Zambia close to home — the provinces, cities and councils, local government, service delivery and the civic stories that shape daily life.
On 11 May 2026 Zambia’s Constitutional Court declared Sections 56 and 57 of the Local Government Act unconstitutional, ruling that the Minister of Local Government cannot suspend elected councils and install an unelected administrator in their place.
KoBold Metals broke ground on shaft construction at the Mingomba copper project in Chililabombwe on 29 April 2026, an investment exceeding US$2 billion billed as Zambia’s largest-ever private investment.
Western Province’s Tapo-Lulambo feeder road in Mongu has reached about 9km of a 40km target, part of a 150km rural-roads push that officials say will improve access to markets and government services.
Water minister Collins Nzovu toured the WARMA-hosted regional water-quality laboratory under construction in Lusaka’s Ibex Hill on 6 May 2026, finding it about 50% complete and rebuking the contractor over materials and progress.
The Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company is doubling the Chunga treatment plant and building a new 54-million-litre plant at Ngwerere under the US$300 million Lusaka Sanitation Programme, backed by German and European Investment Bank finance.
Zambia logged 987 cumulative cholera cases and 16 deaths from 1 January to 10 May 2026, roughly double the 2025 burden, with Northern Province the epicentre and an oral cholera vaccine response under way.
On World Refugee Day, Zambia is home to more than 113,000 refugees — most from the DR Congo and the Great Lakes — and is trying to turn its settlements from camps into economic hubs by folding refugees into national services.
The Zambia Revenue Authority and the High Commission in London held their first tax webinar for Zambians in the UK — covering registration, tax clearance and investment incentives, with a 30 June revenue-strategy deadline flagged.
Brian Mundubile took the Tonse Pamodzi alliance to a mass rally in Kitwe, sharpening the opposition’s challenge to President Hakainde Hichilema two months before the 13 August vote.
DR Congo has confirmed 782 Ebola cases and 178 deaths as the outbreak reaches two more health zones, keeping Zambia’s northern border on watch amid a WHO high-risk rating for neighbours.
On a two-province swing through Chinsali and Kitwe, President Hakainde Hichilema directed UPND officials and adopted candidates to settle internal disputes and campaign as one team ahead of the 13 August general election.
The National Pension Scheme Authority says its US$300 million stake in the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway was a commercial decision protected by escrow and toll revenues — not a project forced on it by the government. The money comes from Zambian workers’ pensions.
The DRC says confirmed Ebola cases have risen to 598 with 115 deaths across three eastern provinces, a Bundibugyo-strain outbreak with no approved treatment that puts neighbours, including Zambia, on watch at the border.
Former Information Minister Chishimba Kambwili pleaded guilty before the Lusaka Magistrates' Court to departing Zambia without passing through immigration, a charge tied to a 2024 Zimbabwe crossing. The plea change sends the matter to sentencing on 4 June 2026.
A 36-year-old Chingola man, Kelvin Musebo, died in a tunnel collapse at the OB 13 KCM dumpsite while allegedly engaged in illegal mining, the police said. Separately, the Ministry of Mines says the state will no longer fund rescues of people engaged in illegal mining on the Copperbelt.
Illegal mining is collapsing Johannesburg into sinkholes, costing the city billions. For Zambia's Copperbelt, with its own abandoned shafts and informal miners, it is a warning.
Zambia's Drug Enforcement Commission seized cannabis and codeine syrup hidden in the fuel tank of a Copperbelt-bound bus in Kabwe and arrested five people, in its latest trafficking interception.
Paramount Chief Mpezeni IV, the Ngoni traditional ruler of Zambia's Eastern Province, has died at 75 after a 44-year reign. Government has begun engaging the Royal Establishment on succession.
The World Health Organization reported 906 suspected Ebola cases and 223 suspected deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an escalation of the Bundibugyo outbreak now pressing on Zambia's northern border and Copperbelt cross-border trade.
The World Health Organization declared the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda a global health emergency on 17 May, with 80 deaths reported and no licensed vaccine for the strain. Zambia is now screening arrivals at Kasumbalesa, Kashiba, Mokambo, Jimbe and Chembe — the five border posts that handle most road traffic with the DRC, including the copper and cobalt that move down the North-South corridor.
To stand for president in Zambia, a candidate cannot rely on a single regional base. The Constitution requires the nomination to be supported by registered voters from each of the country's ten provinces — a deliberate test of national reach. The Electoral Commission of Zambia ran provincial pre-processing of presidential supporters from 11 to 15 May 2026 to verify those backers before nominations. Here is how the rule works and why it exists.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia has extended the nomination period for National Assembly, mayoral and council-chairperson candidates ahead of the 13 August general election. The presidential window closed on schedule; this extension covers the down-ballot races. The move buys parties more time to finalise adoptions, but it also tightens the calendar that follows — objections, the courts and the gazette all have to happen before campaigning proper begins.
Kansanshi Mining PLC says it spent about US$21 million on local procurement in the first quarter of 2026, drawing supply from 553 local companies and renewing contracts with named suppliers including Cable Network Solutions and Blue Lithium Communications.
Local is the beat closest to readers — Zambia's provinces, its cities and districts, and the councils and civic institutions that run them. The section follows local government and service delivery: water and sanitation, roads and markets, housing and land, electricity at the household level, and the everyday decisions taken in Lusaka, on the Copperbelt and in towns from Livingstone to Solwezi. The framing is practical and accountable — who is responsible, what was promised, what was delivered, and what it costs the people who live there. National policy matters here only where it lands on a street, a clinic or a classroom, and the reporting keeps that local end of the telescope in view.
Politics
Zambian government, policy and governance — the decisions that set the rules for everything else.
Business & Economy
Zambian business, the macro economy, trade and investment — what is moving and why it matters.
Health
Public health in Zambia — hospitals and clinics, disease and outbreaks, medicines, and the Ministry of Health.
