Word: kaunda
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Addressing a political rally a year ago, Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda insisted that he had no intention of nationalizing the foreign-owned copper mines that account for 95% of his country's export income and half of its government revenues. Said Kaunda: "The copper mines are big business...
Under the circumstances, Kaunda had no choice. In an uncharacteristic outburst, he accused the all-white High Court of behaving like "some organization from heaven looking down on us," while "my people are being slaughtered by the Portuguese." He demanded an explanation from Irish-born Chief Justice James Skinner, a longtime friend, and one of 600 of the country's 65,000 whites who have bothered to become Zambian citizens. Unruffled, Skinner backed up his fellow judge: the ruling had not been politically motivated, he replied. Skinner asserted the judiciary's right to "criticize the executive...
...next day Kaunda's followers decided to deal with the High Court in their own way. Four hundred members of the Zambian Youth Service gathered in front of Lusaka's red-brick High Court. At the sound of a whistle, they stormed inside. Skinner and Evans locked themselves into an office while the youths pounded on the door and broke up furniture. There were more demonstrations in other towns against the High Court, and a number of Europeans were beaten. Posters reflected the angry mood: "The Only Good White Man Is a Dead One" and "One Zambia...
...outburst shocked Kaunda, who told the justices he was "awfully sorry." His apologies came too late. Skinner flew off to London on "indefinite sick leave," and Evans left for Australia. Though Skinner later said he might return to Zambia, a third justice also announced his resignation. Speculation in Zambia was that the remaining four might leave the bench by the end of the year. The High Court crisis badly unsettled Zambia's white residents, who count on the white judiciary as a safeguard against the excesses of black nationalism. The value of private homes in Lusaka has dropped...
...Kaunda will probably cope with the flight of white judges either by recruiting black ones from the Caribbean or by lowering qualifications for black Zambians. In any event, his United National Independence Party, which controls more than two-thirds of Parliament, could take advantage of the crisis to create a new judiciary that is more attuned to the country's politics...