Part 17 (2/2)

SCOTT, MICHAEL (19071983). Liberal Anglican missionary who became famous for taking on African causes, especially in southwest Africa (Namibia), Rev. Scott is also identified with the nationalist aspirations of the peoples of Nyasaland, where he actively supported their opposition to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. In 1953, he and James Sangala addressed meetings of chiefs and other Nyasaland Africans in Lilongwe and Blantyre to voice resistance to the Federation, and the two visited Northern Rhodesia to discuss anti-Federation strategy with local nationalists. In May 1953, he was also present at Lizulu, Ntcheu, when the deputy commissioner of police and his party tried to arrest Inkosi Gomani II. Scott was himself threatened by the police, and soon afterward, he left the country.

SENA. This is the language and name of the inhabitants of the area between the s.h.i.+reZambezi confluence and Chinde on the east coast. Many Sena migrated northward to the Nsanje district of Malawi where they intermarried with the Mang'anja. Sena is also the name of the town on the Zambezi, just east of point where the s.h.i.+re and the Zambezi meet.

SETTLERS' AND RESIDENTS' a.s.sOCIATION OF NYASALAND (SARAN). This organization was formed on 11 January 1960, in Limbe, by Nyasaland Europeans, mostly businessmen and farmers, determined to fight the rising tide of African nationalism in the colony. The Europeans therefore sought to establish an organ to present their views to decision makers on the maintenance of the status quo in Nyasaland. The birth of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) at the end of September 1959 had reinvigorated African political activism. Harold Macmillan and his colonial secretary Iain Macleod were set on increasing the pace of decolonization in Malawi; furthermore, Macmillan himself was due to visit the colony in February 1960. The Monckton Commission was also about to start its inquiry into the future of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. And even more worrisome for them were indications that Dr. Hastings Banda would be released from Gweru prison.

Led by J. R. Ness, SARAN was totally against one man one vote elections and strongly supported the Federation and Roy Welensky's stand on the role of European settlers in the region. It made representations to the Monckton Commission and to all levels of colonial and imperial authority, but in the end const.i.tutional changes overtook SARAN, which was virtually dead at the end of 1963. Although some of its leaders left for South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, most of its members.h.i.+p continued to live in postcolonial Malawi.

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS. See RELIGION.

SHARPE, SIR ALFRED (18531935). Second commissioner and consul general (18961907), and first governor (190710) of Nyasaland, Alfred Sharpe was born in Lancaster, England, in 1853. After attending Haileybury Colllege, he trained as a solicitor, and then practiced law in Lancaster. In 1983, he married and, two years later, he and his family left for Fiji where he became a sugarcane planter on Viti Vetu Island; he also worked as a magistrate, covering several islands in the area. As his agricultural venture failed, Sharpe left Fiji for Africa, turning down the position of district commissioner offered to him in the Gold Coast, but choosing instead to hunt in northern Zambezia. While hunting he met Harry Johnston who immediately appointed Sharpe as his vice consul. From 1889 to 1890 Sharpe, along with Johnston, negotiated treaties with chiefs in the Lake Malawi area, the purpose being to ensure that local rulers did not cede territory to other foreign powers without British approval. In 1891, the Foreign Office declared Malawi a Protectorate. Sharpe more than anyone influenced Commissioner Johnston during the early days of establis.h.i.+ng the Protectorate government, and his legal training and knowledge proved invaluable in framing the judicial and fiscal measures necessary for the new administration. Sharpe was an able replacement when Johnston went on leave, and he was the logical successor to Johnston in 1897.

