The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central
African Federation, was a semi-independent federation of three
southern African territories – the self-governing British colony of
Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and
Nyasaland – between 1953 and 1963. The Federation was established on 1
August 1953. The Federation was established with a Governor-General as
the Queen's Representative at the centre. An interesting and novel feature
was the African Affairs Board, set up to safeguard the interests of Africans and
endowed with statutory powers for that purpose, particularly in regard to
discriminatory legislation. The constitutional status of the three
territories - a self-governing Colony and two Protectorates- was not affected,
though certain enactments applied to the Federation as a whole as if it were part
of Her Majesty's dominions and a Colony. The economic advantages to the
Federation were never seriously called into question and the causes of the
Federation's failure were purely political: the strong and growing
oppositing of the African inhabitants. The rulers of the new black African
states were united in wanting to end colonialism in Africa. With most of the
world moving away from colonialism during the late 1950s and early 1960s,
the United Kingdom was subjected to pressure to de-colonize from both the
United Nations and the Organization of African Unity. These groups supported
the aspirations of the black African nationalists and accepted their claims
to speak on behalf of the people. The federation officially ended on 31
December 1963. In 1964, shortly after the dissolution, Northern Rhodesia
became an independent republic under the name Zambia and Nyasaland became the
independent commonwealth realm of Malawi. In 1965, Southern Rhodesia broke
with United Kingdom law and unilaterally declared itself independent under the
name Rhodesia. Constitutional origins
It was commonly understood that Southern Rhodesia would be the dominant territory
in the federation – economically, electorally, and militarily. How much so
defined much of the lengthy constitutional negotiations and
modifications that followed. African political opposition and nationalist
aspirations, for the time, were mute. Decisive factors in both the creation
and dissolution of the Federation were the significant difference between the
number of Africans and Europeans in the Federation, and the difference between
the number of Europeans in Southern Rhodesia compared to the Northern
Protectorates. Compounding this was the significant growth in Southern
Rhodesia's European settler population, unlike in the Northern Protectorates.
This was to greatly shape future developments in the Federation. In 1939,
approximately 60,000 Europeans resided in Southern Rhodesia; shortly before the
Federation was established there were 135,000; by the time the Federation was
dissolved they had reached 223,000. Nyasaland showed the least European and
greatest African population growth. The dominant role played by the Southern
Rhodesian European population within the CAF is reflected in that played by its
first leader, Sir Godfrey Huggins, Prime Minister of the Federation for its first
three years and, before that, Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia for an
uninterrupted 23 years. Rather than a federation, Huggins
favoured an amalgamation, creating a single state. However, after World War
II, Britain opposed this because Southern Rhodesia would dominate the
property and income franchise owing to its much larger European population. A
federation was intended to curtail this. The fate of the Federation was contested
within the British Government by two principal Ministries of the Crown in
deep ideological, personal and professional rivalry – the Colonial
Office and the Commonwealth Relations Office. The CO ruled the northern
territories of Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia, while the CRO was formally but
indirectly in charge of Southern Rhodesia. The Northern Territories
opposed a Southern Rhodesian hegemony, one that the CRO promoted.
Significantly, the CO tended to be more sympathetic to African rights than the
CRO, which tended to promote the interests of the Southern Rhodesian
European settler populations. It was convenient to have all three
territories colonised by Cecil Rhodes under one constitution. But, for Huggins
and the Rhodesian establishment, the central economic motive behind the CAF
had always been the abundant copper deposits of Northern Rhodesia. Unlike
the Rhodesias, Nyasaland had no sizeable deposits of minerals and its tiny
community of Europeans, largely Scottish, was relatively sympathetic to
African aspirations. Its inclusion in the Federation was always more a
symbolic gesture than a practical necessity. Ironically, it was to be
largely Nyasaland and its African population where the impetus for
destabilisation of the CAF arose, leading to its dissolution.
Arduous negotiations On 8 November 1950, the first
negotiations for a federal state for the Rhodesias and Nyasaland began. While
many points of contention were worked out in the conferences that followed,
several proved to be acute, and some, seemingly insurmountable. The
negotiations and conferences were arduous. Southern Rhodesia and the
Northern Territories had very different traditions for the 'Native Question' and
the roles they were designed to play in civil society.
