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The discovery of copper in Zambia in the early 20th century turned the country into a metal export powerhouse. By 1938, Zambia was producing 213,000 tons of copper per year. However, these exports were controlled by the Colonial Office in London which expropriated profits while exploiting the Zambian population and extracting from their local ecosystems. Today, that crisis of underdevelopment persists: 90 per cent of Zambia’s present workforce either hemmed into the informal sector or unemployed completely.

What does this history of resource extraction and systematic under-development mean for the Global South today? And what are its lasting effects? For Issue #69 of The Internationalist, Justina Namukombo and Clever Madimutsa delve into Zambia’s developmental trajectory from the colonial period of the early 20th century through the neoliberal revolution of the late 20th century and on to the present day.

Professor Namukombo is a lecturer in the Department of Government and Management Studies at the University of Zambia, researching the political economy of African development. Professor Madimutsa is a senior lecturer and Head of Department of the Government and Management Studies at the University of Zambia, specialising in the study of the African public sector and its evolving economic governance.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tanya Singh: Prof Namukombo, I wanted to begin this discussion with the history of Zambia. How did the colonial policies in education and employment contribute to Zambia’s early socio-economic landscape?

Justina Namukombo: Colonial education and employment policies did not promote the lifelong development and welfare of the Africans in Zambia, which was then called Northern Rhodesia. Policy approaches adopted by settlers were those of discrimination, exploitation and accumulation. Discriminatory because the African population was excluded from education and other socio-economic activities. And exploitative because it was detrimental for the people to be turned into mere labour input of the capitalist structure.

The first phase of colonial rule by the British South African Company (BSAC) from 1891 to 1923 was primarily focused on making profits from the mining industry while neglecting the responsibility of providing education to the local people. The Company did not build any educational infrastructure that could be referenced to, apart from The Barotse National School built in 1907 in exchange for agreements made with the local chief to access mineral rights. The 1918 Native Schools Proclamation policy, which was enacted during the Company’s rule, was established for the sole purpose of controlling education provided by mission schools with no equivalent funding. We also know that in 1914 suggestions for the establishment of a teacher’s training college, industrial education and scholastic development were rejected by the Company.

The early education system introduced in Zambia deliberately emphasized industrial training as opposed to formal education. This contributed to the late introduction of primary and secondary education with university training being introduced only after independence. By the time the company relinquished its control in 1922, only Barotse National School existed as a government-funded school.

In the second phase, (1924–1953) the Colonial Office in London took over the administration of Northern Rhodesia. During this period, the Colonial Office commissioned some studies into the provision of education in Central Africa in general, leading to a slow start of primary and secondary education. The 1924 Phelps–Stokes Report made some recommendations for government involvement in providing and funding education which was at that time dominated by missionary providers. Even with these strides, the focus was still on informal village mass education with no schools in urban areas till around 1931. For example, the first secondary school in Lusaka began in 1939 at Munali Secondary School. Four years before independence, there were only 16 mission schools, eight government schools and two mining schools in the whole country.

In the Federation Rule (1953–1963) the three countries: Nyasaland (Malawi), Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia were administered as one entity. Even when there were improvements in the provision of education, not much progress was made. By 1961 only 76 Zambians had university degrees, 961 had secondary school certificates and 76 with university degrees. There were only 6,401 primary school teachers and 301 secondary school teachers. During the opening of the first university in the country in 1966, the first Republican president, Dr Kenneth Kaunda said in his inauguration speech:

“I have to reiterate on this most important occasion what I have said already in the past, that as far as education is concerned, Britain's colonial record in Zambia is most criminal. This country has been left by her as the most uneducated and most unprepared of Britain's dependencies on the African Continent. This record is even treasonable to mankind when it is recalled that in the seventy years of British occupation, Zambia has never lacked money, and, except for a year or two, her budget had never been subsidized by the British Treasury.”

Just like education policies, employment policies were also crafted within the framework of discrimination. Since Africans were systematically excluded from education and participation in the economy, they lacked the necessary skills and experience by the time they were supposed to run their own affairs.

