Federalism

Federalism is derived from a Latin word "foedus" which means treaty or agreement- It's the process of integration of two or more territories, units by a means of a treaty or convention, agreement or constitutionalism in terms of which powers of the state are broadly divided into two parts. The central African federation was an amalgamation of the three white settlers colonies of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (Malawi).

At a conference held in London in 1950, colonial office officers and civil servants for the three settler colonies laid the foundation work for the formation of the Central African Federation (CAF) with it's chief architect Sir Andrew Cohen. The federal constitution was drawn up in l953 at an all White conference in London and approved the conservative majority in British Parliament. The granting of self-rule to Zambia and Malawi by Britain was the last nail in the coffin of the CAF in 1963. Mazrui observed "The CAF could only survive if the British government had decided destroy nationalism in Malawi."

Central African Federation 1953-1963

The formation of a Central African Federation was an attempt to overcome the balkanization of Africa. It failed because it was led by and served the interests of white settlers, and the Africans who formed the overwhelming majority in each of the three constituent territories understandably refused to support it.

From the beginning European aims for federation and African hopes and fears were irreconcilable. The federation was a result of the original initiative of the British Labour government of 1945-51. The groundwork for the federation was laid at a conference in London in 1950, attended by Colonial Office officials and colonial civil servants from the three British Central African territories of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), and Nyasaland (Malawi). The dominating figure at the conference was Sir Andrew Cohen, the most powerful liberal in the Colonial Office.

Representatives of the Queen during Uganda's independence. African political power would be gradually evolved until in time Africans were politically equal to Europeans and could share in the government of the federation and its three territories.

Cohen was a strong supporter of federations of colonial territories. Later he was to make his mark as Governor of Uganda by opposing Buganda's attempts to weaken the unity of Uganda. The aims of Cohen and other British colonial civil servants for Central Africa were to combine the unity and economic progress of the region with the development of a partnership between black Africans and white settlers. This was called 'multiracialism'. African political power would be gradually evolved until in time Africans were politically equal to Europeans and could share in the government of the federation and its three territories. In other words the setting up of the federation would not coincide with the granting of political equality to Africans; but over the years Africans would progress towards such equality. The British Government would act as the watchdog of African interests and ensure that African political power was advanced in stages.

The white settlers in British Central Africa had different ideas from the British Government. The white miners in Northern Rhodesia, led by the ex-engine driver and heavyweight boxer, Roy Welensky, had in the 1930s and early 1940s supported the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia as a safeguard against an African government north of the Zambesi, They also feared the rise of the African Mineworkers Union on the Copperbelt and the willingness of the giant monopoly Rhodesian Selection Trust to break the industrial colour bar and thus destroy the position of the white miners as a labour aristocracy. Welensky and his supporters abandoned plans for amalgamation in the face of British government opposition; they turned instead to federation because it seemed to them a viable alternative method of ensuring white settler control in the north.

The white settlers of Southern Rhodesia, led by the Prime Minister. Sir Godfrey Huggins, also favoured federation. They looked on federation as a means of securing revenue from the copper wealth of the north in order to pay the costs of rapidly increasing white settlement in the south.

In the post-war period 16 000 whites were settling in Southern Rhodesia each year, requiring massive expenditure on social services for them by the white settler minority government. (Southern Rhodesia's whites had had internal self-government since 1923, and next to no government revenue was spent on social services for Africans.)

 

With his cane and fly-switch Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda, Prime Minister of Malawi, with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson before the opening of the Commonwealth Prime Minister Conference at Marlborough House, London.

The Southern Rhodesian whites also desired federation because it would help provide hydro-electric power from the Zambesi for their manufacturing industry and readier access to Nyasaland's labour supply. Moreover, after the 1948 Nationalist party victory in South Africa, the predominantly British settlers of Southern Rhodesia preferred to be linked with British Central Africa rather than with Afrikaner-dominated South Africa.

Finally, like the settlers of Northern Rhodesia, the Southern Rhodesian whites believed and hoped federation would lead to an extension of white-settler rule to the rest of British Central Africa. Huggins summed up the settler attitude to the idea of African political advance when he said, 'For the time being the natives must be ruled by a benevolent aristocracy. At about the same time Welensky declared, "I will never accept that Northern Rhodesia is to be an African state-'

The Africans of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland strongly opposed the formation of the Central African Federation. All classes of the African population, whether the rural masses and their government-appointed chiefs, the miners of the Copperbelt or the new elite of clerks and teachers, united to express their fears of federation. The masses feared further loss of community lands to the whites; the miners were afraid the industrial colour bar would be perpetuated indefinitely; and the elite believed that progress towards self-government would be held back. In Northern Rhodesia the Federation of Welfare Societies was set up in 1948toresist a proposed amalgama

 

