Africa: Another Side of the Coin.

AFRICA: ANOTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

NORTHERN RHODESIA'S FINAL YEARS AND ZAMBIA'S NATIONHOOD

BY ANDREW SARDANIS.

[pounds sterling]16.95 I.B.Tauris

ISBN 1-86064-926-2

In 'Africa: Another Side of the Coin' Andrew Sardanis sets out to explore the behaviour of colonialism in its twilight years, the state of Africa at independence, how it has fared so far and whether there is light at the end of the tunnel. True to form, he understates the book's true objectives and, in turn, the book's achievements.

Sardanis, once known as the 'Golden Greek' was the driving force behind the economic policies of Zambia's first post independence administration, and later, the creation of Meridien BIAO Bank in the 1980s. Five years before its spectacular collapse in 1995, the bank had an estimated total assets valuation of $484m and was truly Africa's first Pan African Bank.

He starts the book as he means to continue: at a calm, clear and measured pace. The scene is Cyprus, sometime in the early 1940's. Karavas, his home city, is a sleepy place--yet, in his eyes, it is beautiful. There is no political activity on the island, and no Greek-Turkish dispute His father is a headmaster, and he is a young man growing up with liberal ideas. Nothing in this scene--but for his restlessness--to suggest a fascinating career in a far-off African government and private enterprise that lay ahead.

In the event, that career emerges in a seemingly uneventful, laid-back and unplanned sort of way. He arrives in Zambia, then Northern Rhodesia, to visit his sister and casually joins the family business. Still innocent of his racially segregated environment, he goes about exploring the local customs and practices, and the relationship between the whites and the blacks, with admirable naivety, and at times, amusement. It is the latter, however, that increasingly absorbs his attention.

The racial divisions affect Sardanis more profoundly that he cares to admit. He is, after all, a white man with deep concerns about the black man around him--not an easy position to be in during colonial Northern Rhodesia in the 1950s. While he documents his encounters with racial tensions and attitudes, he remains guarded in his account of his personal feelings, motivations, philosophy, ethics and beliefs; he does not judge right and wrong; he remains an observer engaged and influenced by his environment. On his reasons for eventually joining politics, he merely claims "I never made a conscious decision to get involved ...".

At which point, the book changes gear. By the early 1960s he is Kenneth Kaunda's personal friend and confidante. The events leading to independence are described by an insider of the nationalist movements.

AN INFLUENTIAL INSIDER

By the time Zambia gains its independence, he is sitting full square at Kaunda's right hand, albeit not necessarily visible to the public. Between 1968 and 1970, he holds the positions of chairman and chief executive on INDECO, Managing Director of ZIMCO, and permanent secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Mines (often holding more than three positions simultaneously).

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He is also responsible for drafting the famous (or, depending on your economic schooling, infamous) 1968 Mulungushi Economic Reforms document that resulted in the nationalisation of more that 80% of enterprises and earned himself the title of 'Mr 51%', conferred on him by Newsweek for his role in the nationalisation negotiations.

On one level, 'Africa: Another Side of the Coin' is a gripping historical account of Northern Rhodesia's final years and Zambia's early years of nationhood. It is easy to be swept along by the political events leading up to independence, and to be sucked into Sardanis's workaholic lifestyle.

On another level, this book is neither about Africa nor Zambia. It is really an account of Sardanis' struggle to reconcile the hard work invested immediately after independence and the economic horror that Africa, and Zambia, his chosen homeland, turned out to be. He describes "a continent of famines, of disease, of wars and refugees; and more to the point, of instability and unpredictability, of short spurts of energy and expressions of good intentions, followed by long periods of inaction and stagnation, and last but not least of continuous currency depreciations."

On one hand, he acknowledges that "a lot of mistakes have been committed in Africa since the advent of independence in the 1960s" and that "corruption and inept management of the economy is another important factor". On the other, he argues that the past two decades have not been wasted. Real progress has been made. The process of nation building that has taken place alongside the economic malaise now provides Africa with the self confidence it needs to forge ahead. Education, manpower and indigenous enterprise development offer greater hope for Africa than the conventional wisdom that foreign direct investment will cure the ills of Africa. He remains nationalistic to the end.

But it is hard not to feel that Sardanis is deliberately holding back more than he reveals; that there is more to the events he describes and the people he mentions in the book than he offers; that he consciously restrains himself from, for example, expressing stronger criticism of Zambia's politicians, especially Kenneth Kaunda.