PAN-AFRICANISM VERSUS PARTNERSHIP : african decolonisation in southern rhodesian politics,... 1950-1963

This book takes the transnational history of southern Africa’s liberation struggles in an innovative direction. It provides one of the first targeted studies of the manner in which the wider process of African decolonisation shaped the political struggle for control of Southern Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe). It offers an in-depth survey of the repercussions of pan-African developments on national-level political thought amidst one of the most seminal moments of the continent’s history. The book draws on over a year of fieldwork in southern Africa as well as archival collections in the USA and UK to explore the seismic re-alignments that occurred in the white settler dominated territory in southern Africa as self-determination became a widely accepted international principle virtually overnight. In particular, it focuses on the impact of decolonisation struggles and/or independence in Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi on Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. In so doing, it also offers new context on the roots of contemporary repression in Zimbabwe. Foreword Acknowledgements Note on Terminology Country Names Race Categories Levels of Government Name Changes of Political Parties Contents About the Author Abbreviations 1 Introduction: African Decolonisation and Realignments in Southern Rhodesian Politics Background and Context Realignment I: Demise of Partnership Realignment II: Demise of Useful Pan-Africanism Historiographical Position Key Terms Structure Bibliography Part I (Decolonisation and Realignments: Domestic Sphere) 2 Resisting Pan-Africanism: From Partnership to Bulwark in White Politics Rhodesia in Africa: The Perennial Question of the ‘Black North’ Central African Alliance Plan: Last Placatory Throw of the Right-Wing 1961 Constitutional Referendum: The UFP’s Last Hurrah Build-a-Nation: UFP Momentum Ebbs 1962 General Election: The RF Triumphs Conclusion Bibliography 3 Pan-African Disunity in Zimbabwean Nationalism Realignment from the ‘White South’ to the ‘Black North’ 1961 Constitutional Conference: Foundation of Intra-nationalist Tensions The Zimbabwe National Party The ZNP’s African Diplomacy Kwame Nkrumah and Zimbabwean Disunity Hastings Kamuzu Banda and Zimbabwean Disunity Ghana Reprised: The ZNP’s Denouement The ZANU-ZAPU Split Debating a Government in Exile The Split and Pan-African Diplomacy Conclusion Bibliography Part II (Decolonisation and Realignments: Continental Sphere) 4 ‘Forward Ever, Backward Never!’ West Africa in Southern Rhodesian Politics Ghanaian Independence and Anti-colonial Stirrings in Southern Rhodesia The First All-Africa People’s Congress Ghana and the Federation’s Emergencies Co-operation Ghanaian Influence on the NDP Whites and the ‘Ghana Precedent’ Nigeria: Rhodesia’s Great White Hope Lagos: Thwarted Diplomatic Bridgehead Zimbabwe’s Nationalists and Balewa’s Nigeria Conclusion Bibliography 5 ‘Long Live Lumumba!’ Congo (Leopoldville) in Southern Rhodesian Politics Background Nationalist Links with Congo on the Eve of Independence Marking Independence Congo Liberation and White Fears Operation Refugee and White Anxieties Operation Refugee and Nationalist Radicalisation Debating ‘the Lessons of the Congo’ Deaths of Lumumba and Hammarskjöld Katanga Secession and Congo Diplomacy Congolese Support for Zimbabwe’s Nationalists Conclusion Bibliography 6 ‘Kwacha!’ Nyasaland in Southern Rhodesian Politics Nyasa-Rhodesian Relations: A Lengthy Legacy Forging Federation: The Nyasaland Burden Liberal White Associations and Nyasaland’s Pacification The Rhodesia National Affairs Association Capricorn Africa Society Zimbabwean Nationalism’s White Allies: The Nyasaland Factor Guy Clutton-Brock Peter Mackay Terence Ranger and UCRN Lecturers The Rhodesian Political Presence in Nyasaland Dominion Party United Federal Party Fact and Ukuru! Nyasaland in Nationalist Politics Rift Rapprochement Discord in Salisbury MCP Branch Conclusion Bibliography 7 Conclusion: The Use and Abuse of Africa in Southern Rhodesian Politics Re-Alignment I: Rejecting Partnership Re-Alignment II: Rejecting Pan-African Unity Final Reflections Coda Bibliography Appendix A Timeline of Key Events Appendix B Government and Political Party Leadership Appendix C Federal and Nationalist Representation in Africa Appendix D Diagram of the Central African Alliance Plan Appendix E Precis of Southern Rhodesia General Election Returns (1946–1962)