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Note : Following is the new statement of policy announced to the people by President Kenneth Kaunda. "First o£ all, I want to say to the mining companies that I am very disappointed at the virtual lack of mining development since Independence . Apart from very small developments at Kalengwa and Mimbula Fitula and some further development at existing mines, we have seen nothing . The companies claim that the royalty system has been against new development. Nevertheless, I think they have not done enough towards further development of the country in which they make their great profits . Let me also say that I do not agree with the Mining Companies that Royalties have been the obstacle to the development of the industry. I have been following their accounts and I know very well that they could have embarked upon further expansion, if they chose to devote part of their profits for this purpose. Instead of re-investing they have been distributing over eighty per cent of their profits every year as dividends." Having gone into the matter very thoroughly in my capacity as Minister of Mines, I now hold even stronger views than I did last year. You are all familiar as to how Cecil Rhodes and his clique in the "British South Africa Company", at the beginning of the century, acquired mineral concessions from our Chiefs. On Independcnee we took over the mineral rights which were held by the "British South Africa Company" . However, in practice this meant nothing except that we were able to levy a royalty on the extraction of minerals frcm our own soils. We found that all areas which were rich in mineral deposits were passed on in perpetuity by the "British South Company" to the two major Mining Groups - the "Anglo-American Corporation" and the "Rhodesian Selection Trust" which is now the "Roan Selection Trust" . Conspiracy Revealed in Operation If yon examine a geological map o£ Zambia you will find that most of the northern area of the country, the Copperbelt and the North-Western Province, is shared between these two groups . These groups hold the mining rights in perpetuity, i.e . forever and ever . All we obtained in Independence was the right to charge a royalty on the value of the minerals which were extracted from our soils . However, in order to charge the royalty we had to wait for the pleasure of the Alining Companies to develop a mine. Since they had the mining rights in perpetuity they were not particularly in a hurry to embark upon further development . «as a people's Government, had legally no power to force them and no power to take away their mining rights and offer them to other groups which were willing and able to commence new mining developments . Regardless of whether we needed development very badly we could not safeguard against a possible drop 14 ZAMBIA TAKES OVER MINERAL RIGHTS in the price of copper and consequent loss of Government revenues which would bring a halt to our development plans, present and future. We could not tell the Mining Companies : you either develop the areas which you have or we shall take them away from you and give them to somebody else who is willing to do so . We could not even tell them we shall take them away and develop them ourselves in the interest of the Nation . The Constitution which was handed down to us by our previous "Colonial masters" made sure that we did not have this power . Clause 18 of the Constitution was inserted for this specific purpose . And what is worse, Clause 18 could not be repealed by an Act of Parliament but only by a B(,ferendum, and in order to win the Referendum the Government, as I explained earlier, had to get a "ES vote from at least fifty-one per cent of all the voters registered on the Voters Roll . Now that the Nation has given me the mandate through the Referendum, I am able to announce farreaching Mining Economic Reforms which will set this Nation well and truly on the road to its Economic Independence. Steps Toward Economic Independence In the interest of the Nation and depending on the mandate that it gave me on the 17th Time, 1969, I hereby proclaim that all rights of ownership or partial ownership of Minerals must revert to the State. These include : The "'North Charterland Concession" which covers almost the entire Eastern Province and is owned by LONRHO. (2) The "Rhodesia Katanga Concessions" around the Mkushi area and which is partially owned by a British Company called the "Tanganyika Concessions". The Big Concession which is partially owned by the "African Gold and Base Metal Holdings", an affiliate of the "Anglo-American Corporation" . (4) 6 x 10 square mile areas partially owned by "Bechuanaland Exploration Company" . 3 x 10 square mile area which are partially owned by the "Kafue Development Company" . Rhodesia Railway Farms and the Kwimbe Farm and Nyamokolo Farms entirely owned by the "London Missionary Society" . These Concessions gave the holders the right to all minerals in the areas . In addition, they gave them the right to explore and mine these minerals for their own account without even paying Royalty to the State. Furthermore, they gave them the right to grant mining rights to others and charge a Royalty for their own benefit. And Not Only That But We have been trying since Independence to negotiate AFRICAN OPINION
