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CHRONICLE OF A COUP FORETOLD: VALENTINE MUSAKANYA AND THE 1980 COUP ATTEMPT IN ZAMBIA*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

MILES LARMER
MILES LARMER
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield
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Abstract

Zambia's unsuccessful coup attempt in 1980 was initiated by members of the country's intellectual and business elite, who had played a leading role in the postcolonial civil service and state bureaucracy, but who became disillusioned with the takeover of the state by the ruling party before and after the declaration of the one-party state in 1972. Among their number was Valentine Musakanya, one of those convicted for the coup attempt. Using Musakanya's biographical and other writings, this article explores his intellectual trajectory from head of the civil service to political prisoner. In so doing, it investigates the role of life writing in aiding understanding of the postcolonial political history of Africa.

Keywords

Zambiacouplife writingpoliticspostcolonial
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , November 2010 , pp. 391 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 Straker, J., ‘The state of the subject: a Guinean educator's odyssey in the postcolonial forest, 1960–2001’, Journal of African History, 49:1 (2008), 93–109CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For the colonial period, see K. Barber (ed.), Africa's Hidden Histories: Everyday Literacy and Making the Self (Bloomington, 2006). L. White, S. F. Miescher, and D. W. Cohen (eds.), African Words, African Voices: Critical Practices in Oral History (Bloomington, 2001) includes studies that extend into the postcolonial period, the insights of which inform the analysis presented here.

2 See in particular G. Macola, Liberal Nationalism in Central Africa: A Biography of Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula (New York, 2010).

3 The best examples are: A. Sardanis, Africa: Another Side of the Coin: Northern Rhodesia's Final Years and Zambia's Nationhood (London, 2003); S. Zukas, Into Exile and Back (Lusaka, 2002); J. Mwanakatwe, Teacher, Politician, Lawyer: My Autobiography (Lusaka, 2003); A. Mbikusita-Lewanika, Hour for Reunion, Movement for Multi-Party Democracy: Conception, Dissension and Reconciliation (Mongu-Lealui, 2003); F. Kaunda, Selling the Family Silver (KwaZulu-Natal, 2002); A. G. Zulu, Memoirs of Alexander Grey Zulu (Lusaka, 2007); V. J. Mwaanga, The Long Sunset (Johannesburg, 2008).

4 For a review of some of these texts, see Larmer, M., ‘What went wrong? Zambian political biography and post-colonial discourses of decline’, Historia, 51:1 (2006), 235–56Google Scholar.

5 Some of this important research has been published in J.-B. Gewald, M. Hinfelaar, and G. Macola, (eds.), One Zambia, Many Histories: Towards a History of Post-colonial Zambia (Leiden, 2008).

6 Larmer, M., ‘“A little bit like a volcano”: the United Progressive Party and resistance to one-party rule in Zambia, 1964–1980’, International Journal of African Historical Studies, 39:1 (2006), 49–83Google Scholar.

7 M. Larmer, ‘Enemies within: opposition to the Zambian one-party state, 1972–1980’ in Gewald, Hinfelaar, and Macola, One Zambia, 98–125.

8 See Mwanakatwe, Teacher; Sardanis, Africa.

9 Larmer, ‘Enemies within’, 118.

10 A collection of Musakanya's writings, edited by the author and entitled The Musakanya Papers, was published in Zambia by the Lembani Trust in mid-2010. The author wishes to express his gratitude to Kapumpe Musakanya and his family for allowing access to Musakanya's papers in the preparation of this article.

11 An instructive parallel can be drawn here with the more positive, although still challenging, experience of senior civil servants in post-independence Botswana, as provided in R. Werbner, Reasonable Radicals and Citizenship in Botswana: The Public Anthropology of Kalanga Elites (Bloomington, 2004).

12 See, for example, D. C. Mulford, Zambia: The Politics of Independence, 1957–1964 (Oxford, 1967); R. Hall, Zambia, 1890–1964: The Colonial Period (2nd edn, London, 1976); and the majority of contributions in W. Tordoff (ed.), Politics in Zambia (Manchester, 1974).

13 Tamara Giles-Vernick, ‘Lives, histories and sites of recollection’, in White, Miescher, and Cohen, African Words, 195.

14 This is cogently argued by S. F. Miescher, ‘The life histories of Boakye Yiadom (Akasease Kofi of Abetifi, Kwawu): exploring the subjectivity and “voices” of a teacher-catechist in colonial Ghana’, in White, Miescher, and Cohen, African Words, 162–93.

15 Valentine Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 631–2.

16 Ibid. 116.

17 Ibid. 131.

18 His experiences contrast instructively in this respect with those of Akinpẹlu Obiṣẹsan in the 1920s: Ruth Watson, ‘“What is our intelligence, our school going and our reading of books without getting money?” Akinpẹlu Obiṣẹsan and his diary’, in Barber, Africa's Hidden Histories, 52–77.