An agreement would likely not have been reached without Sir Andrew Cohen, CO
Assistant Undersecretary for African Affairs. He became one of the central
architects and driving forces behind the creation of the Federation, often
seemingly singlehandedly untangling deadlocks and outright walkouts on the
part of the respective parties. Cohen, who was Jewish and traumatised by
the Holocaust, was an anti-racialist and an advocate of African rights. But he
compromised his ideals to avoid what he saw as an even greater risk than the
continuation of the paternalistic white ascendancy system of Southern Rhodesia –
its becoming an even less flexible, radical white supremacy, like the
National Party government in South Africa. Lord Blake, the Oxford-based
historian, wrote: "In that sense, Apartheid can be regarded as the father
of Federation." It took nearly three years for the CAF
to be established. Elaborate structure
Following the insistences and reassurances of the Southern Rhodesian
Prime Minister, Sir Godfrey Huggins, a little more than 25,000 white Southern
Rhodesians voted in a referendum for a federal government, versus nearly 15,000
against. Africans in all three territories were resolutely against it.
The semi-independent federation was finally established, with five branches
of government: one Federal, three Territorial, and one British. This often
translated into confusion and jurisdictional rivalry among various
levels of government. According to Blake, it proved to be "one of the most
elaborately governed countries in the world."
Huggins became the first Prime Minister from 1953 to 1956, followed by Sir Roy
Welensky, a prominent Northern Rhodesian politician, from 1956 to the
Federation's dissolution in December 1963.
Huggins resigned as Southern Rhodesia's Prime Minister to become Prime Minister
of the Federation. The position of Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia was once
again, as under Britain's Ministerial Titles Act of 1933, reduced to a Premier
and taken by The Rev. Garfield Todd, the soon-to-be controversial centre-left
politician. In Southern Rhodesia, most United
Rhodesia Party cabinet members joined Huggins. There was a marked exodus to
the more prestigious realm of Federal politics, and it was considered that
Todd's position and Territorial politics in general had become relatively
unimportant, a place for the less ambitious politician. In fact, it was to
prove decisive both to the future demise of the CAF, and to the rise of the
Rhodesian Front. Economic growth and political liberalism
Despite its convoluted government structure, the CAF economy was a
success. In the first year of the federation, its GDP was an impressive
£350 million; two years later it was nearly £450 million. Yet the average
income of a European remained approximately ten times that of an
African employed in the cash economy, representing only one third of local
Africans. In 1955, the creation of the Kariba
hydro-electric power station was announced. It was a remarkable feat of
engineering creating the largest human-built dam on the planet at the
time and costing £78 million. Its location highlighted the rivalry among
Southern and Northern Rhodesia, with the former attaining its favoured location
for the dam. The CAF brought a decade of liberalism
with respect to African rights. There were African junior ministers in the
Southern Rhodesia-dominated CAF, while a decade earlier only 70 Africans
qualified to vote in the Southern Rhodesian elections.
The property and income-qualified franchise of the CAF was, therefore, now
much looser. While this troubled many whites, they continued to follow Huggins
with the CAF's current structure, largely owing to the economic growth.
But to Africans, this increasingly proved unsatisfactory and their leaders
began to voice demands for majority rule.
Rise of African nationalism African dissent in the CAF grew, and at
the same time British Government circles expressed objections to its structure
and purpose – full Commonwealth membership leading to independence as a
dominion. In June 1956, Northern Rhodesia's
Governor, Sir Arthur Benson, wrote a highly confidential letter heavily
criticising the federation in general and Federal Prime Minister, Sir Roy
Welensky, in particular. Nearly two years later, Huggins somehow obtained a
copy of it and disclosed its contents to Welensky.
Relations between Whitehall and the CAF cabinet were never to recover. These
events, for the first time, brought the attention of British Conservative Prime
Minister, Harold Macmillan, to a crisis emerging in the CAF, but apparently he
did not fully comprehend the gravity of the situation, attributing the row to
the old CO-CRO rivalry and to Welensky taking personal offence to the letter's
contents. The issues of this specific row were in
the immediate sense resolved quietly with some constitutional amendments, but
it is now known that Welensky was seriously considering contingencies for
a Unilateral Declaration of Independence for the federation, though he ended up
opting against it. Meanwhile, towards the end of the
decade, in the Northern Territories, Africans protested against the white
minority rule of CAF. In July 1958, Dr Hastings Banda, the leader of the
African National Congress of Nyasaland, returned from Great Britain to
Nyasaland, while in October the militant Kenneth Kaunda became the leader of the
Zambian African National Congress, a faction from the Northern Rhodesian ANC.
The increasingly rattled CAF authorities banned ZANC in March 1959, and in June
imprisoned Kaunda for nine months. While Kaunda was in gaol, his loyal lieutenant
Mainza Chona worked with other African nationalists to create the United
National Independence Party, a successor to ZANC. In early 1959, unrest broke out
in Nyasaland, which, according to historian Robert Blake, was
"economically the poorest, politically the most advanced and numerically the
least Europeanized of the three Territories."