During his tenure of office, Alfred Sharpe faced problems of taxes, land, and labor. His attempt to give Africans tax rebates for growing cotton failed when European planters provided only their leftover seeds. Although Sharpe realized that continued allocation of land to Europeans had to be restricted, he also wished to encourage settlers with moderate means. The result was that Africans were frequently moved about to accommodate the Europeans. Sharpe worked hard to see that Nyasaland was connected to the Mozambican coast via rail, but a large subsidy to build the s.h.i.+re Highlands Railway, through suitable cotton-producing territory, further increased pressure on an already heavily populated land. While objecting to forced labor of Africans for European planters, Sharpe made continued concessions to settlers who, generally, ignored government regulations and paid excessively low wages to labor recruits. Malawi laborers preferred to migrate to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa, where wages were comparatively better, and Sharpe and his successors attempted to control the exodus of workers, a phenomenon that increased in subsequent years. Although Sharpe retired in 1910, he returned to Nyasaland on several occasions and wrote many articles on Nyasaland and African affairs. He also published books, including The Backbone of Africa (1921). Sharpe died on 10 December 1935.

SHARRER, EUGENE CHARLES. A British national of German extraction, Eugene Sharrer was one of the most influential planter-traders in early colonial Malawi. Sharrer arrived in Nyasaland in the late 1880s and within a few years had t.i.tle to a total of about 372,500 acres of land in Blantyre, Thyolo, Zomba, and Liwonde. With his headquarters at Kabula Hill in Blantyre, Sharrer established retail shops, the Kabula Stores, which were rivaled only by the Mandala stores, operated by the African Lakes Company (ALC). In 1895, he formed two companies, the s.h.i.+re Highlands Railway Company (SHR) and the Zambezi Traffic Company, both floated in London, the former with a capital of 100,000, and the latter with a capital of 150,000. Through the two firms, Sharrer would be a leading player in the development of railways in the Zambezia region. In 1902, he established a holding company, the British Central Africa Company, which handled all his land and commercial interests. The SHR concentrated on its proposed line from Blantyre to Chiromo; Sharrer also had steamers on the s.h.i.+re River, which transported pa.s.sengers and cargo to and from the Zambezi. A founder of the powerful s.h.i.+re Highlands Planters' a.s.sociation, Sharrer was a major coffee, tea, and tobacco grower and was one of the first to introduce Egyptian cotton to the Lake Malawi area.

s.h.i.+LOH. Located at Chikunda at a disused mission station, five miles from Blantyre, established by Joseph Booth, and named after a place in New Jersey, it became a center to promote African industry. Conceived as a self-supporting project, the African Cooperative Society (ACS), as Booth christened it, would be involved in a variety of projects aimed to raise money for its members.h.i.+p. Booth negotiated contracts such as porterage for the African Lakes Company (ALC), and only he, as agent and treasurer, controlled the organization's finances and books. The ACS's energy also went into encouraging religious and general education, and it established its own schools and at times supported independent educational schemes such as those of Morrison Malinki and Alexander Makwinja in Blantyre, Charles Domingo in Mzimba, and Andrew Mhoni in Nkhata Bay. After Booth left Malawi, the s.h.i.+loh project was managed by Walter c.o.c.kerill, who arrived in Nyasaland in 1913. However, largely because the government was suspicious of anything relating to Booth and John Chilembwe, s.h.i.+loh and its a.s.sociated schemes came to an end after the 1915 uprising.

s.h.i.+RE HIGHLANDS. With alt.i.tudes ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, the plateau in southern Malawi, covering a wide area from the Zomba Mountain in the west to Mulanje in the east, has been known as the s.h.i.+re Highlands since the first Europeans to live in the area gave it the name, primarily because of the s.h.i.+re River and valley, which forms its western borders and is a major part of the plateau's drainage system. The highlands are also a major agricultural area in Malawi: tea in Mulanje and Thyolo districts; tobacco in Zomba, Machinga, Chiradzulu, Blantyre, and Thyolo; and coffee in Mulanje, Thyolo, Zomba, and Chiradzulu districts. Maize, beans, and other staple crops are widely grown in this fertile area. Home to the Mang'anja, the indigenous people of the area, it is also inhabited by the Yao, the Lomwe, and the European settler community. It is the most densely populated section of Malawi, and Blantyre, the largest city in the country, is located in the area.

