'It means as if we are excluded from the good freedom': Thwarted expectations of independence in the Luapula province of Zambia, 1964-6

Journal of African History

Volumn 47, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 43-56

  Macola, Giacomo ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Central Africa; Congo; Ethnicity; Independence; Nationalism; Postcolonial; Zambia

Indexed keywords

ETHNICITY; INDEPENDENCE; NATIONALISM; POLITICAL HISTORY; POST-COLONIALISM;

AFRICA; CENTRAL AFRICA; CONGO; LUAPULA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; ZAMBIA;

EID: 33748504749     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: 14695138     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853705000848     Document Type: Article

References (100)

1. Forty years after their compilation, R. I. Rotberg, The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873-1964 (Cambridge MA, 1965),
2. and D. C. Mulford, Zambia: The Politics of Independence, 1957-1964 (Oxford, 1967), remain the most comprehensive analyses of Zambian nationalism.
3. On the atrophied state of the historiography of postcolonial Africa as a whole, see S. Ellis, 'Writing histories of contemporary Africa', Journal of African History, 43 (2002), 1-26, esp. 8.
4. For another recent step in the right direction, see M. Larmer, 'Zambia's mine-workers and political change, 1964-1991' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Sheffield, 2004).
5. M. Bratton, The Local Politics of Rural Development: Peasant and Party-State in Zambia (Hanover and London, 1980), 10.
6. The most representative examples of the literature I have in mind are possibly W. Tordoff (ed.), Politics in Zambia (Manchester, 1974)
7. C. Gertzel (ed.), The Dynamics of the One-Party State in Zambia (Manchester, 1984)
8. and M. M. Burdette, Zambia: Between Two Worlds (Boulder, 1988).
9. Bratton, Local Politics.
10. Chapter 10 of R. H. Bates, Rural Responses to Industrialization: A Study of Village Zambia (New Haven and London, 1976), includes a masterly, though less detailed and geographically more narrow, treatment of some of the same problématiques with which I am concerned here.
11. A. L. Epstein, Politics in an Urban African Community (Manchester, 1958).
12. Deposited at the National Archives of Zambia (NAZ), Lusaka, in 2003 and marked by the code HM 89.
13. The most explicit formulations of the argument are to be found in Burdette, Zambia, 67-8,
14. and J. M. Mwanakatwe, End of Kaunda Era (Lusaka, 1994), 48.
15. But see also W. Tordoff and R. Molteno, 'Introduction', in Tordoff (ed.), Politics in Zambia, 14-18
16. C. Gertzel, C. Baylies and M. Szeftel, 'Introduction: The making of the one-party state', in Gertzel (ed.), Dynamics, 5.
17. For a more realistic assessment of 'growing peasant apathy to the party' from the mid-1960s, see Bratton, Local Politics, 228-9.
18. I am indebted to Miles Larmer for bringing home to me the momentousness of this interpretative category.
19. G. L. Caplan, The Elites of Barotseland, 1878-1969: A Political History of Zambia's Western Province (London, 1970).
20. Tordoff and Molteno, 'Introduction', 20-1.
21. Compare, e.g., the famous special issue of The Voice of U.N.I.P., A Grim Peep into the North (Lusaka, n.d. [but late 1961]), 15-20, with Kawambwa Tour Reports, 2, 4 and 7, 1960, NAZ, SEC2/887.
22. M. C. Musambachime, 'Rural political protest: The 1953 disturbances in Mweru-Luapula', International Journal of African Historical Studies, 20 (1987), 437-53
23. Mulford, Zambia, 70-1
24. C. Baylies, 'Luapula province: Economic decline and political alienation in a rural U.N.I.P. stronghold', in Gertzel (ed.), Dynamics, 169-73.
25. The quotation is taken from Kawambwa Annual Report for 1960, encl. in District Commissioner (Kawambwa) to Provincial Commissioner (Luapula), Kawambwa, 21 Jan. 1961, NAZ, LP 2/2/81.
26. Bratton, Local Politics, 206.
27. A 1963 leader in People's Voice, the UNIP newsletter for the Southern province, pointed out that the party had 'not promised [its] followers anything more than hard work' after independence. This is difficult to believe, not least because the same anonymous writer thought it wise to encourage 'our people [to] understand that Freedom does not mean that everybody will live in a big house and drive in a car'.
