By Joyce Jenje Makwenda

ONCE upon a time there were no borders in Africa and the continent was one.
However, what divided us were the languages and customs which varied from tribes and nationalities.
There was free movement and (barter) trading was made easy by this free movement.
The partition of Africa saw all that come to an end as there were demarcated borders and one had/has to produce a passport in order to be allowed entry into another country.
This affected free movement and people of the same tribe saw themselves belonging to different sides of the border and had to produce a passport to see their relatives. The continent or the region has always wanted to come together as one and efforts have been made to come up with organisations’ co-operations which would make this possible. Today we have the African Union (AU), COMMESA, SADC and more.
The coming together of three countries in 1953, namely Southern Rhodesia later to be known as Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi) as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was an attempt to bring the region together (albeit for the wrong reasons and by the wrong people). There were obviously hidden agendas to this union by those who had initiated it.
Ideally, the three countries were to bring together their strengths; Southern Rhodesia had a great infrastructure, Northern Rhodesia’s copper was king and Nyasaland, which was the poorest of the three, also became part of the Federation and brought with it labour.
There was a great amount of industrialisation which took place during the Federation, especially in Southern Rhodesia.
Existing townships expanded and new ones were built. Besides Makokoba in Bulwayo and Mbare in Harare (Salisbury), the National Building and Housing Board developed new houses in what we now call National in Mbare.
Mabvuku Township was built during this time to accommodate the influx of people in the city and then Highfileds which was the first to offer a housing ownership scheme in Harare.
In Bulawayo a number of townships were also built. It became the industrial hub hence the name kontunthu ziyathuqa (A place where smoke is abundant – a place of rising smoke which symbolised the presence of abundance of industries).
The University of Zimbabwe (University of Rhodesia) was built, the Kariba Dam was also built during that time. The first tallest building – Livingstone House — was built. The music industry was booming, people had money to spend. Dorothy Masuka gave her first press conference to the business fraternity, diplomats, educationists and socialites who had come to attend the All Africa Music Festival organisied by the late Dan Madzimbamuto. The City Quads came up with their first LP (long playing album) in the country.
Malawians could send money to their families back home or bring them to Zimbabwe.
Thousands who had any ambition went to the Copper Belt. That’s where the big money was, same as Joburg. The Copperbelt was an incredible place to be. Things were happening during the Federation.
Some Zimbabweans have been in Zambia since the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and it is their home now. The same applies to Zambians and Malawians who have also been here since that time and other nationalities from the region and abroad.
The idea of the Federation was promoted by the then Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia, Sir Godfrey Huggins, who subsequently ended up as Lord Malvern. He was the prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia for over 21 years.
When the idea of the federation was first presented to the British, they appointed the Bledisloe Commission to consider the question of closer association between the territories. The Bledisloe Commission was a Royal Commission  appointed in 1937 to examine the possibility of a closer union of the three British territories in Central Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
These territories were to some degree economically inter-dependent, and it was suggested that an association would promote their rapid development. In 1939, the Commission recommended a union.
It was shelved because of the Second World War and was resumed in the 1950s. The Central African Council was established with the objective of promoting and co-ordinating policy and action between the three territories.
Huggins, being the chief negotiator in 1952, got everything he wanted and in 1953 the Federation came into being.
It meant that there were four governments in the Federation, the three territorial governments, the one in Southern Rhodesia which was purely a White government and then the two Protectorates’ governments, Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia which were controlled by the Colonial Office.
Over and above there was the federal government in charge of functions like foreign affairs, roads, the army and defence.
One of the biggest mistakes the Federation made was to run the affairs of blacks and whites separately. The affairs of black people were administered under the territorial governments and white people’s affairs were run by the Federal Government which was based in Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia.
The territorial governments were ill-funded by the Federal government because they were for the indigenous people.
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was opposed by many African people and all the African political parties.
In Southern Rhodesia, the Southern Rhodesia African Congress and in Northern Rhodesia, the African Congress which became UNIP – United National Independence Party led by Kenneth Kaunda and in Malawi the Nyasaland African Congress.
This saw the escalation of African nationalism in Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) which eventually led to the liberation struggle under ZAPU and ZANU.
They were all opposed to the Federation because they saw it as a political arrangement to enhance white supremacy and was intended to create another South Africa.The end of the Federation led to events of serious political awareness among black people.
Malawi and Zambia were British Protectorates and were under Britain, so that made it easier for them to get their independence from Britain. Malawi got its independence in July 1964 and Zambia got its independence on October 24 1964.
Rhodesia got a different kind of ‘independence’ in 1965 with the whites’ Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) which saw blacks rising to take arms to fight for their freedom. The wars of liberation were led by the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) which eventually led to the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980.
Joyce Jenje Makwenda is a Researcher/Archivist/Historian and for views and comments, e-mail: [email protected]