s.h.i.+RE HIGHLANDS PLANTERS' a.s.sOCIATION. Formed in 1892, the s.h.i.+re Highland Planters' a.s.sociation represented a powerful block of a group of European planters led by Eugene Sharrer, who was also its first president. Soon afterward, a rival organization, the Nyasaland Planters' a.s.sociation, was formed and was led by John Moir. The two would fight over transport business, especially over the matter of railways development in the area. Although in 1895 the two organizations came together to form the British Central Africa Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, the compet.i.tion between Moir's African Lakes Company (ALC) and Sharrer's companies, such as the Kabula Stores, continued.

s.h.i.+RE HIGHLANDS RAILWAY COMPANY. Owned by Eugene Sharrer, it was formed to promote his railway scheme between Blantyre and Chiromo in the Lower s.h.i.+re Valley. Established in 1895 and with capital of 100,000, the company was floated in London and advertised as the most suitable organization to built the rail line. In 1902, it won the bid to construct the line, which was duly completed six years later. In 1915, the company extended the line from Chiromo to Chinde (Chindio).

s.h.i.+RE RIVER AND VALLEY. The extension south of the huge rift occupied by Lake Malawi is the s.h.i.+re Valley, which is extensively covered with floodplains and swamps, the largest of which is Elephant Marsh. The s.h.i.+re River drains from Lake Malawi and is additionally fed by tributaries in the southern region. As the river tumbles over the escarpment, the current increases and rapids and cataracts abound. Nkula Falls hydroelectric site is located along this portion of the s.h.i.+re River. South of the national border, the river slows substantially before it empties into the Zambezi River and ultimately into the Indian Ocean. The area below the Mpatamanga Gorge in Chikwawa district is usually referred to as the Lower s.h.i.+re Valley, and that above the cataracts as the Upper s.h.i.+re. Development projects aimed at improving the lives of 63,000 families in the Lower s.h.i.+re have concentrated on cotton, rice, sugarcane, maize, and fish culture.

SIBALE, JOB K. (19221990s). First Malawian to head the Pentecostal Holiness a.s.sociation, Rev. Sibale was born in Kameme, Chitipa district, and educated in Northern Rhodesia, where he was a contemporary of President Kenneth Kaunda. He trained as a teacher and, after some years, returned to Nyasaland to teach at the primary school at Kameme, which was part of the Kenya Mission of the Pentecostal Holiness a.s.sociation, an American-based church. Kameme, the southern-most station of the missionary organization, was in the 1950s manned by Clarabelle Orser and Rose Klob. In 1958, Job Sibale went to the United States for theological studies, and return two years later as an ordained minister. He took over the work of the two missionaries who had left for Mbeya, Tanganyika, during the State of Emergency in 1959. Sibale expanded the work of the mission to other parts of the Chitipa district and made contact with other Pentecostal-related organization that had began to work in other parts of the country.

SICHINGA, KALUMWENZO. One of the most ill.u.s.trious African elephant hunters and ivory traders in the Lake MalawiTanganyika region in the late 19th century, Kalumwenzo Sichinga was born in the Kaponda area of Unyiha in the southwestern part of modern Tanzania in the late mid-1840s. He became an ivory hunter very early in his life in Unyiha, an area that 19th-century European adventurers and traders called the ivory mart. Impressed by his hunting skills, Swahili-Arab traders who were becoming active in the area in the 1870s introduced, and then loaned, guns to him and his partner Wazingwa Mugala. Sichinga and Mugala stole the guns and moved to the Chifungwe area not far from the source of the Luangwa River, then teaming with herds of elephants. When the Swahili-Arabs reestablished contact with them, an arrangement was made whereby the two hunters would sell ivory to them. After some time, Sichinga and Mugala moved again, this time to Kabinde in the southern part of today's southern Chitipa district, giving them a wider hunting zone that would extend to the western part of the Karonga lakesh.o.r.e. Tradition had it that it was a member of the Sichinga family who introduced Mlozi bin Kazbadema and his partners to the Ungonde. By the 1890s, they had finally settled in Nthalire, not far from the Nyika plateau. The Mugalas made their home in the Bugulira-Chisenga area. By that time, Kalumwenzo Sichinga's children became converted to Christianity, and one of them trained as a teacher and preacher in the Livingstonia Mission.

