September 4

September 4 is the 247th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 119 days remaining until the end of the year.

Pre-Colonial (Before 1889)

• c. 4 September 1835 – Chitimukulu Chilyamafwa, paramount chief of the Bemba, dies from wounds sustained in a hunting accident near the Kalungu River (modern-day Kasama District). His death triggers a succession dispute, temporarily fragmenting the Bemba kingdom.

Colonial (1889–1963)

• 4 September 1891 – Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company formally notifies Chief Mpezeni that the Porter Agreement (signed on 11 August 1891) is now ratified. Mpezeni’s envoys mark the day with a royal hunt at Fort Jameson (now Chipata).
• 4 September 1911 – The Rhodesia-Nyasaland Field Force crosses the Zambezi River at Kazungula to suppress the Mwemba Uprising in Barotseland (reported in The Southern Times, 5 September 1911).
• 4 September 1925 – The first scheduled air-mail flight from Livingstone to Cape Town departs at 08:15, marking Zambia’s entry into air-mail services.
• 4 September 1938 – The Northern Rhodesia Legislative Council debates the establishment of the Copperbelt Power Company. The motion passes 12–3, paving the way for industrial electrification.
• 4 September 1958 – Kenneth Kaunda, then Secretary-General of the Zambia African National Congress (ZANC), is arrested at Broken Hill (Kabwe) for "unlawful assembly" after addressing striking mine workers.

Post-Independence (1964–Present)

• 4 September 1965 – President Kenneth Kaunda inaugurates the TAZAMA Pipeline Pump Station at Ndola, securing Zambia’s fuel supply via the Tanzania-Zambia pipeline.
• 4 September 1973 – Second Republic Referendum: 84.8% of voters approve the transition to a one-party participatory democracy under UNIP.
• 4 September 1981 – University of Zambia (UNZA) students stage a sit-in demanding the restoration of meal allowances. Riot police disperse them at 03:00 the next morning.
• 4 September 1990 – The Zambia national football team beats Swaziland 2–0 in a 1992 AFCON qualifier at Dag Hammarskjöld Stadium.
• 4 September 1991 – The Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) officially launches its manifesto at Garden House, Lusaka, setting the stage for the end of one-party rule.
• 4 September 1994 – Zambia Airways Fokker F-27 (9J-RCN) crash-lands at Kasaba Bay with no fatalities, marking the final flight before the airline’s liquidation.
• 4 September 2005 – The Zamtel privatization bill passes its second reading in Parliament (later reversed in 2012).
• 4 September 2011 – President Rupiah Banda launches the LinkZambia 8,000 km fibre-optic project, aiming to expand ICT infrastructure.
• 4 September 2016 – Hakainde Hichilema files the first of 14 post-election petitions challenging the 11 August 2016 presidential vote.
• 4 September 2020 – The Constitutional Court rules that ministers who remained in office after Parliament’s dissolution in 2016 must repay K4.3 million in illegal salaries.
• 4 September 2021 – Zambia records 1,051 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day figure during the Delta wave.
• 4 September 2022 – The IMF Executive Board approves a 38-month, $1.3 billion Extended Credit Facility for Zambia.
• 4 September 2023 – President Hakainde Hichilema appoints Lt-Gen Maliti Solochi as the new Zambia Air Force commander.
• 4 September 2024 – The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) seizes 1.2 tonnes of cocaine worth $120 million at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, the largest drug bust in Zambian history.

Births & Deaths

• Death: 4 September 1989 – Reuben Kamanga, first Vice-President of Zambia (1964–67), dies in Lusaka at age 76.
• No verified births recorded on 4 September in Zambia.