By David Punabantu & Edited by MAKANDAY

APRIL 1 1964

Chinese Consul-General of South Africa, Wei Yu- Sun gives a gift to Northern Rhodesia through Mr Kaunda of 10,000 phials of smallpox vaccine. Mr Kapwepwe says freedom of the press is safe but “should be responsible and constructive,” behind anonymous threatening calls to stone the Northern News offices in Kitwe. Striking workers in the Pan African Construction Company are to resume work tomorrow after news that the “racist” foreman, Mr Bongoni, is to be transferred in a week’s time. The ANC is forced to vacate its offices in Lusaka due to unpaid rentals. Kaunda, with his cabinet, practices for an upcoming charity soccer match on April 12th.

APRIL 2 1964

Congo is looking for maize from Northern Rhodesia. Kaunda condemns a London report that states his government will make an offer of between £30-£50 million for British South Africa Company (BSAC) mineral rights. Congolese government smashes a plot to kill President Joseph Kasavubu, Premier Cyrille Adoula and others. The Ndola region of the Northern Rhodesia Teachers’ Union threatens to strike. Their regional secretary, Love M’Tesa, says they will strike if the Hadow Commission does not meet their pay demands. An unemployed man of Chingola, Belt Mutepuka of Chiwempala, falls to his death while trying to steal copper wires from a pylon.

APRIL 3 1964

Copper touches £303 per (imperial) ton. Work on the £800,000 Kafubu River Dam, which will supply Ndola with 21 million gallons of water daily, is on course. 13 Africans have been appointed to the top rank of Assistant Superintendent in the Northern Rhodesia police force, one being Assistant Superintendent Angelo Nyati. The first six Africans appointed to the post of Chief Inspector were also announced. A former Clerk of Court in Bancroft, Mr Dennis Mukulula is sentenced to three month with hard labour charged with theft by public servant after stealing £3 fine money, which he said he needed to pay for his brother’s school fees.

APRIL 5 1964

Kaunda, with some cabinet ministers, will fly to attend the wedding of Senanga MP Mr Sipaloto Miss Noria Muyatwa in Barotseland. Petauke MP Mr B.A. Zulu said, “I have never been treated better in my life,” as he lay in St. Benedict Ward of London’s St. Andrew’s Hospital to get treatment for a slipped disk. Kaunda has two days of “successful” talks with Ugandan Prime Minister Dr. Milton Obote, Kenyan Prime Minister Dr. Kenyatta and Tanganyikan President Julius Nyerere. Ndola United fans riot at Gabbitas soccer stadium. Mufulira Wanderers beat Broken Hill Warriors 7-1.

APRIL 6 1964

Smallpox victims increase to 23 in Kitwe’s Isolation Clinic. The death toll this year is at 64 for smallpox cases. Chingolan Mr John Hillbrand gives evidence against 20 year-old Eliza Mwemba of Brodie Police Camp, Kitwe, who allegedly stole £90 from him while being intimate, after paying her £1 for sex. He picked up Miss Mwemba while having a drink at a hotel. While having sex in the bush his wallet fell to the ground containing £90. When he went back to pay his hotel bill, he found his wallet missing. He ran out of the hotel only to find two Africans having his wallet. When he demanded his wallet, the pair said they would share the money they had found in the wallet. Kaunda’s peace plea to halt escalating tension between China and Russia leads him to call the two nations “idiots”. £500,000 is ready for low-cost housing to local authorities, bringing the total given to housing development to £5 million.

APRIL 7 1964

Dr. Kabeleka Konoso, Sesheke MP is refused accommodation and arrested at a Livingstone Hotel, were he tried to book himself for the night. He is later released as management did not recognize him, but Justice Minister Mainza Chona says he will tell the manager that racial discrimination will not be tolerated. Mary Mulenga, of Baluba Quarry, falls to her death from a lorry. Education Minister John Mwanakatwe threatens to close schools in Southern Province, which is an ANC stronghold, if acts of lawlessness and hooliganism are not stopped. Manchester United beats Aston Villa 1-0.

