A civil servant or public servant is a person in the public Sector employed for a government

department or agency. The extent of civil servants of a state as part of the "Civil Service" varies

from country to country.

For administrative purposes, Northern Rhodesia was divided into eight provinces, and each

province was subdivided into districts. A Provincial Commissioner headed each province. The

Provincial Commissioner was responsible to the minister in charge of African Affairs for the

‘good administration’ of his province, and for the preservation of law and order in it. The

Provincial Commissioner had powers under the Native Authorities Ordinance to appoint any

African to be the ‘Native Authority’ for an area for a period of six months. He also had certain

judicial powers and duties; he held a court with powers equivalent to those of a resident

magistrate. In turn, a District Commissioner who was assisted by administrative staff, technical

and clerical staff, administered each district.

The District Commissioner was responsible to the Provincial Commissioner for the ‘good

administration’ of his district and for preservation of law and order in it (Mitchell, 1963). This

type of rule was referred to as ‘direct rule’ or ‘pre-fectoral system. It was based on the use of

European colonial administrators in local administration. These administrators dealt directly with

the people. This system was identified with the French, though the British also used it in some

parts of its territories. In this system, a large number of administrators had to be brought from

Europe. Running side by side with the European colonial administration, was a type of rule,

which was known as “indirect rule.’ This was a type of rule which was instituted by either

incorporating existing chiefs into the administration; removing uncooperative chiefs in favour of

others who might or might not be their legitimate successors; or creating chiefs where there were

no chiefs as in Southern Zambia and then putting them under the Native Affairs department to

administer the affairs of the natives.

It was organised by taking traditional structures and changing them into Native Authorities.

Chiefs were given power and jurisdiction over traditional affairs. The sovereign Republic of

Zambia came into existence on the 24th October 1964 by operation of the Zambian

Independence Act of 1964, an Act of the British government. The Act provided that the territory

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known as Northern Rhodesia would cease to be a British protectorate and become an

independent Republic of Zambia.

As Tordoff (1980) observed, ‘one of the Zambian government’s most urgent tasks in 1964 was to

transform the inherited structure of provincial administration- the focal point of the colonial

system of government- into an instrument of economic development.’ Thus,- in 'July 1964 the

old system of provincial and district government was abolished and, the following month, was

replaced by a new, more limited structure of provincial and district government. The reformed

provincial and district government arrangement was intended to coordinate and implement

government policies and provide a link between government and the new structure of party

power. It was stripped of most of its predecessor’s functions, which were distributed among

central government ministries and their agencies. For example, the Local Courts Department of

the Ministry of Justice took over the re - organisation and running of the old native authority

courts (Zambia, 1966a); the responsibility for law and order was devolved to the police... The

Ministry of Local Government became responsible for supervising the rural local authorities

through its own cadre of local government officers (Tordoff).

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