SILOMBELA, MEDSON EVANS. Medson Silombela was raised in Mangochi district and in 1964 became one of the lieutenants of Henry Chipembere who was determined to overthrow Hastings Banda's government. He and others were accused of killing eight people, including a police officer's wife and an official of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). From 1964 to his capture in 1965, he became the most wanted man in Malawi. The government sentenced him to death and, despite protest from some local churches, governments, and pressure groups abroad, the government hanged him publicly.

SKINNER REPORT. Report of a commission appointed to examine and recommend on the conditions of the Nyasaland civil service as the country approached independence from British rule. Chaired by T. M. Skinner, the commission made its report in May 1964, and among the recommendations were: an increase in the salaries of lower-grade civil servants; a reduction in the salaries of those in the upper grades; and a status quo for those in the middle grades; a pension fund would also be started. Very few of the suggestions were explained to the African civil servants, with the result that deductions in salaries, and especially for the pension fund, were not understood and were highly resented. When the new prime minister, Hastings Banda, supported the Skinner Report, several of his ministers disagreed stating that their const.i.tuents were much alarmed. When Banda further announced that he could not hasten Africanization of the civil service unless the candidates were qualified, the Skinner Report took on another dimension and became an important factor in the Cabinet Crisis in September 1964.

SLAVE TRADE. From the 1850s onward, the Lake Malawi region became a major part of the east African slave trade carried out mainly by the Swahili-Arabs and their agents, the Yao, some of whom had already been Islamized at this time. Even before settling in the southern part of Lake Malawi in the 1860s, the Yao had engaged in ivory trade with the people of the latter area. The s.h.i.+ft from ivory and other items to the commerce in human beings occurred when their Swahili-Arab partners at the coast became deeply involved in the slave trade. Although large areas in the s.h.i.+re Highlands and the Upper s.h.i.+re River became engulfed in the commerce, the main slave trading center in the south was at Mangochi, the territory of Yao chief Mponda. In the central and northern regions of Malawi, Swahili-Arabs were the princ.i.p.al perpetrators of the slave trade. Nkhotakota was a major trading base, handling as many as 10,000 slaves annually in the late 19th century. The Swahili leader, or Jumbe, in this central region, maintained both economic and political control until 1895, when the newly established British colonial government exiled him to Zanzibar. In the extreme north, Mlozi bin Kazbadema was accused of carrying out this trade.

Europeans learned of the slave trade as a result of David Livingstone's visits to Malawi. Livingstone observed the trade during journeys made in 185456 and 185859 through south and central Malawi as well as along the western sh.o.r.es of Lake Malawi. When he returned to England, he advocated the promotion of legitimate commerce, Christianity, and Western civilization in this part of Africa, arguing that they would effectively drive out the slave traders. Three missions, the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), Livingstonia, and Blantyre responded immediately to Livingstone's appeals and soon found themselves embroiled in slave disputes, particularly when escaped slaves sought refuge at mission stations.

When the British Foreign Office formally announced the formation of the Protectorate in 1891, it instructed the commissioner and consul general, Harry Johnston, to stop the slave trade. After persuasion and diplomacy failed, Johnston used troops imported from India to fight any traces of it. In southern Malawi, the Yao involved in the slave trade either abandoned it or fled the Protectorate. By the end of 1895, Mlozi was captured and executed, and Mwene Heri, the last Jumbe at Nkhotakota, was deposed and sent to Zanzibar.

SMITH, GEORGE, KCMG (18781938). Born in England, George Smith joined the British civil service in 1878 as a clerk in the War Office. In the following year, he was transferred to Cyprus where he served in different capacities: clerk in the chief 'secretary's office (187983), a.s.sistant chief secretary (188391), district commissioner (189193), registrar general (18931905), and acting receiver and chief collector of customs (19059). In 1910, he was appointed colonial secretary in Mauritius and, three years later, was promoted as governor of Nyasaland. Sir George Smith is credited with the move toward the establishment of the Nyasaland police force in 1921. He retired in 1923, and died in England.