APRIL 8 1964

Talks start today between the Northern Rhodesia government and the Barotse Native government to incorporate Barotseland into Northern Rhodesia. A firm wishing to remain anonymous pays school fees for 22 Africans. The first Northern Rhodesia Asian Livingstone Mayor, Mr Revabhai Nayee, is installed. The Health Minister threatens Kalulushi’s Korsten basket makers for not taking the small pox vaccine, as the religious sect has all 34 smallpox victims in Kitwe’s Isolation Clinic belonging to them. A refugee agricultural training school and secondary school is to be set up in Mkushi. Two Northern Rhodesia Europeans are being held by Congolese authorities on suspicion of being mercenaries.

APRIL 9 1964

Education Minister John Mwanakatwe announces cheaper school fees for Northern Rhodesia next year. Primary and Secondary schools currently charge £24 a year, but next year will charge £12 and £18 respectively, but boarding schools remain at £18 a year. The school bus service is to be scrapped. The 80 European underground technicians who refused to work yesterday resume work at Nchanga Mine. Livingstone is declared a rabies-infected area. Litunga, Sir Mwanawina LewanikaIII says Barotseland wishes to be part of Northern Rhodesia. Kitwe smallpox cases reach 35. A fever hits cows in Lundazi.

APRIL 10 1964

A pack of 40 wild dogs kill cattle worth £6,000 in Mazabuka. Minister of Transport and Communications Mr Reuben Kamanga opens the £101,000 Land Bank in Lusaka, with Prime Minister Kaunda reportedly sick. The UK’s Labour party has a big win over the Conservatives. Aussies cut the price of copper by £A20 (Australian Pounds) to end speculation on copper prices that reach £A400 per ton. Justice Minister Mainza Chona says a law school will be established soon. He also says newly weds must record their marriages in writing, by applying for marriage certificates, especially those married under customary law.

APRIL 11 1964

Northern Rhodesia is to limit scrap iron metal exports. Two men, Major Ken McGill and Captain Mike Syme survive a plane crash in Kafue Gorge. Russia launches another Sputnik. Two men stone the car of trade union official Mr Michael Sata in Kitwe. Zambia National Youth Service (ZNYS) gets gifts. Kitwe Mayoress’s Ball raises £600. Kitwe car cleaner, Mr Green Nkoso, aged 33, is sentenced to death for killing his wife by stabbing her through the heart. Rangers record a surprise win over Wanderers, beating them 3-1. City of Lusaka beats Rhokana United 4-2.

APRIL 12 1964

Members of the Zambia National Youth Service (ZNYS) wearing their suggested green uniforms examine gifts given to them by Lusaka firms, April 12th, 1964. An appeal by the Royal Rhodesian Regiment superintendent gets him a 50-man tent to accommodate victims belonging to the Kitwe Isolation Clinic. The clinic is built for 18. Here, Sister Love guards two emergency tents, April 12th, 1964.

APRIL 13 1964

Mr. Winston Field resigns as Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia and Ian Smith takes over. Kaunda says Smith will not last long. Two hundred people decide to quit smoking after attending lectures on the hazards of smoking. The Northern Rhodesia Union of Teachers and the Northern Rhodesia Civil Servants cable Governor Sir. Evelyn Hone demanding the Hadow Report be released. A UNIP official in Monze, Mr Felix Cheelo, is sentenced to one-year with hard labour for assault, but has four months suspended. In Western Province 74 cars have been stolen since 1964. Health Minister Wina denies the US gift of 50 ambulances but says it was a “tentative proposal”.

APRIL 14 1964

The make shift construction of the “Independence Stadium” starts and takes most of the £350,000 bill for the independence celebrations that are expected to draw 250,000 people. After that it will be dismantled. The length of the Hadow Report is what is delaying the report’s release. The Liaison Committee between the Railway African Workers’ Union and the Rhodesian Railway Workers’ Union has smoothed tension between European and Africa workers. Manchester United trails Liverpool by one point. Liverpool leads the English League. Man United beats Sheffield United 2-1.