THE LAFAYETTE THEATRE RETURNS The theatre that held the attention of the African Community of Harlem during the thirties and mysteriously closed down has now returned triumphantly as the "New Lafayette Theatre" at 138th Street and 7th Avenue in New York City . With the resumption of pride and self-determination believed to have been inspired by the Garvey Wave, the Community then witnessed independent creation of plays with matchless acting never seen before in America . Many of the actors starred in "Shuffle Along," "Black Birds," "How Come" attracted world attention. '1 'o obtain standing space only, tickets had to be secured three weeks in advance, especially that of "How Come," which many reported they saw three times. The fans had been so numerous that producers from other areas shrewdly picked out the stars, sandwiched them with their own and pulled the fans away, as with the case of the "Black Yankees" in Harlem . Black people are born actors and the future of the "New Lafayette Theatre" is undoubtedly bright, if self dependents and indigenous service continue to be the outlook as the present show indicated. with the holders to purchase back these Concessions in the interest of the Nation . We were faced with demands amounting to as high as half a million kwacha and this only for some of them . Example (a) . Litunga's Rights. The Litunga holds rights to determine conditions of prospecting licences, mining leases, etc ., and to claim Royalty on minerals in certain areas . . . I have to terminate these rights completely and without compensation . The rights of the Litunga should not be different to those of our other traditional Rulers . The rights of the Litunga are not different to those of the Nation, and I, and my Government are the elected custodians of the interests of the Nation . The Litunga can rest assured, however, that we shall exercise these rights in the best interests of the Nation as a whole. (b) Exclusive Prospecting Licences. These confer the right to prospect for the discovery of minerals in specified areas. There are a number of such licences in existence, most of them extending up to the end of AFRICAN OPINION THINGS WORTH NOTING KONGO OFFICIALS CALLED ON MOSCOW Two months ago press reported that Justin-Marie Bomboko, Foreign Minister of the Kongo (Kinshasa), called on Andrei A . Gromyko, Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union and exchanged views on developing greater relation between the two countries . During the Kongo conflict over Neo-colonists battle to retake the Kongo, under the watchful eyes of U.N . troops, the then manacled Kongo Officials were pressured into asking the Socialist States to remove their Diplomatic Missions . And what was most comical of all, in the frantic efforts of those with designs on Africa, was to request the U. A. R . (Egypt), a sister African State to leave too, leaving only NATO and satelites in charge . Not long after a "Lumiunba College of Technology" was established in Russia, a concrete gesture as things stood ; since, when independence declared there were only four (4) college trained Kongolese in a population of sixteen million . BLOODY UPRISING EMERGING The Rev. Dr . Franklin Clark Fry, President of the 3,000,000 members of the Lutheran Church, sent the following message to the "White Society" of America in January : "A racial emergency of gigantic proportion" coming ; "More destructive and bloody uprisings that are no longer going to be confined to the ghetto areas but will be carried into white areas" . "Unpleasant as it is for me to say and for you to hear, the United States confronts a time of spiraling and spreading violence . . . unless a massive improvement of the lot of `negro' ghettos (African Communities) come quickly ." "Frighteningly outspoken African Americans are more and more expressing their willingness to die, for what they believe is right, and not unwilling to have others die with them." The seed of conflict sprouted in 1619 A.D . on the "Good Ship Jesus", watered and now grown to the tree of danger . "Helping slum residents as proposed is saying to those driven into frustration : We are not concerned with your hopes, aspirations nor your outlook . . . This is what we plan for you, an irritating gesture, the germ of conflict . 1970 . I am going to allow these licenses to cover their ,11111 course but the holders will have to accept the new conditions that I shall impose upon them. The most important condition is that the State will have the right to take up (at least) fifty-one percent of the shares in any mine that may be established as a result of a discovery of Minerals . (c) Special Grants and Mining Locations . These are the rights that Cecil Rhodes and his successors, the "British South Africa Company", have passed on mainly to the two Mining Groups in Zambia to enjoy in perpetuity, i.e., forever and ever. These Special Grants cover vast areas of the country. Some of them have been lying idle, and the holders of the Special Grants did not even make an attempt to explore in these areas for the existence of Minerals . Some of them are in the process of being explored now ; others have been explored and Minerals discovered . (Continued in next issue)
Page 1 and 2: Jan.-Feb., 1969 Africa Summit Confe
Page 3 and 4: AFRICAN OPINION Journal of Independ
Page 5 and 6: The faculty and student body of Ham
Page 7 and 8: AFRICA DAY SPECIAL MESSAGE NOTE : T
Page 9 and 10: Photo : Miss Miriant Mkeba Re-unite
Page 11 and 12: spite this, some mysteries develope
Page 13 and 14: (Continued from page 11) having so
Page 15 and 16: massive support - moral, political,
Page 17 and 18: African pinion X341 S . ~CJRc;HE~~~
Page 21 and 22: Tom Mboya, a minister in the Kenya
Page 23 and 24: Da-Uba, a lot of strange and unbeli
Page 25 and 26: On AFRICA DAY, MAY 25th We Repeat A
Page 27 and 28: 276 West 141 st $t . New York, N. Y
Page 29 and 30: THE PLACE OF URANIUM IN NIGER'S ECO
Page 31 and 32: CUSTOMS AND TRADITION Enthronement
Page 33 and 34: A~r can 0 Opinion ZAMBIA TAKES OVER
Page 37 and 38: WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT Dr . Arrgie E
Page 39 and 40: Photo : Showing Pilgrims in fro+at
Page 41 and 42: Archbishop Clarence C . Addison, Vi
Page 43 and 44: REMEMBER THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS IN AN
Page 45: AANDATE ADOPTED BY GARVEY CONVENTIO

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