SOCIETY OF MALAWI. Formerly the Nyasaland Society, this organization, formed in 1946, promotes a better understanding of Malawi's past and present through a healthy discussion of a wide range of subjects, including history, anthropology, literature, travel, and the natural sciences. The articles in its main publication, The Society of Malawi Journal, reflect the a.s.sociation's aims; the society also maintains, in one of the old Mandala houses in Blanytre, a reference library for its members and visitors. In the late 1950s, the society was instrumental in encouraging the establishment of the national Museum of Malawi, and in the 1960s, it played an equally important role in the creation of the government's Department of Antiquities.

SOLOMON, HARTWELL. Born in Chiradzulu district, he attended school locally and briefly in South Africa before working in the Wit.w.a.tersrand area of South Africa, where he learned some skills in carpentry and was also introduced to Marxist ideas. Upon his return to Nyasaland in the period after World War II, he worked for the Nyasaland Transport Company (NTC) where he met fellow worker, Grant M. Mkandawire. The two, both widely read and interested in international affairs, became close friends and active in African politics. Upon leaving NTC in 1949, he joined a South African firm Trevor Construction, and a year later he left to become a brick maker and joiner. Soon after he bought a lorry, which he would hire out to his friends. In 1953, he, like Mkandawire and others such as James Mpunga, Lawrence Mataka, Kinross Kulunjiri, and Lali Lubani, became a founding member of the African Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was also among the numerous Africans who were forced out of the Chichiri area during the rezoning of BlantyreLimbe of 1956 and had to settle in the KanjedzaSoche part of town. Between 1953 and 1956, he was one of the radical wing of the Nyasaland African Congress who rebelled against the leaders.h.i.+p of the organization, especially because of its weak stand on the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

SOMANJE, SYDNEY (?1986). Businessman, founding member of the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC), and treasurer general of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) from 1964 to 1986, Sydney Somanje belonged to one of the established Blantyre families. Educated at Blantyre Mission, he became involved in welfare politics in that town and in time became a close a.s.sociate of James Sangala, Charles Matinga, Ellerton Mposa, and other African leaders in Blantyre and in the Southern Province Native a.s.sociation. A team player and noted negotiator, Somanje was a key person in the meetings leading to the formation of the Nyasaland African Congress and he would remain an active member of the organization. In 1959, he was part of the group comprising Orton Chirwa, Aleke Banda, Dina Chechwa Bwanausi, Shadrek Khonje, and others who formed the Malawi Congress Party, the Central Committee of which he would be a member. After the Cabinet Crisis, Somanje replaced Henry Chipembere as treasurer general of the MCP and held that position until his death.

SONGWE RIVER. Marking the northern boundary of Malawi with Tanzania, the Songwe River rises in southern Tanzania and flows southeastward though Unyiha and Ulambya, cutting between the Misuku Hills and Ndali Hills and into the fertile plains which separate Ungonde from Unyakyusa, emptying into Lake Malawi near Kaporo, and becoming one of the lake's main sources of water. Most of the reliable tributaries of the Songwe flow from the hills in Undali.

SORGHUM. With a variety of names, including Guinea corn (West Africa) and kaffir corn (southern Africa), sorghum was the main staple in the Lake Malawi region before maize (corn) began to replace it in the 19th century. Although more resistant to drought than maize, its ripening seeds are a favorite food for birds, making it a labor-intensive crop. A smallholder crop and today mostly used for beer brewing, the production of sorghum fluctuated in the 1990s, varying from 20,000 tons in 1995 to 46,500 tons in 1997, and rising rapidly in the early 2000s to reach 127,396 tons in 2007. Generally the increase in the sorghum industry is directly attributable to the decision of Chibuku Products (Malawi) to use as much local sorghum as possible in the production of grain-based beer. See also AGRICULTURE.