19 Sardanis discusses Musakanya at some length in his autobiographical study, Africa, 149–52 and 289–90. His account identifies Musakanya as a British intelligence agent, and makes the assertion, refuted by legal evidence, that Musakanya was not tortured while detained for the 1980 coup attempt.

20 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 183.

21 Ibid. 239–41. Musakanya's retrospective description of his own experiences of Copperbelt life echoes in many respects the contemporaneous observations of Rhodes-Livingstone Institute (RLI) researchers, most obviously A. L. Epstein, Politics in an Urban African Community, (2nd edn, Manchester, 1973). The extent to which Musakanya's own understanding was informed by RLI researchers is unknown, though he is likely to have read their works. His firsthand observation appear to support many of the RLI's findings, though critics of the Institute's ‘modernist’ approach might legitimately question whether he is simply reflecting this discourse in his own writing. For this debate, see J. Ferguson, Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Modern Life on the Zambian Copperbelt (Berkeley, 1999); Ferguson, J., ‘Modernist narratives, conventional wisdoms and colonial liberalism: reply to a straw man’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 20:4 (1994), 633–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Macmillan, H., ‘The historiography of transition on the Zambian Copperbelt: another view’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 19:4 (1993), 681–712CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also L. Schumaker, Africanizing Anthropology: Fieldwork, Networks, and the Making of Cultural Knowledge in Central Africa (Durham, NC, 2001).

22 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 241.

23 Ibid. 285–7. It was apparently during his time at Cambridge that Musakanya was approached by the British intelligence services. He does not write about his links with MI6, and while these are freely acknowledged by his friends and family, no written evidence is yet available to support the widespread belief that he remained in contact with MI6 agents for some decades.

24 A. Richards, Land and Diet in Northern Rhodesia (New York and London, 1939).

25 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 288.

26 Ibid. 370. Here Musakanya's description strongly resembles that of Gobe Matenge, whose personal experience of working with European colonial officials in what was then Bechuanaland helped form his later personal outlook as a senior civil servant in Botswana: Werbner, Reasonable Radicals, 162–87.

27 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 360 insert.

28 Ibid. 367–7a.

29 Ibid. 404 insert. For this resolution, see http://www.africa-union.org/root/AU/Documents/Decisions/hog/bHoGAssembly1964.pdf (accessed 28 July 2010).

30 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 423–4.

31 Ibid. 444–5.

32 Tordoff, W. and Molteno, R., ‘Introduction’, in Tordoff, Politics in Zambia, 15Google Scholar. See also Macola, G., ‘“It means as if we are excluded from the good freedom”: thwarted expectations of Independence in the Luapula Province of Zambia, 1964–1966’, Journal of African History, 47:1 (2006), 43–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Mwanakatwe, Teacher, Politician, Lawyer, 167.

34 For a description of a parallel professionalization process in Tanzania, and the marginalization of less educated rural TANU activists that it involved, see S. Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania (Madison 1990), 238–40. In Botswana, advocates of professionalization expressed themselves organizationally in the Botswana Civil Service Association (BCSA): Werbner, Reasonable Radicals, 168–76.

35 Musakanya, ‘autobiographical manuscript’, 465–6.

36 C. Gertzel (ed.), C. Baylies, and M. Szeftel, The Dynamics of the One-party State in Zambia (Manchester, 1984). See also Szeftel, M., ‘Political graft and the spoils system in Zambia: the state as a resource in itself’, Review of African Political Economy, 9:24 (1983), 4–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

37 Molteno, R., ‘Cleavage and conflict in Zambian politics: a study in sectionalism’, in Tordoff, Politics in Zambia, 62–106Google Scholar.

38 See Larmer, ‘Volcano’, 51–5.

39 Musankaya, autobiographical manuscript, 470.

40 Ibid. 472–3.

41 See Larmer, ‘Volcano’, 52–7.

42 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 500.

43 Ibid., 499.

44 Ibid. 516–7.

45 Ibid. 513.

46 Molteno, ‘Conflict’, 92–3.

47 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 528.

48 Gertzel, Baylies, and Szeftel, Dynamics, 13.

49 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 533.

50 Ibid. 533.

51 See, for example, Gertzel, Baylies, and Szeftel, Dynamics, 13–14.

52 M. Larmer, Rethinking African Politics: A History of Opposition in Zambia (Farnham, Surrey, forthcoming 2011).

53 R. Dumont, False Start in Africa (New York, 1966).

54 National Assembly of Zambia: Debates, Vol. 21, 16 January 1970, 269–77.

55 Times of Zambia, 14, 17, and 21 Feb. 1969. Karen Hansen reports such bans in Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda: K. T. Hansen, ‘Dressing dangerously: miniskirts, gender relations, and sexuality in Zambia’, in J. Allman (ed.), Fashioning Africa: Power and the Politics of Dress (Bloomington, 2004), 166.

