Sweat & Sweets

Though the temperature was in the 90s, Zambia's President Kenneth Kaunda was in the mood to deliver a sermon. On a dusty polo field in the copper city of Kitwe, Kaunda, who is the son of a Presbyterian preacher, warned last week of the perils of drunkenness and lack of discipline among workers.

Waving a white handkerchief and sternly pointing his finger, he told the perspiring crowd: "We must not be lazy. This could destroy the country." Zambia's Vice President, Simon Kapwepwe, put it even more dramatically. Brandishing a pick, a shovel and a rake in his hand at another rally, he proclaimed: "No sweat, no sweet."

Driven to Tears. More than three years ago, when Zambia won independence from Britain, Kaunda promised that each of his people would have an egg and a pint of milk a day by 1970. It was a modest enough goal. Zambia, moreover, was a nation of abundant resources, including a lot of fertile land and much of the world's copper, co-salt, lead and zinc. But political forces lave conspired to block progress toward Kaunda's goal, and he has become so frustrated by the obstacles that at times he is driven to public tears.

The country is a crossroads of racial bitterness. Black-nationalist guerrillas use it as a base for raids on the neighboring white supremacist regimes in Rhodesia and Southwest Africa. In turn, white agents infiltrate the country to spy on them. Zambia's 3,800,000 blacks resent the white minority of about 65,000, many of whom are Rhodesian and South African citizens who still hold the managerial jobs and

own much of Zambia's small business

just as they did when the country was the British colony of Northern Rhodesia. The blacks themselves are divided into 7 tribes whose rivalries are often exploited by ambitious politicians.

Zambia's economy was stricken by Kaunda's decision two years ago to go along with United Nations sanctions against the Ian Smith regime in Rhodesia, from which Zambia bought almost all of its imports. The government thereupon had to impose rationing, buy its goods in more expensive markets and ship by air and truck routes the bulk of the copper that once moved cheaply over Rhodesia's railroad to ports in Mozambique. As a result, Kaunda has had to curtail his $1.2 billion four-year development plan. Because of high black unemployment, average income is only about $200 a year.

Little Comfort. Probably to create an illusion of progress, Kaunda recently nationalized 24 companies owned by foreigners and cut to 50% the amount of profit a company can take out of the country. Most of the nationalized companies were retail outlets, breweries or other small businesses that he eventually plans, in the second stage of his "revolution," to turn over to cooperative management by blacks. Big foreign producers, such as the British-American copper companies, were not among those nationalized.

Still, Kaunda's policy may scare off the foreign capital that his country badly needs. Mining-company officials took little comfort last week from Kaunda's assurances that their property would not be nationalized because "we need their skill and money." They worry that Kaunda, under pressure from more nationalistic men within his own dominant, socialist United National Independence Party, may soon find it convenient to promise his people sweets without sweat, and to further Zambianize the economy.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.