The Kariba Darn

By GRACE SCOTT

A JOKE went into circulation in Northern .n■Rhodesia shortly after Federation became a fait accompli which is still going the rounds: about Northern Rhodesia no longer being the `Black North' (as it has been known by those in the South for so many years), because it has been bled white by Southern Rhodesia. It may not be very funny, but it somehow ex- presses the wide and indisputable disparity between the two territories.

For two adjoining pieces of Africa sharing a common name, Northern and Southern Rhodesia are remarkably incompatible. They have differ- ent forms of governments, different economies, different outlooks, different problems—and, before Federation, a very different bank balance. Northern Rhodesia before 1953 had an annual surplus in the region of £15,000,000; Southern Rhodesia had almost forgotten what 'surplus' meant. But soon after Federation Northern Rhodesia's surplus dropped to a mere £2,000,000, with little to show for it except—or so it seemed to Northern Rhodesians—down south. Salisbury, for instance, appeared to be burgeoning with new roads, new hospitals, new post offices and other signs of prosperity; it soon became known as `Bamba Zonke' (rhymes with donkey), which is Kitchen Kaffir for 'Take the Lot.' The appellation lost the residents of Salisbury no sleep—if they were kept awake at nights, it was by the feverish banging and hammering of workmen as one skyscraper after another rose to the heavens. Bamba Zonke was becom- ing a boom town.

But by far the biggest bone of contention between the two Rhodesias was Kariba.

Before Kariba was mooted, Northern Rhodesia had begun work on an excellent hydro- electric scheme of its own on the Kafue river. At the point where the river flows through a narrow gap, experts maintained, a dam could be built at relatively low cost which would have produced all the power necessary for the copper mines, and more, by 1959. By the time of Federa- tion Northern Rhodesia had already spent a million pounds on this scheme, and had been given an undertaking by Sir Godfrey Huggins that it would be proceeded with under the Federal regime. Then, Sir Godfrey pulled Kariba out of the bag; much more grandiose, much more expensive—but much nearer Salisbury.

Northern Rhodesians—who were already be- ginning to suspect that Federation was a sort of Southern Rhodesia Benefit—read into this proposal to scrap the Kafue scheme, and har- ness the Zambesi instead, a determination by Southern Rhodesian big business to ensure that everything came Southern Rhodesia's way. Bamba Zonke, they told each other, was at it again. Protest meetings were held in the big towns; indignant letters went out to the editors of local papers; MPs were lobbied; and sun- downer conversation consisted of little else for months.

But for all their indignation, when the matter was debated in the Federal Assembly, it was left to four opposition members, two Europeans and two Africans, to oppose Northern Rhodesian members of the Fedora Party (the party in power), although vociferow. I enough at first, by the time the House sat haV [l been won over to the Kariba side. The opponent' 1, c of the Kariba project could point out that no' only was Kafue a cheaper scheme (it could ha\'t produced as much power as Kariba for a muell lower cost at a much earlier date, and could have been paid for out of Northern Rhodesia. surplus without the Government having to resui 1 to loans), but it was far and away the salt'. scheme. The site, too, was a 'natural' for a duo construction—the sides were of granite; and nothing like the same amount of land clear. ing and moving of indigenous peoples would have been involved. But reasonable though these arguments were (and prophetic, too, in the light of recent disclosures), they were klis" missed by the Southern Rhodesian Federal, enjoying a large majority in the House, IA 11° had made up their minds to have Kariba. There was nothing anybody in the North could ci". It is not difficult, in retrospect, to read inl`' their change of plans a reluctance on the part 01 Sir Godfrey and his supporters to commii themselves to a project in a territory that might conceivably one day be run by a black govern' ment. If this was indeed the reason for the quashing of Kafue, then the possibility of the Federation's breaking up was, ironically, being considered by its architects almost before iI had been created.

Northern Rhodesian pride had more bla,' to suffer. The Kariba township, consisting 1)1 employees' houses, hospitals, shops, office' churches and a modern luxury hotel, was built, on the Southern Rhodesian side of the rivel and, to add insult to injury, Northern Rhodesians could not get across the temporary bridge to the hotel to assuage their thirst without a special permit from the Federal Power Board However, this is water over the dam. As soon as the gigantic wall was complete, with room for four lines of traffic to pass over its top, even I Northern Rhodesians had to admit it was a (1; wonderful piece of engineering, and to begin ta7 tt take pride in it. The adventures and vicissitudes connected II with the construction of Kariba are well knosAn: the moving of the Tonga people who lived in » the area to be flooded, and the rescue of game from the rapidly disappearing islands, which captured the imagination of TV viewers everY" where. Even the encroaching Salvinia Auricula" the pretty green 'Kariba weed,' has figured in the world press. Kariba helped to Pn1 the Central African Federation on the map: tourists see it even before 'they go to see the Victoria Falls, 250 miles upstream. Tongans happily and profitably from primitive dugout' in the vast, well-stocked lake. Water-loving Europeans of both territories, who had hitherto not known what to do with their long weekend';, find they have a brand-new inland sea. Sailing, water ski-ing, speed-boating, fishing or just messing about in boats have become

