UNIVERSITY OF LEIDEN Research Masters in African Studies “Copper, Borders and Nation-Building” The Katangese Factor in Zambian Political and Economic History Enid Guene Supervisor Jan-Bart Gewald, Leiden University 2013 ! Contents ! List of Illustrations ……………….…………………………………………………..………….….1 Introduction: Two Copperbelts, Two Histories?................................................................................ 5 1. A Joint History 6 2. ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Paradigms for the Copperbelt 8 1. Modernism and its Failure 8 2. Nation-Statism and Transnationalism 12 3. Objectives 15 Chapter 1: The Setting………………………………………………………………………………16 1. The Archaeological Evidence 17 2. The Luba and Lunda according to Oral Tradition 23 1. The Birth of the Luba and Lunda ‘Empires’ 23 2. Migrations of Lunda Groups 25 3. The Eighteenth Century: Two Migratory Thrusts 27 3. The Socio-Political Organisation 29 4. The Importance of Trade Networks 32 1. Pre-Long Distance Trade in Central Africa 32 2. The Long Distance Trade in Central Africa 33 3. Trade as Catalyst for Cultural and Political Expansion 34 5. The Crumbling of States (1840-1900) 35 1. In the West: The Cokwe 36 2. In the East the Yeke 36 3. Disrupted and Yet Never So Interconnected 38 Chapter 2: The Division ………………………………………………………………………….....42 1. The Scramble 43 2. The Demarcation of the Border 47 1. The 1894 Agreement 47 2. The First Anglo-Belgian Boundary Commission (1911-1914) 49 3. The Second Anglo-Belgian Boundary Commission (1927-1933) 51 4. Continuing Bickering 54 3. Local Attitudes to the Border 56 1. Early Developments 56 2. Protest Migrations 61 ! Chapter 3: The Copper Industry …………………………………………………………………… 68 1. The Katangese Copperbelt: A Joint Enterprise 70 1. A Disheartening Start for Northern Rhodesia 70 2. The Katangese ‘El Dorado’ 71 3. British Interests at the Heart of Katangese Economics 74 2. Labour Migrations in the Colonial Era (1910-1960) 78 1. The UMHK and its Rhodesian Workforce (1910-1925) 78 2. The Rise of the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt (1924-1931) 82 3. The Change in the Direction of Labour Migration (1931-1940) 87 3. Copper’s Corollaries: Agriculture, Fishery and Markets 91 1. Feeding Katanga: An Alternative to Migrant Labour 91 2. A Vibrant Sub-Economic Culture: The Market 94 Chapter 4: The Politics ……………………………………………………………………............ 100 1. The Rise of Nationalism 102 1. The Strikes of 1935 and 1940 102 2. Trade Unions and Political Parties 107 2. The Katanga Secession (1960-1963) 111 1. Welensky and Katanga: Fighting for White Rule in Africa 113 2. The ANC and Katanga: Affiliation and Opportunism 119 3. The Rise of the One-Party State 128 1. Disappointed Expectations of Independence 128 2. The Final Showdown 133 Conclusion: Copper, Migrations and Politics ……………………………………………………...137 1. Cultural Identies and Political Development 137 2. The Copperbelt and ‘Nation-Statism 140 3. Border Conflicts in the Later Twentieth Century 142 Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………….................. 145 1. Administrative Divisions of Zambia 145 2. Administrative Divisions of Katanga 146 3. Languages and Groups of Zambia 147 4. Economic History of Zambia 148 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………….149 ! ! 1! List of Illustrations ! MAPS Introduction (1) The Copperbelt as a Geological Zone TCEMCO, available at http://www.tcemco.com/congo_overview.html. (2) The Failed States Index for 2013 The Failed States Index, available at http://ffp.statesindex.org. Chapter 1 (1) Archaeological sites in Central Africa CONNAH (2001), p.266. (2) Archaeological Sites in the Upemba Depression CONNAH (2001), p.272. (3) Late Stone Age pottery diffusion, AD 1000 to 1200 HUFFMAN (1989), p.178 (4) The peoples of Southern Katanga and Zambia in 1800 ROBERTS (1976), p.108. Chapter 2 (1) Belgian Congo-Northern Rhodesia Boundary in 1894 Based on DONALDSON (2010), p.119. Chapter 3 (1) Southern Africa, circa 1932-1933 HIGGINSON (1989), p.15. Appendix (1) Administrative Divisions of Zambia (1971) HYWEL DAVIES (1971), p.51. (2) Administrative Divisions of Katanga (circa 1932-1933) HIGGINSON (1989), p.14. (3) Languages and Groups of Zambia HYWEL DAVIES (1971), p.35. (4) Economic History of Zambia HYWEL DAVIES (1971), p.40. ! 2! PLATES Cover (from left to right) (1) Star of the Congo Mine, 1917 PERRINGS (1979), p.35. (2) The Mwata Yamvo in 1928 Une enfance au Congo Belge, Available at http://users.skynet.be/aloube/Elisabethville.htm (3) UN soldiers arrive in Elisabethville, 1960 DAVISTER (1960). (4) Harry Nkumbula at Lusaka Airport NORTHERN NEWS (9 April 1963). (5) President Moïse Tshombe, 1962 DAVISTER & TOUSSAINT (1962). (6) (Future) President Kenneth Kaunda and Sir Evelyn Hone, Governor of Northern Rhodesia NORTHERN NEWS (23 January 1964). (7) Elisabethville smelter, 1912 BRION & MOREAU (2006), p.84. (8) Sir Roy Welensky, circa 1964 WELENSKY (1964). (9) Kipushi mine in 1926 PERRINGS (1979), p.124. (10) Dag Hammarskjöld’s crashed plane near Ndola, 1961 Sverige Radio (18 September 2011), Available at http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=4701463 (11) Cartoon featuring Leopold II, 1906 De Zusters van O.L.V.