28. Following the formal declaration of independence in Oct. 1964, Kaunda became the Republic's first executive President.
29. Bates, Rural Responses, 98.
30. I borrow this expression from K. Datta, 'The policy of Indirect Rule in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), 1924-1953' (Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1976), 34.
31. Chief Kanyembo to J. M. Sokoni, Kanyembo's village, 19 Apr. 1963, United National Independence Party's Archives (UNIPA), Lusaka, UNIP 5/2/14.
32. M. K. Machisemu and F. Kafwimbi, 'Memorandum', Chipili, 21 Feb. 1964, NAZ, HM 89/PP/5/F1.
33. Quoted in B. Chola to UNIP constituency secretaries (Kawambwa-Mwense-Nchelenge region), Kawambwa, 10 Mar. 1964, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/13.
34. J. M. Mwanakatwe to M. M. Chona, Lusaka, 28 May 1963, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/ 12
35. Bratton, Local Politics, 263-5.
36. M. C. Mapulanga to A. K. Shapi, Samfya, 3 Aug. 1964, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F2.
37. S. Lupiya to S. Chisembele, Samfya, 26 July 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F3.
38. See also A. C. Bendela to 'dear comrade', Fort Rosebery, 12 Dec. 1964, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/18
39. D. E. Mulenshi to K. D. Kaunda, Fort Rosebery, 16 Dec. 1964, NAZ, HM 89, uncatalogued;
40. M. M. Lumande to A. K. Shapi, Nchelenge, 24 May 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F3.
41. A. K. Shapi to [B. Chola], Fort Rosebery, 26 Sept. 1964
42. B. Chola to A. K. Shapi, Kawambwa, 6 Oct. 1964, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F2.
43. B. Chola to UNIP constituency secretary (Mwense), n.p. [but Kawambwa], 21 Oct. 1964
44. M. Sikazwe to A. K. Shapi, Kawambwa, 14 Nov. 1964
45. A. K. Shapi to M. Sikazwe, Fort Rosebery, 25 Nov. 1964, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/ F2.
46. Mention of Chilufya Linso's earlier anti-colonial activities is made in S. N. Chipungu, 'African leadership under Indirect Rule in colonial Zambia', in idem (ed.), Guardians in their Time: Experiences of Zambians under Colonial Rule, 1890-1964 (London and Basingstoke, 1992), 63, 66.
47. A. C. Bendela to N. A. Chitomombo, Fort Rosebery, 6 Nov. 1964, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F2.
48. O. O. M. Chongo to M. M. Chona, Puta, 19 Sept. 1963, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/ 14.
49. The 'virtual rape of the treasury' of the Council led to its temporary closure in Aug. 1966
50. Bates, Rural Responses, 203.
51. B. Chola to A. K. Shapi, Nchelenge, 3 Feb. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F3.
52. Minutes of the 'development conference (co-operatives)', Lusaka, 26 Feb. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/3/F1
53. M. E. Mwanakaoma to director of cooperatives, Fort Rosebery, 28 July 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F3.
54. D. K. Cibwe to A. K. Shapi, Kasempa's village, 2 May 1966, NAZ, HM 89/PP/ 1/F4.
55. Minutes of the Provincial Development Committee, Fort Rosebery, 29 June-1 July 1967, NAZ, HM 89/PP/3/F1.
56. See also G. Mickels Kokwe, Maize, Markets & Livelihoods: State Intervention and Agrarian Change in Luapula Province, Zambia, 1950-1995 (Helsinki, 1997), 16-20
57. J. Gould, 'Local strategies and directed development: Cooperatives between state and community in Luapula', in K. Crehan and A. Von Oppen (eds.), Planners and History: Negotiating 'Development' in Rural Zambia (Lusaka, 1994), 223-4
58. and Bates, Rural Responses, 136-45.
59. S. Lupiya to A. M. Milner, Samfya, 21 Sept. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F3
60. minutes of the 'development conference (co-operatives)', 26 Feb. 1965.
61. See, e.g., M. Mulikita, Progress Report on the Implementation of the TDP in the Luapula Province, encl. in M. Mulikita to D. C. Mulaisho, Fort Rosebery, 26 Aug. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F3.
62. D. E. Mulenshi, Mwense Tour Report, 6 Apr. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/4/F1.
63. A. C. Bendela to Minister of State (Cabinet Office), n.p. [but Fort Rosebery], 9 Mar. 1965, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/18. The outspokenness of the secretary of the Fort Rosebery-Samfya-Lunga region of UNIP earned him an official rebuke. His half-hearted apology is to be found in A. C. Bendela to Minister of State (Cabinet Office), Fort Rosebery, 18 Mar. 1965, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/18.
