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.
Author(s): Brooks Marmon
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 228
City: Cham
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)
