CRISES OF EXPECTATIONS: WORKERS’ STRUGGLES IN ZAMBIA, 1964-2011 BY FRIDAY ELIYA MULENGA A thesis submitted to the University of Zambia in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA LUSAKA 2017 COPYRIGHT DECLARATION All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced or stored in any form or by any means without prior permission in writing from the author or the University of Zambia. i DECLARATION I, FRIDAY ELIYA MULENGA do hereby declare that this thesis represents my own work and that it has previously been submitted for a degree at this or any other University and does not incorporate any published work or material from another thesis. Signed ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Date ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ii APPROVAL This thesis by Friday Eliya Mulenga has been approved as fulfilling the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in History by the University of Zambia. EXAMINERS NAME SIGNATURE DATE 1………………………………………… …………………….. ……………… 2………………………………………… ……………………… ………………. 3………………………………………… ……………………… ……………….. iii ABSTRACT This study investigates aspects of the history of the trade union movement in Zambia from 1964 to 2011 by looking at some of the struggles the workers engaged in to obtain what they thought was due to them. The term ‘Crises of Expectations’ is used because what was expected and what was obtained did not always match. Workers, therefore, engaged in strikes to obtain benefits from their labour. The study investigated the economy and government labour policies. This subject was investigated because everywhere in the world workers occupy a strategic position in the economy and therefore need to have their history studied. In Zambia the trade union movement acted as the voice of the voiceless during the one party era. The main objective of the study was to investigate the nature of the workers’ expectations and their struggles to obtain rewards from their labour. The specific objectives were to examine the impact of the performance of the economy on the workers’ expectations and trade unionism; and government’s labour policies on the workers’ expectations and trade unionism; to analyse the nature of the relationship between the trade union movement and the government; to analyse the impact of economic liberalisation on trade unionism; to examine the nature of the industrial relations and impact on the economy and to examine the workers’ expectations from 1991 to 2011. Data was collected from primary sources in the Special Collections section of the UNZA library, the National Archives of Zambia and the UNIP Archives. This data was from monthly and annual labour reports, government reports, Parliamentary debates, Bank of Zambia annual reports and CSO reports. Secondary sources in the form of books, journal articles and newspapers were also consulted from both the UNZA library and NAZ. Oral sources were consulted, mainly those that have an idea of the history of the trade unionism. Data collected was analysed using mainly the qualitative method but also a little of the quantitative method through the use of tables. Major findings of the investigation are that the crises of expectations among the workers still remains and their struggles to better their lives still continue. Strikes prevented implementation of a wages and prices policy. There is still no wages and prices policy. During the First and Second Republics, in spite of confrontations between the trade union movement and the government, labour laws to a large extent helped strengthen the trade union movement. On the other hand, labour laws during the Third Republic were used to strengthen the position of investors while weakening the trade union movement, especially through economic liberalisation. On the whole, in spite of the challenges and struggles the trade union movement has shown resilience and still remains relevant to the country’s social, economic and political development, with one of its former leaders heading the Ministry of Labour as Minister until 2016 and another currently heading it as Minister. iv DEDICATION To the memory of my father, Mulenga Eliya Nkalamu, and my mother, Estelle Mwanza Nkalamu. And also to the memory of my elder sister Elisa (Deliya) and younger brother Benjamin. But on the whole, this work is really for my wife of many years Marjorie Kafula Kabela. It has been long in coming, but finally it is here! Thanks for everything, my friend. God is always faithful. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As is the case with such work, many people have helped to make it possible, but there is room to mention only a few of them here. I thank my friend and supervisor Professor Bizeck J. Phiri for working through this thesis with me, providing valuable advice and encouragement. Dr. Webby S. Kalikiti was the co-supervisor. I thank him as well for his input. I wish to express sincere gratitude to the University of Zambia for awarding me the Staff Research Fellowship under which this study began and for the financial assistance granted. I wish to express my gratitude to all my colleagues in the Department of History at the University of Zambia, Professor Francis B. Musonda, Dr. Euston K. Chiputa, Dr. Kamini Krishna, Miss Dorothy Mwansa, Dr. Clarence Chongo, and Miss Mailes Mbewe. They were there at the start of this work and in one way or the other helped to shape the work, although they may not be ware how! I also wish to remember the departed colleagues, namely, Dr. Bennett S. Siamwiza, Dr. Chewe M. Chabatama and Professor Mwelwa C. Musambachime. They were also there when this work started but were not around to see it concluded. Dr. Siamwiza and Dr. Chabatama in particular were familiar with this work and often offered encouragement. I also remember with gratitude, the late secretary in the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies, Ms. Irene Banda. She constructed Table 7 on page 195. This work faced many delays, for example, at the start of my research at the National Archives of Zambia (NAZ), I found that files containing material on labour history were being re-classified. This took longer than expected and caused a delay of more a year and a half. And then there were the heavy teaching and marking loads, illnesses in the family, with my wife suffering an almost debilitating stroke, and then having to see her through a long healing process. I am grateful to God the Almighty for seeing us through all this. It was only in the last two years that I freed myself from the heavy teaching and marking loads that I was able to see the work completed. In this regard, I would like to express very special gratitude to the following members of staff in the Department for graciously agreeing to help me out by taking some of the load off me: Mr. Santebe Mbozi, Miss Mailes Mbewe, Mrs Martha N. Kayuni-Sikazwe, and Dr. Clarence Chongo. I also express my special gratitude to Mr. Patrick Sikayomya, Mrs Nisbert M. Malama, and Miss Yvonne Kabombwe of the vi Department of Language and Social Science Education (LSSE) in the School of Education at the University of Zambia (UNZA for helping me out. To all these wonderful men and women, I say, May God bless you richly always and please continue to be good people and may you all become very wonderful academics. I express my gratitude to the staff in the University of Zambia Library, but particularly all those that worked in the Special Collections Section during the entire period of this study. I also express gratitude to the staff at the National Archives of Zambia (NAZ). At the start of this work, there was a very long delay because the NAZ files on labour were being organised. When they were finally ready I was able to receive assistance from staff at NAZ. I should also express my gratitude to all those men and women that allowed me to interview them for this work or just to discuss the work with me for all the valuable insights they provided on the challenges and struggles of the workers and the trade union movement in Zambia. In this regard, I particularly thank Mr. Fackson Shamenda, Mr. Leonard Hikaumba, Mrs Joyce Nonde-Simukoko, the late Mr. Alec Chirwa, and Dr. Sketchley Sacika. They gave me valuable information and were very knowledgeable. There are few surviving sources with knowledge of pre-1964 trade union issues, but Dr. Sacika did his best to fill in. There were also those that diplomatically declined to be interviewed or to discuss the subject with me. I also wish them well. My students at the University of Zambia that studied Undergraduate history and took the courses I have offered from 1991, also deserve my gratitude. This is because in my lectures and discussions with them in tutorials, we often touched on the subject of workers and workers’ organisations not only in Zambia, but also in other African countries and the world at large. These students may not be aware of this, but in an appreciable way, they helped shape this work as well. The same goes for the men and women that gave me the privilege of supervising their post-graduate (Master of History) work. Two of the ladies are lecturers in History, one at UNZA, and the other at Nkrumah University in Kabwe. The other, a gentleman, is late, but was also a lecturer in History at Nkrumah University in Kabwe. I was happy to work with them all. Finally, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my wife, Marjorie Kafula Kabela who wanted to see this work come to fruition. I am sure the work will make her as happy as it has made me happy.