger than the military one and it was decided to form separate units. As a temporal measure, they were given the titles of Northern Rhodesia civil Police and Northern Rhodesia military Police but later in the same year, the civil title was dropped from the former and the following year, the latter became the Northern Rhodesia Regiment which later evolved to what is known as the Zambia Army.

On the Copperbelt, mine towns, the slowness of the mining companies promoting Africans sparked off violent strikes in 1955. Armed police were used to quell the strikes with many casualties on the civilian side. Police functions were further compounded by activities of the African nationalist movements led by Keneth Kaunda’s UNIP and Harry Nkumbula’s ANC party which agitated for the end of colonial rule in Northern Rhodesia. At the same time, an uprising was looming in the north of the country where a religious movement known as the Lumpa, led by Alice Lenshina intended to break away from the country. This led to the creation of a wing of the police called the Mobile Unit in 1949. The unit acted as a striking force in disturbed areas.

The years leading to the territory’s independence were most difficult in the history of the Police. For example, in 1961, UNIP launched an extensive civil disobedience against the Colonial Government called ChaChaCha that spearheaded activities especially in the Northern, Luapula and Copperbelt provinces. Inspite UNIP’s leader’s insistence on using peaceful means to end white-minority rule in Northern Rhodesia, violence was extensively used by Kaunda’s followers. Bridges and Government buildings such as schools and courts were burnt, roads and vehicles were damaged.

In October 1964, when the territory gained its political independence, UNIP became the ruling party.
In the immediate post-independence era, Zambia faced numerous challenges in policing the nation because of the transition from the British colonialists who had dominated the top positions in the police force.

Although there was a crop of officers that had advanced their education, most of them had a humble educational background as they merely attained the seventh grade and were mostly kept at lower levels in terms of ranks.
A year after Zambia’s independence, Michael Mataka was the first indigenous police officer to be at the helm of the police force as commissioner.

Creation of paramilitary police
The unsettled conditions which existed in some neighbouring countries where civil wars had broken out placed a heavy strain on the officers who were required to police borders.

The southern border was the most fragile because of the military invasions which the Rhodesia army constantly carried as they believed that the rebels who were fighting the white minority in Southern Rhodesia were harboured in Zambia.

As a result of this insecurity in border areas, Government introduced a Police Paramilitary Unit in 1966 which acted as a striking force against disturbances and disorders of a military nature. The paramilitary unit was placed under the command of the Inspector General of Police.

The flying squad
In the same year, a new wave of crime involving armed robbers hit Copperbelt towns, threatening not only human life but also mine operations. During this period, national daily newspapers carried a lot of stories on robberies that had rocked the province. The police, who at the time did not think of crime prevention as a priority, had difficulties in responding to the new trends of crime.

In trying to find a solution to this emerging scenario, the police in 1969 established a special investigation task force called the “Flying Squad.”

The introduction of this unit saw a reduction in the spate of violent crimes which had rocked the country.
In 1970, Mr Mataka was retired on medical grounds. He was succeeded by Fabiano Chela as Commissioner of Police.

During Mr. Chela’s reign, the office of Commissioner was in 1973 upgraded to that of Inspector General of Police. In 1981, President Kenneth Kaunda appointed Mr. Chela as Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs while still holding the position of Inspector General of Police.

Between 1978 and 1979, Mr. Chela was sent to Egypt to serve as Zambia’s ambassador. Chrispin Katukula was appointed Inspector General of Police. Mr. Katukula did not last in this position as Mr. Chela was recalled in 1979.

In 1983, Mr. Chela was promoted to full minister and transferred to head the Ministry of Water Affairs.

Hebert Mapili, who was Commissioner of Police in charge of special duties, succeeded him as Inspector General of Police.

Mr. Mapili was succeeded by Henry Mtonga in 1985. It was during this period that Mr Mtonga was appointed a Member of the Central Committee (MCC). This led to M. Mtonga establishing the office of political consultant based at Force Headquarters to specifically deal with political matters.

A senior assistant commissioner was appointed to head this newly created department.

In 1986, Government introduced vigilantee officers after amending the Police Act through the Zambia Police (Amendment) Act number 23 of 1985.

These vigilantees worked during their spare time as volunteers foreseeing preservation of peace in their respective communities.
In 1989, Mr. Mtonga was retired and replaced by Joshua Konayuma, who only lasted until1990 and was succeeded by Zunga Siakalima.
The opposition Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) under the leadership of Frederick Chiluba took over government in 1991 and Mr. Siakalima was subsequently retired.

Darius Kalebo, who had attained fame for fighting armed robbers on the Copperbelt, was then appointed Inspector General of Police. During Mr Kalebo’s reign, in August 1992, the then Minister of Home Affairs Newstead Zimba authorised police to ‘shoot on sight’ those thought by police to be armed robbers.

By February 1993, the minister re-affirmed his support for the ‘shoot to kill’ policy on armed bandits. This led to about 13 people being fatally shot in 1993 alone in circumstances that suggested excessive force was used. Reports of police brutality continued to feature while crime levels, especially violent crimes, on the other hand increased. By 1994, police reportedly shot dead 30 suspected criminals. This led to the retirement of Mr. Kalebo and his deputy Hobson Simasiku.

Government, due to increase in police abuse and growing discontent on police operations, introduced the Zambia Police Reform Programme, which saw transformation of police from a military organisation to a more civil one.

To lead the process of transformation, Francis Ndlovu was appointed Inspector General of Police. In 1995, Mr. Ndlovu launched the Police Reform Programme and formulated a mission statement in which the police pledged to respect individual freedoms and rights and to facilitate democratic governance through community involvement. This reformation programme received full government support. Its implementation aimed at changing the face of the police from a brutal institution to a humane and accountable one. The reform programme was later translated into “Zambia Police Leadership and the Reforms”. The police also adopted the community policing model as a method of safeguarding communities and neighbourhoods. This model emphasised close partnership between the police and the public through identification of policing problems with a view to finding solutions together.

This was also to provide checks on police abuses through a five-year Strategic Development Plan of 1995 – 2000. This saw the introduction of an independent Police Complaints Authority to hear police abuses. In a bid to eliminate the old military policing system, the word ‘Force’ was replaced by ‘Service’ ,which saw the police adopt the name Zambia Police Service.

Under this new concept, the police introduced structures which offered hope as they had direct impact on police public relations. These concepts included, the Victim Support Unit (VSU) in which selected officers were given special training aimed at assisting vulnerable victims of crime such as children, women and the elderly. By the end of 1998, all major police stations in Zambia had established the VSU.

The police service also established another structure called Chaplaincy to be headed by an ordained clergy whose responsibility was to offer religious counselling services to police officers and their families.

The Schools Liaison Unit was also created to conduct educational programmes for children in schools.

The police training syllabus introduced, for the first time, the teaching of human rights to police recruits. This also saw the introduction of police identity tags for all police officers so that erring officers could easily be identified and reported to authorities.
In April 1998, the minister of Home Affairs organised a National Crime Conference at which recommendations were made to improve training of police officers, especially on human rights issues.

Courtesy of History and Reformation of Zambia Police: Lusaka: Unza Press
Benedict Tembo – Zambia Daily Mail