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Ir °desian pastime. There is something fascinat- about tying one's boat to the topmost ta. nches of a baobab tree, exploring islands ilich were up to a few months ago uninhabited untain-tops and entangling one's fishing tackle submerged bushes and brambles that once ve shelter to wild animals. But the business record of Kariba is less un- Oorting. In one of the windows of Rhodesia °use in the Strand, the `blurb' on Kariba, under theme of 'POWER FOR PARTNERSHIP,' reads: , Power for the factories; Power for the I) bottles; Power behind the fastest growing eco- ',wItly in Africa; Power to bring 8 million Africans into the Federation's rapidly expanding eonomy. To give them the jobs and the pros- ' perky which Partnership is creating. This is the true meaning of Kariba. a Apart from the shock it gives the visitor from LI khodesia to realise that the word `Partnership' seldom mentioned in the Federation) is ql being used as a gimmick in Britain, this It Poetic puff must make Rhodesians feel some- ‘'hat wistful. Hydro-electric dams naturally represent a great attraction to new industry 4crever they are erected; but (through no fault ul o its own) not Kariba. Even the Federal Inister of Finance had to admit, when he was resenting the budget last June, that outside tivestment was not coming into the Federation quickly as he and his fellow Rhodesians had °Pet He blamed this on to events in the ca.0 .a and other parts of Africa, but it is NikelY he fooled many of his listeners. If out- 14e investment is fighting shy of the Federation, , ' Is because of the political uncertainty in the aeration itself—not in • any other part of

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Afric„, And if its politics were not enough to 'eter foreign capital, then the Government's drastic exchange control measures earlier this her stop money going out of the country jn tiave one nothing to encourage money to come 1)4s W, the announcement that an abutment Of ;it:), be built to strengthen the darn, at a cost 8 the million, owing to a fault in the rock on 4_01.1-11h bank, has added to the list of draw- har"s

`, But the news has far more serious

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,,ullan that it will push up the cost of power.

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• 4,ariba dam was designed by the same man 'I'M Kariba

n the same principle as was the ill-fated

'ins dam in France. A feature of this type of '"n is that the main strain is transmitted from lotwail to the banks; and it was a faulty bank it 6 16:11.1s that was responsible for the eatas- (tt he. The huge patch, therefore, of poor- h 1)

fifty rock on the south side of Kariba could et be lightly shrugged oft.

ut the shrug followed. The Minister for et'110thing the Federal assembly that there "ded

unusual about a thrust block being

14111, 0 a dam—lots of darns have them. The h. he said, had been known from the begin- and but it had been thought that jetting °' out; (scraping out the soft micaceous rock 1 \tone jcPlacing it with concrete) would have been 5 tinf Mt to ensure the safety of the darn wall. .(/ the , tunately, the contractors jetted and grouted

tune of a million efore it became

Cl that some furth poundser reinforcebment would be -,eessary.

The opposition, unconvinced, called for the 4P1)0intinent of a select committee of inquiry into the whole matter. Some of them had been making some investigations of their own, and had unearthed some disquieting facts. From their findings it appeared that insufficient geo- logical survey had been made before work on the dam had been commenced; that the Northern Rhodesian Geological Department had, in the beginning, expressed concern about the quality of rock in the south bank, but had been refused funds for further investigation; that the con- tractors themselves had discovered weaknesses but had been told to carry on, and so 'on. But the upshot was as expected: the motion was carried and the amendment defeated.

There things might have rested, but for the tenacity of one of the opposition members, Mr. Robert Moffatt brother of Sir. John Moffat, leader of Northern Rhodesia's Liberal Party. Mr. Robert Moffat published his misgivings in the September issue of the Federation's liberal monthly, the Central African Examiner, show- ing how the geological survey had been seriously neglected in order that the. Kariba scheme might be pushed through to enable cheap electric power to be transmitted to the Copperbelt by 1960. 'The meeting of this deadline,' he wrote, `had, of course, important implications in the party political sphere.' He also claimed that some experts have privately expressed their deep con- cern about recent developments at Kariba, where they believe the mica seam in the south bank to be much more extensive than the Govern- ment has disclosed.

If these allegations are true, and there is no reason to suppose that Mr. Moffat, who is sin- cere, rather shy and certainly not given to seek- ing the limelight, has been inventing them, then obviously some action is called for to reassure the public about the safety of Kariba. It is bard to understand why the Federal Government should have refused to consider the appointment of a committee of inquiry—the cost would have been a fleabite compared to the £75 million or so already spent on the scheme, and valuable publicity would follow if Kariba is found to be as safe as the Rock of Gibraltar. As it is, the rumours that are bound to circulate (and indeed have been circulating for the past two years) about the dam not being all it should be will do the Federation a great deal of harm—and frighten away outside investment.

Meanwhile Rhodesians treat the matter as a sick joke. 'We're going to Kariba on Sunday,' they say, `—if it's still there'; and they speculate on how they will retrieve their boats from the hill tops when the water has gone. But few people are really worried. The Kariba is so tremendous that it is as impossible not to believe in its dura- bility as it was not to believe in the unsinkability of the Titanic.