It was rumoured with some excitement that he would return to Nyasaland in 1951, but he moved instead to the Gold Coast in West Africa. He may have gone there partly because of a scandal involving his receptionist in Harlesden, Merene French (Mrs. French), despite reports that she became pregnant with his child, this has never been confirmed. Banda was cited as co-respondent in the divorce of Mr. French and accused of adultery with Mrs. French. She followed Banda to West Africa, but he wanted nothing more to do with her. She died in 1976. In Ghana Banda was involved in CPP political activities and also studied at Kwame Nkrumah Ideological College just like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Banda met political intellectuals from Africa and diaspora like George Padmore, W E du Bois, Sekou Toure and others. He took part in many committees set up by Nkrumah`s CPP government for the development of Ghana whilst also studying Nkrumah`s political organizational skills by making friend with people like Komla Agbeli Gbedemah. Banda went to visit the Banda town in Brong Ahafo Region (then Ashanti Region) to study the reason why the area bears his name Banda. He later came to settle in Kumasi and do some work as medical

 

In 1951 this organization was renamed the Northern Rhodesia African National Congress and reorganized in order to resist federation, under the leadership of Harry Nkumbula, a former teacher and graduate of Makerere College in Uganda.

The economic boom of the early years of the Federation seemed to justify the argument that federation would bring economic benefits to British Central Africa, at least in the short term. Domestic output rose from £265 million in 1953 to £369 million in 1956- Wages and salaries went up from £144 million in 1954 to £223 million in 1958. However, it would be misleading to ascribe the boom to federation. The new wealth was a result of a rapid rise in world copper prices. By 1957 these prices had begun to fall. By then, however, Southern Rhodesian manufacturing industry was beginning to benefit from massive investment in the boom years. Moreover, it was European miners rather than African miners who received the large pay increases, a fact that encouraged further while immigration in both Northern and Southern Rhodesia. In Northern Rhodesia, for example, the copper boom led to an increase in the white population.

In farming, it was again Europeans rather than Africans who benefited from federation, African production of cash crops, mainly maize and groundnuts, increased considerably in Northern Rhodesia, but usually only in the vicinity of the expanding towns in Central and Southern Provinces. Besides, European farmers in the same area, with far more capital, were able to make far more progress. Away from railway communications there was little progress in agriculture.

White-settler domination of the federation meant that only very slow progress was made in breaking down the industrial colour bar. In 1958 a few Africans in Northern Rhodesia were able to become industrial apprentices. It was not until I960 that Africans could be trained as firemen and engine drivers on the railways; even then they were still excluded from the workshops. The Copperbelt Technical Foundation was only opened to Africans in 1962, on the eve of the break-up of the Federation. Thus African technical training and technical education were severely neglected during federation; so was general African education. For example in 1964 Zambia moved into independence with only 960 Africans of school certificate (0-level) standard.

The Southern Rhodesian settlers did their utmost to exploit the federation for their own benefit at the expense of African interests. They ensured that Salisbury, the Southern Rhodesian capital, became the federal capital in 1954, rather than a more neutral town. Then in 1955 the Federal Government made a decision to build the Kariba Dam on the Zambesi, with the power station on the Southern Rhodesia bank, in spite of the 1953 agreement to build a dam on the Kafue river in Northern Rhodesia instead, and even though Northern Rhodesia had already spent .C500 000 on preparatory work for the Kafue scheme. Kafue, unlike Kariba. would have provided enormous irrigation potential for African farming.

What broke the federation, in the end, was less the slow rate of African economic and educational advance, than the very slow progress towards political and social equality for Africans. In the early years of federation the pace of political reform in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which remained under the rule of the Colonial Office in London, seemed to be no quicker than political change in settler-ruled Southern Rhodesia. The 1955 constitution for Nyasaland provided for African representation in the Legislative Council for the first time in 1956. Out of 22 members, six were to be elected, but only by Europeans and Asians- Five African members were to be indirectly elected through the Provincial Councils, which were made up of chiefs. It is hardly surprising that the Nyasaland African Congress (formed as far back as 1944) found this limited reform unacceptable.

The Northern Rhodesia constitution of 1958 provided for 22 elected Legislative Council members, but of these 14 were to be Europeans and only 8 would be Africans, and the latter would be controlled by the government-appointed chiefs.

In the same period the rate of African political advance in settler-controlled Southern Rhodesia proceeded at a snail's pace. The new 1957 constitution of Southern Rhodesia set up two electoral rolls: an upper roll of voters on higher property, income and educational qualifications, consisting almost entirely of Europeans; and a tower roll of voters with lower financial qualifications, consisting almost entirely of Africans. The number of lower-roll voters was never to exceed one-fifth of the number of upper-roll voters. Thus only a few more Africans were enfranchised and white supremacy was not endangered. The 1957 constitution was one of several developments in Southern Rhodesia in the late 1950s that reflected the intransigent racism of the settlers. Another was the removal of the 'liberal' ex-missionary Prime Minister, Garfield Todd, who had encouraged African participation in the activities of the ruling Federal Party and who proposed to spend large sums on African education. Todd was replaced by Sir Edgar Whitehead. who was determined to destroy the growing African National Congress. At this time, too, white- settler hostility to the multiracial University College in Salisbury became more marked.