-ten-Bunderen, Available at http://www.nieuwsbronnen.com/tenbunderen/voorgeschiedenis5.html (12) African trading area at Mufulira, 1956 CO525/220/12 Ref. INF 10/380/49 (NAUK). (13) The Berlin Conference, 1884 Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Available at http://www.brazza.culture.fr/en/missions/conference_de_berlin_arch5.htm (14) Elisabethville smelter, 1913 BRION & MOREAU (2006), p.83. Chapter 1 (1) Sanga, Classic Kisalian Burial 172 DE MARET (1977), p.325. (2) Luangwa-Tradition Pottery PHILLIPSON (2005), p.294. ! 3! Chapter 2 (1) King Leopold II HOCHSCHILD (2006). (2) 1913 boundary marks on top of an ant hill PEAKE (1934). (3) The old and the new Boundary Point 41 PEAKE (1934). (4) Punch cartoon, 1906 HOCHSCHILD (2006). (5) Cover of E.D. Morel’s Red Rubber, 1906. Chapter 3 (1) The Ruwe mine circa. 1906 BRION & MOREAU (2006), p.79. (2) The railway reaches Elisabethville, 1 October 1910 BRION & MOREAU (2006), p.77. (3) General view of old Mufulira market, 1947 BRELSFORD (1947), p.14. Chapter 4 (1) The ‘Katanga trio’: Dag Hammarskjöld, Comte d’Aspremont-Lyndon, and Moïse Tshombe, April 1960 DAVISTER (1960). (2) A Katangese ambulance is caught in the crossfire, 5 December 1961 DAVISTER & TOUSSAINT (1962). (3) ANC Advertisement, NORTHERN NEWS (19 October 1962). (4) Nkumbula is greeted by a crowd of 6,000 at the Kantanshi Township of Mufulira NORTHERN NEWS (9 August 1965). ! 4! TABLES Chapter 3 (1) Copper production (long tons) between 1908 and 1926 COLEMAN (1962), p.21. (2) Numbers and percentages of Rhodesian labour in the Katanga mines of UMHK, 1917-1923 HENDERSON (1972), p.47. (3) African population statistics for greater Elisabethville, 1928-1929 FETTER (1976), p.74. Chapter 4 (1) Legislative Council: Party Composition of Elected Members following the General Election of October 1962 MULFORD (1967), p.286. ! 6! 1. A Joint History Even at first glance, it is apparent that, despite their separateness, there are many similarities in the histories of the two Copperbelts. Crucially, both became major economic hubs, though it happened earlier in the case of the Congolese Copperbelt. By the early 1960s, Katanga – the Congolese province in which the Copperbelt is located – accounted for about 8 % of the world’s total supply1 and Katanga’s largest company, the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK), ranked third among the world’s copper producers.2 Zambia, far from falling wide of the mark, was leading copper supplier with a yearly output of 633,000 tons valued at £164,300,000 at the time of its independence in 1964.3 A second key similarity, which is not unrelated to the first one, is the fact that both Katanga and Northern Rhodesia (as Zambia was known before independence) started their ‘careers’ as colonial territories as the property of quasi-state companies rather than a colonial office. When the fearsome Leopold II of Belgium grabbed for himself a territory eighty times larger than his own country, he in fact had few means to administer it properly. He consequently entrusted the administration of Katanga to the Compagnie du Katanga on April 15, 1891, and until 1910, it was under the exclusive auspices of this company that mining settlement processes in the Katanga were initiated and carried out.4 In practice, this lack of state control resulted in an ambiguous, semi-autonomous status, which endured even after Katanga passed under the responsibility of the Belgian state in 1910. Until 1933, partly because of the lack of adequate communications between the capital (then in Boma) and the interior of the colony, and also because the industrial development of the province necessitated a large measure of decentralisation, the administration of Katanga was entrusted to a Vice Governor General who enjoyed full executive powers.5 This allowed Katanga to function as a company territory practically independent from the rest of Belgian Congo. As for Northern Rhodesia, it did not pass under the control of the Colonial Office before 1924. Before that, its administration and the development of its mining potential were entrusted to the all-powerful British South Africa Company (BSAC).6 If the colonial Secretary of State had considerable power in theory, in practice the imperial government exerted limited influence in Northern Rhodesia. Local officials were appointed either at the BSAC’s recommendation or by the BSAC directly.7 Finally, also largely thanks to the mining industry and its recruitment policies, both Copperbelts became the home of a ‘cosmopolitan’ community. By the 1930s, Copperbelt towns in Katanga and Northern Rhodesia were bustling towns bringing together workers from all over central Africa and there was more and more talk of African ‘urbanisation’ and ‘detribalisation’. At the same time, a comparatively large community of independent-minded white settlers also developed on both sides of the border. Although the Katanga was the most thinly populated area of the Congo at the time, with a density !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 Le Katanga économique, p.15.