APRIL 15 1964

Northern Rhodesia’s fixed copper price is under fire from “the City” in the UK and the LME but Roan Selection Trust chief, Sir Ronald Prain, says he is sticking to his guns. ANC leader Harry Nkumbula holds talks with Kaunda over the constitution as did National Progressive Party (NPP) leader John Roberts this week. Teachers protest to Kaunda over irresponsible comments by politicians, i.e. Mr. John Ngoma MP, who says teachers who strike should be dismissed from their jobs. Northern Rhodesia businesswomen press for equal pay. Four Irish nurses arrive in Ndola, being Lily and Kathleen Donnelly, Mary O’Dwyer and Eithne Duggan. Motorists complain over the poor state of the Kariba road.

APRIL 16 1964

Smallpox kills a four-month-old girl of Koesten basket makers. Francois Latinis, a 32 year-oldformer Belgium Congo coffee plantation owner living in Northern Rhodesia, is given 48 hours to leave Zambia. Home Affairs Minister Kapwepwe says his presence in Northern Rhodesia is “not in the public’s interest”. Mr. Mark Rushton, President of the Copperbelt Agriculture Show Society says a thriving copper and agriculture industry will make the Northern Rhodesia economy flourish. Liverpool needs two points to clinch the English League title after beating Burnley 3-0. Kaunda is back at work after taking some rest.

APRIL 17 1964

A fourth man has been arrested over Mr McDonald Lushinga’s death, the ANC provincial president who was killed on 22 March. Mr Gorden Ash, government’s Chief Information Officer says he will not return to Northern Rhodesia after his leave. government is expected to start a national registration scheme for 2 million adults in July. Local government Minister Mundia announces the levy rate for areas in which District Commissioners are the main authority. The dog that bit a young girl at Katombora’s Paris Mission Society School was rabid. Labour Minister Justin Chimba forecasts one-union one-job policy. Mrs. Minda Tembo, 23, is sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for killing her husband.

APRIL 19 1964

Dr Kaunda tells a rally that UNIP wants self-rule with Northern Rhodesia as a Republic. Kaunda is called dishonest after supporting Mr Joshua Nkomo in Southern Rhodesia, as the right to choose a leader should be with the people of Southern Rhodesia in elections, says ZANU deputy president Mr Takawira. The section on defense salaries in the Hadrow report is out. An army right wing group seizes power in Laos, Vietnam. James Wallace of Ndola and Johannes Erasmus of Mufulira are released from Congo after a month-long nightmare as suspected mercenaries. ANC accuses UNIP of forming a coalition with NPP.

APRIL 20 1964

Six Irish medical experts due to arrive in Ndola are delayed in Nairobi. The World Bank proposes an immediate survey of the rail-link route between Northern Rhodesia and Tanganyika. Northern Rhodesia will not lead a boycott of South African goods “because it is a special case” says Justice Minister Mr. Mainza Chona. Choma Branch of the ANC gives Nkumbula a week to resign. In another statement Pierson Monga, the Choma-Namwala regional secretary, says the sacked top ANC officials should be re-instated. Northern Rhodesia faces a problem of shanty towns mushrooming near towns. Zambia National Youth Service recruitment starts.

APRIL 21 1964

Growing feeling that government may ditch the Northern Rhodesia-Tanganyika railway link exists. A six-man Irish medical team arrives in Ndola, including Dr Desmond O’Donovan and Prof. Colman Saunders. Parliament wants a Bill to reduce lawyer’s conveying fees. Anglo American Corporation donates 6,000 acres of land, between O. B. Speedway and Kafue to the National Youth Service, to be used as a camp. Only 250,000 have jobs out of 3 million says government. Nkumbula denies writing a resignation letter, while ANC members support him. Wanderers’ stay at top of the National League is short lived as they fall to fourth place after defeat by City of Lusaka.

APRIL 22 1964

Dr Kaunda and his government are given full control of the Police Force. The British American Tobacco Company starts work on a 3-acre site factory worth £30,000 in Lusaka. For the second time since 1962, Ndola Municipal council drops electricity tariffs. Mr Mark Rushton is elected honorary member of Kitwe Lions Club. Strikes cost government £2 million. Copperbelt Agriculture Show is to hold the popular pram race again. Spurs are beaten 7-2 by Burnley.

