Examining the role of Zambian Investment and Tourism Law and Policies in Sustaining Neocolonialism: Lessons from South Africa

Abstract

This dissertation critically analysed how Zambia’s Investment, Trade and Business Development Act No. 18 of 2022 and Tourism and Hospitality Act No. 13 of 2015 sustain neo-colonial economic patterns in the tourism sector. Both Acts try to encourage investment and growth, 1 but a study of their open rules shows focus more on protecting and encouraging foreign investors than on supporting local communities. The study, which uses a qualitative and doctrinal method and includes information from community members, investors, and officials, concludes that these laws make people rely more on the system by letting businesses take all their profits out without limits and not having ways for regular people to get involved. By using ideas from postcolonial and critical legal theory and comparing them with South Africa's legal changes like the Protection of Investment Act 2015, the Tourism Act of 2014, and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 2003, the study shows that law can be a tool for economic decolonisation. The dissertation says that Zambia's laws need to change from focusing on attracting foreign investments to a system that empowers people, making sure that wealth is shared, the country's control is protected, and fairness is achieved in how investments and tourism are handled