SOSEYA. Of the village of Emveyeyeni and house of Lompetu, Soseya was the daughter of Zwide and mother of Ntuto, better known as Mpezeni, son of Zw.a.n.gendaba. She had become a wife of Zw.a.n.gendaba after her sister, the inkosikazi (great wife), had failed to bear a child. However, Mpezeni did not succeed his father as expected because Soseya had been demoted following suspicions that her house wanted to poison the Ngoni leader. Instead, Munene Nzima became the inkosikazi, and her son, Mhlalo, would succeed his father.

SOUTH AFRICA. South Africa and Malawi have had close linkages dating to the 19th century when the Ngoni migrated into the northern Zambezia region. In the 1880s, the first Malawian students from Blantyre and Livingstonia Missions went to study at Lovedale, the Free Church of Scotland educational center in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Early in the 20th century, Nyasaland, like Mozambique, became a major labor catchment area for the emerging mining and farming industries in South Africa. Labor agencies recruited thousands of Nyasalanders to South Africa on short-term contracts; many others went to the region on their own, working in a variety of jobs, including as domestic servants and as cooks and waiters in the hotel industry. Labor recruitment, mainly by the Wit.w.a.tersrand Native Labour a.s.sociation (WENELA) continued until the 1980s (see MIGRANT LABOR). Another early connection between South Africa and Malawi was tertiary education. In the 1950s, Malawians, such as Henry Chipembere and Orton Chirwa, studied at Fort Hare University in the eastern Cape, an inst.i.tution that educated many future leaders of southern Africa.

In 1967, Malawi established diplomatic relations with the South African government, despite the fact that most countries of the world were in the process of imposing economic, political, and cultural sanctions against that country because of its apartheid system. Malawi's action was loudly condemned, but President Hastings Banda argued that he had good economic and political reasons for moving closer to South Africa. Banda was interested in obtaining aid for the construction of a new capital at Lilongwe and for the completion of the Nacala railway line. Other economic motives included the need to expand its export market and to develop tourism in Malawi. South African business was encouraged to invest in Malawi, and many South African professionals were employed in key positions in industry, especially in the expanding Press Corporation Ltd.

Banda also pointed out that violence was not the key to changing black and white relations, but rather that promoting a dialogue with South Africa could produce reform. His policy of contact and dialogue, along with his anticommunist opinions, were popular in South Africa, which extended an invitation for a state visit to Banda in 1971. During his five-day stay, he visited both black and white leaders; shortly after this, the South African government accepted Malawi's amba.s.sador, the first black diplomat to reside in Pretoria. Throughout the Mozambican civil war, Malawi's rail connections to the east coast were greatly disrupted, resulting in a greater use of Durban for its external trade. Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana (RENAMO), the resistance movement that fought the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) government, and which was strongly suspected of receiving a.s.sistance from Banda's government, was significantly dependent on South Africa.

When the African National Congress (ANC) won the first universal adult suffrage general elections in South Africa in 1994, the government it formed was not particularly warm toward Malawi because of its history of close relations with the National Party government it had just defeated. Although in the period leading to the elections Banda had given a substantial amount of money to Nelson Mandela on behalf of the ANC, and in spite of the fact that there was a change of government in Malawi at about the same time as in South Africa, the relations remained cool for some time. The situation began to improve as the decade pa.s.sed; trade and diplomatic relations were never broken and were even strengthened. Under a trade agreement, Malawi has an open market with South Africa, meaning that Malawi's goods enter the latter country free as long as they satisfy the 25 percent local content.

However, attempts by the Bakili Muluzi government to resume contract labor migration to the South African gold mines failed because the high rates of unemployment in South Africa led President Mandela's administration to adopt protectionist measures. A phenomenon following political reforms in South Africa has been the brain drain of highly trained personnel from Malawi, as from other countries north of the Limpopo, to better paying jobs in South Africa. The Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika government, like its predecessor, has continued to work closely with the South African government in matters of mutual interests, especially through the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).