The CAF government declared a state of emergency. Dr Banda and the rest of
Nyasaland's ANC leadership were arrested and their party outlawed. Southern
Rhodesian troops were deployed to bring order. The controversial British Labour
MP John Stonehouse was expelled from Southern Rhodesia shortly before the
state of emergency was proclaimed in Nyasaland, which outraged the British
Labour Party. The affair drew the whole concept of the
federation into question and even Prime Minister Macmillan began to express
misgivings about its political viability, although economically he felt
it was sound. A Royal Commission to advise Macmillan on the future of the
CAF, to be led by The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, QC, the former Paymaster
General, was in the works. The Commonwealth Secretary, The Earl of
Home, was sent to prepare Welensky, who was distinctly displeased about the
arrival of the Commission. Welensky at least found Lord Home in
support of the existence of the CAF. By contrast, Lord Home's rival, and fellow
Scot, the Colonial Secretary, Iain Macleod, favoured African rights and
dissolving the federation. Although Macmillan at the time supported Lord
Home, the changes were already on the horizon. In Britain, Macmillan said that
it was essential "to keep the Tory party on modern and progressive lines", noting
electoral developments and especially the rise of the Labour Party.
Dissolution By the early 1960s, Macmillan went on
his famous African tour leading to his Wind of Change speech to Parliament in
Cape Town. Change was well underway. By 1960, French African colonies had
already become independent. Belgium more hastily vacated its colony and thousands
of European refugees fled the Belgian Congo from the brutalities of the civil
war and into Southern Rhodesia. During the Congolese crisis, Africans
increasingly viewed CAF Prime Minister, Sir Roy Welensky, as an arch-reactionary
and his support for Katanga separatism added to this. Ironically, a few years
later, in his by-election campaign against Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front, RF
supporters heckled the comparatively moderate Welensky with cries of 'bloody
Jew', 'Communist', and 'traitor'. The new Commonwealth Secretary, Duncan
Sandys, negotiated the '1961 Constitution', a new constitution for
the CAF which greatly reduced Britain's powers over it. But by 1962, the British
and the CAF cabinet had agreed that Nyasaland should be allowed to secede,
though Southern Rhodesian Premier Sir Edgar Whitehead committed the British to
keep this secret until after the 1962 election in the territory. A year later,
the same status was given to Northern Rhodesia, decisively ending the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in the immediate future.
In 1963, the Victoria Falls Conference was held, partly as a last effort to
save the CAF, and partly as a forum to dissolve it. After nearly collapsing
several times, it ended by 5 July 1963, and the state was virtually dissolved.
Only the appropriation of its assets remained as a formality.
By 31 December, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was formally
dissolved and its assets distributed among the territorial governments.
Southern Rhodesia obtained the vast majority of these including the assets
of the Federal army, to which it had overwhelmingly contributed. In 1964,
Northern Rhodesia gained independence as the Republic of Zambia, obtaining
majority rule and led by Kenneth Kaunda. The same year, the Nyasaland
Protectorate became independent Malawi led by Hastings Banda.
On 11 November 1965 Southern Rhodesia's government led by Prime Minister Ian
Smith proclaimed a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the
United Kingdom. This attracted the world's attention and created outrage in
Britain. Historical legacy
Although the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland only lasted for 10 years, it
had an important impact on Central Africa.
Its white minority rule, where a couple of hundred thousand Europeans -
primarily in Southern Rhodesia - ruled over millions of Africans, was largely
driven by paternalistic reformism, which included a mild form of racism and
collided with rising African self-confidence and nationalism.
The British influenced and affiliated the federation and its institutions and
racial relations differed from the only other regional power, the Union of South
Africa. The dissolution of the CAF highlighted the discrepancy between the
independent African-led nations of Zambia and Malawi and Southern Rhodesia,
which remained ruled by a white minority government until the Internal Settlement
in 1979 and soon found itself embroiled in a civil war between the government
and African nationalist and socialist guerillas. Whereas both Malawi and
Zambia developed into authoritarian single-party states and remained so up
to the post-Cold War era. Following Southern Rhodesia's unilateral
declaration of independence, a growing conflict emerged between two of the
former CAF territories – Zambia and Southern Rhodesia – with much heated
diplomatic rhetoric, and, at times, outright military hostility.
Postage and Revenue stamps The Federation issued its first postage
stamps in 1954, all with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. See main article at
Postage stamps of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Revenue stamps
were also issued, see Revenue stamps of the Federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland. See also
Governor-General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland election, 1953
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland election, 1958
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland election, 1962
Flag of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Unilateral Declaration of Independence Notes
References