N. Rhodesia Met Revolt, Strike

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30578, 22 October 1964, Page 23

N. Rhodesia Met Revolt, Strike

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright). LUSAKA (Northern Rhodesia). Dr. Kenneth Kaunda’s Government is marching confidently towards independence day on October 24, after meeting the challenges of the bloody Lumpa revolt and a crippling railway strike. The two challenges came together—the Lumpa revolt beginning July 24 and petering out after the surrender of the Lumpa leader, Alice Lenshina, on August 11, and the rail strike running from August 3 to 18. The railway walk-out, by 2000 European workers demanding more pay and less overtime, ended quickly when the Prime Minister, Dr. Kaunda, told the strikers they could expect firm action if they did not end their illegal stoppage. Dr. Kaunda castigated the railway workers for blocking supplies at a time when it was the duty of every citizen to help stop the Lumpa bloodshed. But the railway strike posed an even greater threat by halting shipments of copper, the source of the country’s wealth. “The Prophetess” The leader of the striking union said he believed the Government would have taken emergency powers if he had not sent his men back to work. This crisis over, the Government turned its attention

to the aftermath of the fighting involving “prophetess” Alice Lenshina and her Lumpa church. The revolt ended at a cost of almost 600 lives. I?ut it is thought in official circles in Northern Rhodesia that this is only the beginning of the end of the Lumpa church problem. During their rampage the Lumpas left their old Village homes and built new stockaded villages. This was the challenge to authority which the Government declined to ignore. Mr Hugh Thomson, who has been appointed special "rehabilitation commissioner,” said many of the 5000 Lumpa refugees did not want to return to normal living because of fear of reprisals, the reintegration of the Lumpas into society needs mental as well as administrative measures. “Some Lumpas have committed atrocious crimes, in some cases against their own families, and we must improve their state of mind before we can resettle them,” Mr Thomson says. All the Lumpa villages are being “disbanded." Even before the end of the fighting, Dr. Kaunda, in his public statements in Lusaka and in the affected areas appealed strongly for no reprisals from people who felt they had been wronged by Lumpa followers. The Government is already using some of the surrendeded Lumpas as aides in the rehabilitation work. Some of those who have given themselves up are being sent back into the wild bush country to seek out and persuade others to return to normal life.