Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ruptions (such as WWII) meant the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland did not come
about until 1953.
Independence & Kaunda
The United National Independence Party (UNIP) was founded in Zambia in the late 1950s
by Dr Kenneth Kaunda, who spoke out against the Federation on the grounds that it pro-
moted the rights of white settlers to the detriment of the indigenous African population.
UNIP was an offshoot of the previously banned Zambia African National Congress
(ZANC) which itself became a splinter group when its members decided not to participate
in elections held in 1958 since only a small sliver of the African population was allowed
to vote. As other African countries gained independence, Zambian nationalists opposed
the colonial forces through a short but successful campaign of civil disobedience in 1961
called the Chachacha Rebellion.
The Federation was dissolved in 1963 and universal elections were held the following
year. Northern Rhodesia was no more and the country's name was changed to Zambia,
with Kaunda as its president. While the British government had profited enormously from
Northern Rhodesia, the colonialists chose to divert a large portion of this wealth towards
the development of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), to the detriment of the north.
After gaining independence, Zambia inherited a British-style multiparty political sys-
tem. Kaunda, as leader of the majority UNIP, became the new republic's first president.
The other main party was the African National Congress (ANC), led by Harry Nkumbula.
But Kaunda disliked opposition. In one swift move during 1972, he disbanded the Zambi-
an ANC, created the 'second republic,' declared UNIP the sole legal party and made him-
self the only presidential candidate.
Consequently, Kaunda remained in power for the next 27 years. His rule was based
upon 'humanism' - his own mix of Marxism and traditional African values. The civil ser-
vice was increased, and nearly all private businesses (including the copper mines) were
nationalised. But corruption and mismanagement, exacerbated by a fall in world copper
prices, doomed Zambia to become one of the poorest countries in the world by the end of
the 1970s. The economy continued to flounder while Zambia's trade routes to the coast
through neighbouring countries (eg Zimbabwe and Mozambique) were closed in retali-
ation for Kaunda's support for several liberation movements in the region.
By the early 1980s two important events occurred that had the potential to significantly
improve Zambia's economy: Rhodesia gained independence (and had become Zimbab-
we), which allowed Kaunda to take his country off a war footing; and the Tazara railway
to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) was completed, giving Zambia unencumbered access to the
coast. Yet the economy remained on the brink of collapse: foreign exchange reserves were
