Hastings Kamuzu Banda
Hastings Kamuzu Banda (born February 15, 1898 near Kasungu (according to other information 1906), then Nyassaland ; † November 25, 1997 in South Africa) was independence leader, minister in and since 1966 President of Malawi with increasingly dictatorial office.
Banda received his education at various mission schools of the Church of Scotland in Nyassaland and South Africa. Hastings Banda was raised a Presbyterian , living in the United States and the United Kingdom while he was a student . He attended Wilberforce Academy , Indiana University , University of Chicago and Meharry Medical College (MD) in Nashville . In these educational institutions, Banda graduated in medicine, philosophy, history, and political science. He later turned to Great Britain. In 1941, Banda lived in Liverpool and worked as a doctor in the neighborhoods of the poorest residents. This was followed by studies in tropical medicine at the University of Glasgow and the University of Liverpool . He stayed at the latter between 1942 and 1944, where he graduated as a general practitioner.
His engagement against the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland already began in Great Britain in the Nyasaland African Congress . In this context, there was a temporary close collaboration with Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah (1945–1953). From 1953 to 1958 Banda worked as a practicing doctor in Kumasi ( Ghana ). In 1958 he took over the leadership of the Nyasaland African Congress . The Federation government did not like his political activities. Banda was arrested for this; the prison was in Gwelo . In 1959, the Nyasaland African Congress was declared an illicit organization during a state of emergency. On September 30 of the same year, independence advocates, including Banda, founded the Malawi Congress Party . In July 1960 he was a participant in the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference in London.
After his release, Banda was Minister of Natural Resources and Local Government from 1959 to 1960 . He eventually competed against the Central African Federation , which was dissolved in 1963, and led the country to independence under the name Malawi .
On February 1, 1963 he became Prime Minister , in 1966 he proclaimed the Republic and became its President. In 1971 he declared himself president for life. Banda also held other government functions. These were Minister of External Affairs , Minister of Defense , Minister of Agriculture , Minister of Justice , Minister of Works and Supplies , Minister of Women's and Children's Affairs and Minister of Community Services . His pro-Western style of government took on more and more autocratic forms. Serious opposition efforts beyond the ruling party were treated repressively. Since 1977 Banda had an extensive position of power. In addition to his functions as President and Prime Minister of Malawi, he was Foreign Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces in his country. This included a police force of around 6,000 and an army of around 1,500.
Banda was one of the few African rulers to have diplomatic and far-reaching political ties with South Africa during apartheid , and was therefore considered a collaborator among many other African leaders. The Banda government began diplomatic relations with South Africa in 1967. An intensive development of economic and military cooperation followed. After the South African Foreign Minister Hilgard Muller stayed in Malawi in 1968 , Banda came to South Africa on a state visit in 1969. In the same year a parliamentary group and a delegation from the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut traveled to Malawi. On February 6, 1970, Hilgard Muller reported to the South African parliament on relations with Malawi, whereupon it was announced that South Africa had approved a loan of 8 million rand for the construction of the new Malawian capital Lilongwe and the IDC for investments and exports 10 Million rand. In May 1970 Prime Minister Vorster paid a return visit, the first state visit by a South African head of government to an independent African state. Around 1978 there were 38,525 Malawian migrant workers in South Africa, more than, for example, from Botswana or Rhodesia .
The South African intelligence service BOSS and its successor NIS had very good relations with the Banda government. Pieter Willem Botha used the long-term working contacts in the public presentation of his foreign policy as evidence of “normal” relations with other African countries.
Banda allowed Portugal during its colonial war to bring equipment and troops through Malawi to their operational area, which included the airspace. He also provided logistical help and sold fuel and other goods to the Portuguese. In return he received money and weapons, and Portuguese troops temporarily trained Malawian security forces.
Banda's westernized attitude was u. a. responsible for founding the Kamazu Academy, an Eton- style school where Malawian children were taught Latin and ancient Greek by foreign teachers .
In the course of his one-party government, he amassed a personal fortune of at least 320 million US dollars.
In 1994, Banda finally initiated democratic elections in which he was by far defeated by Bakili Muluzi , a Yao from the south of the country, whose reign was not to be without controversy. Banda resigned without resistance. The Malawi Congress Party that he founded persisted after his death and lost its great importance after a referendum in 1993.
Banda died of respiratory failure in 1997 after being evacuated from a Malawian hospital with fever and pneumonia at the Garden City Clinic of Johannesburg . The different information about his reached age result from differing information from the hospital and Malawian government sources.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Sheila Keeble (Ed.) SPP Kutumela, A. Booley: The Black Who's Who of Southern Africa Today . African Business Publ., Johannesburg 1979, 1st edition, p. 95
- ↑ a b Richard Dowden: Obituary: Dr Hastings Banda . News from November 27, 1997 on www.independent.co.uk
- ↑ a b c Donald G. McNeil jr .: Kamuzu Banda Dies; 'Big Man' Among Anticolonialists . News from November 27, 1997 on www.nytimes.com (English)
- ^ A b British Library: EAP942: Preserving Nyasaland African Congress historical records . online at www.eap.bl.uk (English), PDF document pp. 2, 7 and 14
- ↑ a b Cay Lienau : Malawi. Geography of an underdeveloped country . Wissenschaftliche Länderkunden Vol. 20, Darmstadt 1981, pp. 29-30
- ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1969 . Johannesburg 1970, p. 80
- ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1970 . Johannesburg 1971, p. 74
- ^ Ronald Meinardus: The Africa policy of the Republic of South Africa . ( ISSA - Scientific Series. 15). Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-921614-50-3 , pp. 72-73
- ^ Ronald Meinardus: The Africa policy of the Republic of South Africa . P. 222
- ↑ Niël Barnard , Tobie Wiese: Secret Revolution. Memoirs of a Spy Boss . Table Mountain, Cape Town 2015. ISBN 978-0-624-07457-1 , pp. 120, 236
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Banda, Hastings Kamuzu |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Banda, Hastings |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Malawian politician, president and dictator of Malawi |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 15, 1898 or 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | near Kasungu , then Nyasaland |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 25, 1997 |
| Place of death | South Africa |