Evidence suggests that the Zambian government has adapted its developmental local government, Integrated Development Planning process and policy, partly modelled after the South African one. This paper investigates the policy convergence, divergence, synergies, and disparities between these two models to contribute to the improvement of the Zambian Integrated Development Planning process in future. Using a qualitative comparative policy analysis framework, this study analyses primary and secondary data obtained from a few selected municipalities in both Zambia and South Africa. The study found that the political economic ideology and legal framework supporting the South African Integrated Development Planning model seem to be superior to the Zambian one. The Zambian government can officially adapt additional aspects of the South African model but needs to harmonise a number of legal and operational frameworks related to Integrated De