The new federal constitution of 1957 represented another triumph for the settlers. It established two electoral rolls, as in Southern Rhodesia. Membership of the Federal Assembly was increased from 35 to 59, with 44 members (in practice all Europeans) elected from the upper roll. There were to be 12 African members, 8 dependent on European choice and 4 elected through chiefs' councils. Thus no true African nationalist could be elected. Finally, three more European members would represent African interests. Thus the Federal Assembly was a bastion of white-settler privilege.

The lack of African political progress in the Central African Federation led to the rise of mass nationalist African political parties in the late 1950s. Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda returned to Nyasaland in July 1958 to lead the Nyasaland African Congress in the fight for independence outside the federation. In Northern Rhodesia Harry Nkumbula's African -- National Congress (ANC) and Kenneth Kaunda's breakaway Zambia National Congress (later UNIP) competed for mass support for a policy similar to Banda's. In Southern Rhodesia the City Youth League of George Nyandoro and James Chikerema expanded into Joshua Nkomo's revived and radicalized African National Congress in 1957. The British government responded to this new and intensified African pressure by changing its policy; and within a few years Malawi and Zambia were independent and the federation was dead. The white-sealer regime of Southern Rhodesia, however, dug in its heels and it took a much longer struggle on the part of Zimbabweans to win control of their country. The African nationalist campaigns against the Federation in Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia and against white rule in Southern Rhodesia initially led to brutal colonial oppression.

Anti-colonial demonstrations led in 1959 to the declaration of states of emergency in Southern Rhodesia (February) and Nyasaland (March), to the banning of African political parties in these territories and in Northern Rhodesia, and to the arrest and imprisonment of Banda, Kaunda and other leaders. However, the killing of 40 Africans in Nyasaland by federal troops led to the British government's Devlin Commission and Report in 1959. The British Colonial Secretary, Alan Lennox-Boyd, rejected the Devlin Report which characterized Nyasaland as a 'police state'. But the Prime Minister,* Harold Macmillan, radically changed British policy towards Central Africa. In late 1959 Macmillan replaced Lennox-Boyd by lain Macleod and he made his famous "wind of change' speech in the South African parliament in I960, a year when Nigeria and most French-speaking states became independent.

Northern Rhodesia was given a new constitution in 1962, with a small African majority. After the October 1962 elections an ANC-UNIP coalition government was formed. Then in December 1962 Nyasaland was allowed to secede from the Federation; Northern Rhodesia was given the same right in February 1963. The Federation's assets. liabilities and responsibilities were split up and it formally wound up on 31 December, 1963. Malawi and Zambia became independent in -1964. Thus the British Government, forced by African political activity, had grasped the nettle of the federation and the future of its two northern territories. But the Southern Rhodesian issue was side-stepped.

Whilst in Kumasi, several influential Congress leaders, including Henry Chipembere, Kanyama Chiume, Dunduzu Chisiza and T.D.T. Banda (no relation) pleaded with him to return to Nyasaland to take up leadership of their cause. A delegation sent to London met with Dr. Banda at the Port of Liverpool where he was making arrangements to return to Ghana. He agreed to return, but asked for some time to sort out a few private matters, probably seeking to clear his political name after the Mrs. French debacle. The delegation returned without him and proceeded to make arrangements for his imminent return. After two false starts, including a fracas between the police and African crowds threatening to storm a BOAC aeroplane rumoured to be carrying Dr. Banda at Chileka Airport, Banda finally made a showing on 6 July 1958 after an absence of about 42 years. In August, at Nkata Bay, he was acclaimed as the leader of the Congress.

The Constitution of I960 enlarged the Legislative Council from 30 to 65 seats, with only 15 reserved for the lower roll. In the December 1962 election Whitehead's United Federal Party was defeated by Winston Field's Rhodesian Front, a party pledged to attain full independence under white rule. British governments, though committed to majority rule north of the Zambesi, were not prepared to take the necessary strong political and military measures to enforce majority rule on the white-settler government south of the river.

The Central African Federation was premature. It, could only have survived if the British Government had decided to destroy nationalism in Malawi and Zambia, which would have been unacceptable to British public opinion as well as practically impossible to accomplish; or if Southern Rhodesia had been rapidly transformed to African majority rule within the lifetime of the Federation - another feat probably outside the realm of practical achievement at the time. Now that Zimbabwe is truly independent under an African government, federation schemes in Central Africa may be revived - free of the fear of white domination.