Word: kaunda
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...parties on the Lusaka diplomatic circuit, Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda often pointed to Vice President Simon Kapwepwe, his close friend since boyhood, and said fondly: "Look, there goes my revolutionary!" It was no casual sobriquet. A bearded, conspiratorial-looking firebrand who wears black and purple togas and carries an outsized walking stick, Kapwepwe was a militant nationalist leader as one of Kaunda's colleagues in the fight for independence from Britain. In a recent about-face, he became Kaunda's chief rival for political power. Last week Kapwepwe more than lived up to Kaunda's billing...
...bitter tribal rivalry. Two years ago, when he was elected vice president of the country's ruling United National Independence Party (U.N.I.P.), Kapwepwe automatically took over Zambia's vice-presidency. During a hastily called press conference last week, he abruptly resigned. In a speech designed to upstage Kaunda, who was scheduled to deliver a nationwide address that afternoon, Kapwepwe complained that he was the victim of "mudslinging in the press," that government ministers were rude and abusive, and that his fellow Bembas were being discriminated against. Kapwepwe obviously hoped that his well-publicized resignation would pave...
Both political and economic pressures lie behind Kaunda's move. Zambia, the former British colony of Northern Rhodesia, remains uncomfortably dependent upon white-dominated Rhodesia for trade and electric power. The cost of living is soaring and abrasive tensions between Zambia's blacks and whites (who constitute 1.5% of the population), are on the rise. Recognizing the importance of the mines to his country, Kaunda met two years ago with Chile's President Eduardo Frei to discuss an arrangement to help maintain world copper prices and quotas. Although no price-fixing agreement resulted from their talks, Frei...
Risky Action. Kaunda's action entails serious risks for his country. Zambia has neither the capital nor the skills to run the mines by itself. Kaunda must rely heavily on both the companies and their remaining 5,000 white miners to keep operations going. Only the steadily rising price of copper, now at a high of 740 per pound, has enabled Zambia to maintain a favorable balance of payments in recent years. Any decline in copper prices as a result of an end of the war in Viet Nam, the discovery of new sources, or the increased...
Zambia's greatest damage will probably be to itself. The country needs private investment capital, and, as New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller said on his recent South American tour, "investment capital likes to go where it is loved." Kaunda's action can only encourage potential Zambian investors to go elsewhere in search of affection...