56 Hansen would later highlight precisely this contradiction: ‘Dressing dangerously’, 168.

57 Musakanya to His Excellency the President, ‘Memorandum on the dangers of cultural conservatives’, 2 April 1969, emphasis in original.

58 Ibid.

59 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 564.

60 Musakanya, speech to the UNZA Political Association, ‘The role of intellectuals and activists in independent Africa’, 10 Nov. 1969, 1.

61 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 567; Times of Zambia, 3 Nov. 1980.

62 Interview with Jonas Mukumbi, Kitwe, 7 Aug. 2005.

63 Macola, Liberal Nationalism, 95–119.

64 Interview with Emmanuel Kasonde, Lusaka, 10 Aug. 2006.

65 Interview with Andrew Kashita, Lusaka, 9 Aug. 2006.

66 Musakanya, ‘Notes for the Committee of Enquiry into the establishment of a one party participatory democracy in Zambia’, 15 June 1972, 4.

67 Ibid. 7–8.

68 For a discussion of tribal balancing, see R. Hall, The High Price of Principles: Kaunda and the White South, (2nd edn, Harmondsworth, 1973, 200–1).

69 Musakanya, ‘Notes’, 8.

70 Ibid. 12–17.

71 Ibid. 21. The ‘nationality’ clause, generally associated with the exclusion of Kaunda from the 1996 elections by President Frederick Chiluba, has a much longer history. The ANC leader Lawrence Katilungu highlighted Kaunda's ‘Nyasa’ identity in the early 1960s and it was part of the UPP's discourse in the 1970s.

72 Musakanya's criticisms did, however, dovetail with those offered at this time by the opposition ANC: see Macola, Liberal Nationalism, 140–1. It is striking that at no point did Musakanya apparently consider any form of cooperative relationship with the ANC, or even regard it as a significant practical representative of opposition thought or activity. This can best be explained by his intellectual individualism and his lack of orientation towards more practical political considerations.

73 State House declared that Musakanya had taken positions on many issues that were contrary to those of UNIP and its government: Times of Zambia, 27 June 1972.

74 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 638–41.

75 Ibid. 649–50.

76 Ibid. 653.

77 Gertzel, Baylies, and Szeftel, Dynamics, 88–9.

78 Ibid.

79 Larmer, ‘Enemies within’,

80 Sunday Times of Zambia, 5 Sept. 1976.

81 Gertzel, Baylies, and Szeftel, Dynamics, 43 and 91; Larmer, ‘Volcano’, 79.

82 Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 670.

83 Ibid. 669.

84 Among those who were not detained but who personally experienced Musakanya's tirades at the Flying Club was Andrew Kashita: interview with Kashita.

85 Discussions with the Musakanya family, Lusaka, Aug. 2006; Musakanya, autobiographical manuscript, 631–2.

86 Musakanya, ‘Independence Day arrest’, 21.

87 For more detailed analyses of the coup attempt, see Larmer, ‘Enemies within’ and Rethinking African Politics.

88 Musakanya, ‘Independence Day arrest’, 10–11.

89 Ibid. 15.

90 Ibid. 19.

91 ‘Interrogation notes of 4 November 1980, Valentine Musakanya’, coup trial documents. Musakanya does not himself describe the process of interrogation or torture in his autobiography.

92 For the empowering nature of autobiographical writing in prison, see Gready, P., ‘Autobiography and the “power of writing”: political prison writing in the Apartheid era’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 19:3 (1993), 489–523CrossRefGoogle Scholar. In comparison to the veritable flood of prison memoirs of Apartheid-era detainees in South Africa, no parallel literature exists in Zambia of former political dissidents held during the one-party state. In South African works such as Albie Sachs's The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (London, 1990) and Emma Mashinini's Strikes Have Followed Me All My Life (London, 1989), the suffering during imprisonment is validated by the subsequent achievement of freedom and international recognition of that suffering. In contrast, Musakanya's memoir ends with his experience of and in detention. See also papers presented at the ‘Histories and legacies of punishment in southern Africa’ conference, University of Oxford, April 2010.

93 Werbner, Reasonable Radicals.

94 See T. O. Ranger, Are We Not Also Men? The Samkange Family and African Politics in Zimbabwe, 1920–64 (London, 1995), particularly Chapter 5, ‘Aftermaths: 1948 to 1956’, 124–155.

95 See for example, Hall, Zambia.