ZIMSEC O Level History Notes: Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland: Road to the Federation
- From mid 1940s upwards, settlers began to like the idea of a union due to the economic and political reasons mentioned in the previous topics
- Also Afrikaners (Boers) had started protesting so there was need for the colonies to join force and fight the uprisings
- They hated the British after the Anglo-Boer war of 1899
- The British had to do something before Boer racist policies in South Africa spread to its colonies
- Godfrey Huggins and Roy Welensky were the strong advocates for a union
- The called for a conference in 1949 which passed the federation resolution
- The change in government in the United Kingdom meant change in people and ideologies
- The U.K official responsible for colonies who opposed the idea of a federation greatly from 1949-1951 was replaced
- The new official, James Griffiths looked at the issue again and called for a conference in March 1951
- The British Colonial Secretary approved the idea of a federation and 1951 and the settlers began the constitution making process
- A conference to discuss the Federation Constitution was done in 1952
- A referendum was held for the constitution in April 1953 and the voting results were 25 570 in favour of a federation against 14 729 against it.
- The possibility of African resistance was overlooked as white interests were made of paramount interest
- The federation came into existence in October 1953 with Godfrey Huggins as its Prime Minister and he was later succeeded by Welensky
- The Constitution suggested that a Federal Parliament be formed
- The Parliament was to consist of 35 MPs and 26 represented whites, that is, 14 from Southern Rhodesia, 8 from Northern Rhodesia and 4 from Nyasaland, 6 where Africans and 3 were Europeans who were responsible for native issues
- The Federation was effected in October 1953
- The Federal and Territorial Governments were formed
- It had the following duties:
- Communication
- Trade
- Finance
- Foreign Affairs
- Land Government
- Land And Agriculture
- Industry
- Defence
- White Education
- African Education
- African or Native Affairs under the federation were dealt with a colony level whilst economic issues were dealt with at Federal level
- This decision meant that Zimbabwean notorious native policies would not spread to the other two countries
- A Minister for African interests was appointed
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