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What hope is there for Africa? Since the heady and hopeful days of decolonisation the story seems to be one of unrelenting disaster -- revolution; brutal military dictatorship; ethnic conflict and even genocide; civil war; state-threatening corruption; economic failure; and, in places, the complete breakdown of state and society. And all has been compounded by natural disasters -- drought, famine and the scourge of AIDS. But there is another, less reported, story of Africa; throwing off the colonial past, embracing modernity, learning fast, gaining in pride and self-confidence and embracing the crucial management function; all this in the context of fruitful collaboration with Europe and American business and, increasingly, with the rising Asian economic superpowers. Jonathan Lawley paints a vivid and convincing picture of solid political, social and economic progress. Beyond the Malachite Hills is a remarkable testament to his long-lasting and profound involvement with this often misunderstood continent.
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Beyond the Malachite Hills Jonathan Lawley is consultant to the Business Council for Africa (BCA) where he continues to make use of his unique experience of Africa as a whole. He was born in the North-West Frontier Province of pre-independence India where his father was in the Indian Service of Engineers. After school in Kashmir, the UK, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa he went to Rhodes University in South Africa and Cambridge before joining the British Colonial Service in Northern Rhodesia. He worked there for 9 years including 5 in independent Zambia. Almost his entire career has involved Africa, particularly southern Africa including the Congo where he worked for 5 years on a mining project. He has had a life-long interest in and involvement with Zimbabwe. More recently his work has taken him to West Africa and to Portuguese- and French-speaking countries including Madagascar. In 1996 he was awarded a doctorate from the City University, London, for his Ph.D. thesis ‘Transcending Culture: Developing Africa’s Technical Managers’. Beyond the Malachite Hills A Life of Colonial Service and Business in the New Africa Jonathan Lawley Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2010 Jonathan Lawley The right of Jonathan Lawley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978 1 84885 049 1 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Typeset in Perpetua by Macmillan Publishing Solutions Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham Table of Contents Foreword by Lord Carrington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Map of Southern Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x Map of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Southern DRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi CHAPTER 1 Raj Child to Rhodesian Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 CHAPTER 2 Bush and Boma . . . . . . . .