SOUTH RUKURU. One of the longest rivers in Malawi, and one of the major feeders of Lake Malawi, the South Rukuru rises in southern Mzimba district, flows westward and then northward, entering Lake Kazuni in the MzimbaRumphi border area where it turns northeastward through the gorge at Njakwa flowing through the Henga Valley, pa.s.sing east of the Nyika plateau, and finally dropping into the lake at Mlowe. Plans are to dam a section of it for hydroelectric purposes SOUTHERN AFRICA. Southern Africa refers to the region marked by Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, and Angola in the north and South Africa in the south. It also includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland. See also SOUTHERN AFRICA DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY.

SOUTHERN AFRICA DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC). The Southern Africa Development Community grew out of the Southern Africa Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) formed in 1980 by nine states of Southern Africa, including Malawi. The goals of SADCC were to coordinate regional development and to reduce their economic dependence on South Africa, which at the time was still guided by racial segregationist policies. The other eight SADCC states were Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; in 1990 Namibia also became a member. Together, they represented a total population of over 80 million people. Each SADCC member was a.s.signed responsibility for specific sectors of development; for Malawi, it is fisheries, forestry, and wildlife. Each member is responsible for initiating project proposals, for seeking financial a.s.sistance from donors, and for implementing the projects.

A major priority of SADCC was to establish transport outlets independent of South Africa, and more specifically, to rehabilitate three transport corridors: the Beira corridor, connecting Zimbabwe with the Mozambique coast by rail; the northern corridor linking the region with Dar-es-Salaam via the Tazara Railway and the Zambian rail system; and the Malawi corridor to Mozambique's port of Nacala. In Malawi, the transportation project involved upgrading two trans.h.i.+pment ports and the maintenance of Chilumba port on Lake Malawi so as to help establish a link between Malawi and Dar-es-Salaam via the Tazara Railway.

SADCC has been very effective with its project approach. By the end of the 1980s, the organization had obtained the backing of foreign donors and had completed many of its transport and communication schemes. Ambitious and successful, SADCC had approved nearly 600 national or regional projects having a net worth of over US$7 billion.

In 1994, South Africa joined SADCC and its aims had to be modified and expanded to reflect this development. The name of this regional organization was then changed to Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and its members.h.i.+p has expanded to include the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Mauritius, and the Seych.e.l.les. In 1997, Malawi hosted the SADC heads of state meeting, and President Bakili Muluzi has served a term as chairman of the organization. His successor, Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika, has continued to play a significant role in the organization, which hopes to be a monetary union one day. Throughout the 2000s, SADC has been involved in settling the political crisis in Zimbabwe.

SOUTHERN RHODESIA. See ZIMBABWE.

SOUTHWORTH COMMISSION. Led by Justice Frederick Southworth of Nyasaland's High Court, this commission was appointed by the governor, Sir Robert Armitage, to investigate the demonstration that took place on 26 January 1960, at the Ryall's Hotel, while Harold Macmillan, the British prime minister, was attending a civic luncheon in the hotel. Although a modest demonstration, especially given the state of emergency, its magnitude was much exaggerated in the reports of the press corp accompanying Macmillan. Calls were made locally to inquire into the demonstration, hence the name Southworth Commission.

SPECIAL BRANCH. This division of the police, which deals with matters pertaining to security and antistate political activities, was, until 1959, known as the Political Intelligence Bureau or the Security Branch and dates back to the World War II era when the British empire was beginning to be concerned with the spread of communist ideas in the world. It expanded greatly with the heightening of African political activities in Nyasaland during the post-1958 period, especially following the State of Emergence of 1959. The Special Branch would grow even more powerful under Dr. Hastings Banda's leaders.h.i.+p when it was used to spy on Malawians, especially those perceived to hold opinions not entirely favorable to the government. The division became an integral part in the abuse of human rights, sending many people into long periods of imprisonment without trial, often for unsubstantiated reasons. As a result, it was one of the most feared inst.i.tutions in Malawi. The advent of political reform in the 1990s ushered in a healthier att.i.tude in the Special Branch, which is no longer regarded as acting against the interests of the citizens of Malawi. When the Bakili Muluzi government established the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB

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