AbstractAnalysing the Zambian administrative reforms of 1968 (Chikulo, 1981) we noted the increasing centralism, moves to strengthen party control over government administration and the closer control over local party officials by party appointees from the centre. These trends have been reinforced by the introduction of the Local Administration Act 1980 which came into force on 1 January 1981. The objective of the 1980 Act was to restructure the pattern of local administration in Zambia into an integrated system of administration. As a result, a single politico‐administrative structure has been created in each district to which has been assigned the totality of government and party activity. As a consequence, the structure of local administration will not only bring the decision‐making process to the district level, but also ensure close party control over the mechanism of field administration.