The Geopolitical Origins of the Central African Federation: Britain, Rhodesia and South Africa, 1948–1953

Abstract

The Central African Federation (1953–63) was the most controversial large-scale imperial exercise in constructive state-building ever undertaken by the British government. It appears now as a quite extraordinary mistake, an aberration of history (‘like the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem’), a deviation from the inevitable historical trend of decolonization. Paradoxically, one of its principal architects, Andrew Cohen (head of the African department of the colonial office) is also credited with having set the course for planned African decolonization as a whole. There have already been several attempts to explain how an error so interesting and surprising, so large and portentous, came to be made. No one, however, has yet presented an analysis based on British government archives, and the authoritative evidence that they alone can provide.

The Central African Federation

“…The idea that a federation could strengthen the forces of liberalism and racial partnership and counterbalance South African practices increasingly gained sympathy in British circles. 15 Consequently, in November 1950 James Griffiths, Secretary of State for the Colonies, announced that a conference would take place in March 1951 to discuss the possibility of closer union between the territories.…”

“…28 The conference also decided to remove the post of Minister for African Affairs and that the proposed African Affairs Board should be comprised of six rather than nine appointed members. 29 The proposals were later published as a white paper in June. 30 The publication of a proposed federal scheme in a white paper during the following month led to attacks from the Labour and Liberal parties, and left-leaning clergy and academics.…”

“…33 Opposition in Southern Rhodesia was slight and Hopkinson concluded that a multiracial federation would provide a favourable solution. 34 The Fiscal Commission appointed following the April 1952 conference reported six months later. It suggested that the collection of customs and excise duties and income tax across the three territories should be the responsibility of a federal government.…”

‘Pilgrimage to Chipundu’: Livingstone's Legacy among Scottish Missionaries in Northern Rhodesia/Zambia, 1950s–1970s

“…The creation of the Federation brought Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland under one government from 1954 until the last day of 1963. The system was proposed to bring efficiency to governance in the region, to further economic development and to 'promote racial partnership' (Hyam 1987). However, African nationalists and many Europeans in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland saw it as a ruse designed to further the system of white minority rule that prevailed in Southern Rhodesia and to solidify the European settlers' political hegemony (Rosberg 1956;Clegg 1960).…”

United States containment policy, South Africa and the apartheid dilemma

“…British policy until the break-up of the Central African Federation in 1963 was one of localized containment of South African apartheid to the south of the Limpopo. 22 This was to be temporarily defeated in the case of the emergence of the Smith regime in Rhodesia, which after 1965 progressively gravitated in the direction of its apartheid neighbour. But the general tenets of localized containment towards South Africa was to a considerable degree taken over by US policy until the advent of the Nixon administration.…”