APRIL 23 1964

Tanganyika-Zanzibar is to become one state. Lusaka CID ends a Congolese-gang robbing spree. Europeans complain of discrimination at the Kitwe Agricultural Show as Africans pay 2s 6d and Europeans 5s. Extra work on the Lusaka International Airport runway is needed after being tested by a VC-10 on turn circles. Copperbelt councils welcome two African Mayors, Mr Jonathan Mubanga, Kitwe’s first African Mayor, and Mr Thomas Mtine for Ndola, while European Mayor Mr Dennis Figov is elected for a second term for Luanshya. Belgian Mr Andre Hubrecht returns from a holiday and finds a 48-hour deportation order in Ndola.

APRIL 24 1964

The Bankruptcy Court approves the payment plan of Mr Simon Zukas. The Hadow Report will be released on Tuesday, promises Kaunda. Kaunda makes a surprise visit to Barotseland by plane. A £2.5 million loan application for Copperbelt powerlines is to be considered as three World Bank economic experts tour the area. The total cost of the project is £5 million in which the World Bank has been asked to contribute half. £18,000 is to be spent on Barotse primary schools. The British South African Company and Heinrich’s Syndicate donate £2,500 each for the establishment of correspondence courses.

APRIL 26 1964

Kaunda names the London “Kwacha” talks team at a rally being Mr M. Chona, Mr S. Kapwepwe, Mr A. Wina, Mr E. Mudenda, Mr A. Milner, Mr J. Chivunga and Mr H. M. Kikombe. He further says Northern Rhodesia will demand independence and Republican status by October the 24th. Added to this, he will seek a World Bank loan to have power installations on the north bank of Lake Kariba, and that the Northern Rhodesia-Tanganyika railway line is still under study by the government. Nkumbula is going to London for talks with a three-man delegation and says, “the President must not be above the law”. The lowest water levels at Victoria Falls in 18 years are recorded.

APRIL 27 1964

Ticket paid miners win the right to monthly paid conditions, but Northern Rhodesia African Mineworkers’ Union accept a local wage structure. The self-help National Youth Service swings into action as 80 youths invaded the first Lusaka site with picks and shovels. The Youth Service wants 8 camps with a capacity to handle 500 boys in each province ready by September. Government has committed £50,000 for running the camps, and a girl’s camp in July near Chingola is envisaged. The UN World Food Programme has donated enough food for 2,500 youths to last for 10 months. City of Lusaka takes top spot in the Northern Rhodesia National Football League.

APRIL 28 1964

Salary increases of up to 30 percent for lower ranked civil servants are approved, as Cabinet adopts the recommendations of the Hadow Report for pay reductions in middle and upper civil service ranks. Immediate cost to government of the pay rise is £1.4 million. Mrs Vera Botha, trading as Vicky James, is cleared by a court, on charges of not paying her workers the minimum wage. Only a sixth of Lusaka City Council loans applied for housing development totaling £2.25 million have been granted. First African Immigration Officers are Mr E. Chiringah, Mr E. Chisha, Mr G. Mukela, Mr H. Mukosa, Mr J. Tembo.

APRIL 29 1964

Anglo American Corporation is to evict 40 blind families free of charge in Mindola, as it needs the houses for its staff. Lusaka Mayor Mr Safeli Chileshe is sworn in as Justice of the Peace. The Hadow Report’s salary scales are disappointing says president of Northern Rhodesia Union of Teachers Mr B. K. Situmbeko. Ranks of Northern Rhodesia Army and Air Force personnel are to get a 20 percent increase in pay over the increases they are due to receive on June 1st 1964 says Kaunda. Kalulushi Management Board gives Korsten basket makers sect two months to vacate houses due to overcrowding.

APRIL 30 1964

Kaunda leaves for the London “Kwacha” talks today with 200 placard-waving Africans seeing him off. Lusaka may have to ration water this year during independence as government has granted a sixth of the £2.250 million that the Lusaka City Council wanted. A water well, which was, sank at Kasungula to provide water for a veterinary station for cattle, has turned out to be a very good source of salt, as the water is salty. It is 50 percent less salty than seawater and the locals are finding the water good for cooking. One cup of the water is estimated to have two teaspoon of salt according to the veterinary officer stationed there.