64. M. M. Lumande to A. K. Shapi, Nchelenge, 29 June 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/ F3.
65. B. Chola to H. D. Banda, J. M. Mwanakatwe and F. Chitambala, MPs, Kawambwa, 14 Aug. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/2/F1.
66. For a fuller treatment, see G. Macola, The Kingdom of Kazembe: History and Politics in North-Eastern Zambia and Katanga to 1950 (Hamburg, 2002), 229-38.
67. Chipungu, 'African leadership', 70.
68. Ibid. 64,
69. and Kawambwa Tour Report, 7, 1960.
70. D. M. Gordon, 'The cultural politics of a traditional ceremony: Mutomboko and the performance of history on the Luapula (Zambia)', Comparative Studies in Society and History, 46 (2004), 70.
71. Ibid.;
72. Kawambwa Annual Report for 1960.
73. T. Kafusha to J. M. Sokoni, Mwansabombwe, 4 Feb. 1963, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/ 40.
74. T. Kafusha to J. M. Sokoni, Mwansabombwe, 2 Mar. 1963, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/ 40.
75. Mwata Kazembe Paul Kanyembo to K. D. Kaunda, Mwansabombwe, 13 Mar. 1963, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/40.
76. Minutes of the First Meeting of the 'Kawambwa District Council', 5-7 Aug. 1964, encl. in B. Chola to director of elections, n.p. [but Kawambwa], 13 Aug. 1964, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F2.
77. B. Chola to A. K. Shapi, Kawambwa, 7 Sept. 1964, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F2.
78. Kafusha to Sokoni, 2 Mar. 1963.
79. Tordoff and Molteno, 'Introduction', 21
80. Caplan, Elites of Barotseland, 211.
81. Minutes of the Second Meeting between President Kaunda and Resident Ministers, Lusaka, 7 July 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/3/F1.
82. M. M. Lumande to A. K. Shapi, Nchelenge, 11 Aug. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/ F3.
83. M. M. Lumande to A. K. Shapi, Nchelenge, 21 Aug. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/ F3.
84. On the prophetess Alice Lenshina and the localized rebellion sparked by her predication in 1964, see A. D. Roberts, 'The Lumpa church of Alice Lenshina', in R. I. Rotberg and A. A. Mazrui (eds.), Protest and Power in Black Africa (New York, 1970), 513-68.
85. M. M. Lumande to A. K. Shapi, Nchelenge, 8 Aug. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F3.
86. M. Lufoma to political assistants (Luapula province), Kawambwa, 24 Sept. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/2/F1.
87. [M. M. Lumande] to A. K. Shapi, Nchelenge, 1 Nov. 1965, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/ F3.
88. Or so at least is suggested by the lack of further documentary evidence.
89. Lumande to Shapi, 11 Aug. 1965.
90. Lumande to Shapi, 21 Aug. 1965.
91. Lumande to Shapi, 11 Aug. 1965.
92. E. Bustin, Lunda under Belgian Rule: The Politics of Ethnicity (Cambridge MA and London, 1975), 202-5,
93. and I. Ndaywel è Nziem, Histoire générale du Congo: De l'héritage ancien à la république démocratique (Paris and Brussel, 1998), 603-4.
94. My conclusions here support those of Gordon, 'Cultural politics of a traditional ceremony', 71-3.
95. Minutes of the National Council of UNIP, Lusaka, 28-31 Oct. 1966, NAZ, HM 89, uncatalogued.
96. M. M. Lumande to provincial information officer, Kawambwa, 22 Aug. 1966, NAZ, HM 89/PP/1/F4.
97. Baylies, 'Luapula province', 179.
98. M. Lufoma to UNIP constituency and branch secretaries (Kawambwa-Mwense region), Kawambwa, 28 Apr. 1966, UNIPA, UNIP 5/2/1/18.
99. 'Representation by Luapula province district secretaries to His Excellency the President on visit to Luapula province, 9th to 10th Sept. 1966', NAZ, HM 89/PP/5/F1.
100. If the interpretation given in this paper is correct, then the high turn-out (91 per cent) and rock solid majority for UNIP in the 1968 general elections, when the ANC only managed to contest two out of the ten available Luapulan seats, were not so much indications of a 'sustained loyalty of the people of the province to the President and the party' (Baylies, 'Luapula province', 179), as proof of the endurance of the conviction in the possibility of transforming a deeply unsatisfactory state of affairs through electoral participation. By 1973, when a mere 54 per cent of Luapulans went to the poll in the first one-party election, even this liminal belief had evaporated.