Throughout the federation period, wage employment among Africans is approximated around 270,000. The promotion of the colour bar in recruitment meant Africans were being disadvantaged. The European Mine Workers Union for instance made an agreement with the Chambers of Mines in 1937 to reserve jobs for white people. Jobs offered to Africans in the senior service reflected the status given to Africans. Around 1957, of the 5,451 Africans that were a part of the senior service, 4,911 were in the lowest grade. This meant at independence, Zambia did not have people with managerial skills and experience to fill up government positions or to run the private sector.

TS: Apart from affecting educational infrastructure, how did the control of the mining industry by colonial entities contribute to the perpetuation of uneven development?

JN: The discovery of the copper industry between 1920 and 1935 not only linked Northern Rhodesia to the external market but also brought about structural changes within Zambian society. The control of the mining sector by the two foreign companies: the Anglo-American Corporation Group and the Roan Selection Trust Group resulted in the outflow of capital outside the country. Construction of a railway line from the mining province Copperbelt through Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia to Port Beira was for the sole purpose of transporting copper. However, infrastructure in other parts of the country, except for Copperbelt and Lusaka, remained underdeveloped. Zambia was channelling tons of copper outside the country and by 1938, Zambia was producing 213,000 tons per year. Ten years before independence, the two mining companies sent £260 million out of the country and the federal government received £100 million.

Second, the mining industry introduced labour migration from rural areas to urban areas. This distorted subsistence farming which most local people relied on. By 1940, African labourers in the mines rose to 26,203, depriving the rural areas of income-earning individuals. Labour migration also extended beyond the Zambian borders. Around 1925, 19,803 Northern Rhodesian migrants entered Southern Rhodesia in search of employment.

Third, the mining industry was not connected to the rest of the economy apart from the mere provision of physical labour. Equipment and other requisites for the running of the mining industry were imported, which I believe disallowed the people from developing crucial production skills.

TS: Prof Madimutsa, economic reforms were introduced in Zambia in the 1990s. Could you tell me how this liberalization of the Zambian economy affected the working class?

Clever Madimutsa: The liberalization of the economy in Zambia in the 1990s changed the character of trade unions and the working class in three major ways. First, under the command and control economy which characterized the 1970s and 80s, the major employer in the country was the government. Under this type of economy, trade unions were bargaining collectively with one employer, the government. This enabled the unions to put their resources together and fight for improved terms and conditions of their employment.

However, the liberalization of the economy brought on board several new employers who had the power to hire and determine their own terms and conditions of employment. This forced the unions to decentralize their collective bargaining structures so that they could negotiate the agreements of employment for their members with the managers of the newly established companies. This arrangement became a strain and has continued to be a strain on the part of the unions because they need to spend a lot of time and resources conducting collective bargaining with several employers. Some employers can offer better conditions of service while others do not.

Second, the amendments to labour laws have resulted in the formation of multiple unions within institutions and industries. In the 1970s, the Industrial Relations Act prohibited the formation of more than one trade union in each industry. This enabled the growth of strong industry-based unions. However, this is the opposite today where trade unions are characterized by several small unions within enterprises and industries. As opposed to the 1970s and 80s, these unions spent a lot of time and resources negotiating for improved work conditions with few achievements.

Third, because of externally driven neoliberal policies, trade unions are persuaded to help the government meet the conditions attached to accessing support from international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These conditions include reducing the public service wage bill through measures such as wage freeze, privatization and retrenchment of workers. Through persuasion and/or social dialogue, the militancy in trade unions has been lost, resulting in the rise of informal work. At the moment, only 10 per cent of the labour force in Zambia is formally employed while the rest (90 per cent) is either informally employed or unemployed. Because of the high levels of informal work, workers are subjected to not only low pay but also job insecurity.

TS: In that context, how has the proliferation of multiple trade unions within industries impacted the strength and efficacy of the labour movement?

CM: So because of being fragmented, trade unions have become susceptible to manipulation by employers who tend to clinch deals with smaller and less influential unions in the process of collective bargaining. They then extend similar deals to other unions which then makes it difficult for other unions to fight for better work conditions for workers.

Moreover, due to this fragmentation, the unions tend to poach members from each other in an attempt to strengthen themselves, leading to inter-union conflicts as each union tries to protect its perceived territory. This, in turn, has made the unions fail to address workers’ rights and interests as a unified labour movement thereby allowing employers to continue exploiting workers through payment of wages that are below the cost of basic needs and non-payment of contractual obligations such as allowances, gratuities and pensions.

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