preneurs
of differing countries in the opening of 'new' countries could be
carried on, without running the risk that final control might pass into
'foreign' hands. 'Foreign' control in this context implies that the
political allegiance of the predominant partner might adversely affect
the political and the economic interests—or what were felt to be
such—of the country or countries of which the minority producers were
nationals. In the specific case of Northern Rhodesia the issue was
whether American mining and financial interests were to become dominant
in the opening up of what has since become known as the 'Copperbelt'.
But the issue was not one in any way peculiar to Northern Rhodesia: it
is one which has arisen very frequently in the modern world and one,
moreover, which is likely to occur with increasing frequency as
nationalistic sentiment grows in the under-developed countries, in
Africa and elsewhere. But in the specific context of Northern Rhodesia,
the determination to maintain the Copperbelt as a predominantly
'British' interest was one of the most powerful factors influencing the
mind of Ernest Oppenheimer and, therefore, of the policies which he
pursued there.
The
attitude he took up was not based merely on patriotic sentiment, though
he held passionate convictions both on South African and on imperial
affairs. At the time when Rhodesian development began, American mining
interests dominated the world position as regards copper, even though
they did not possess a monopoly. He feared that if the control of the
new field were to pass into American hands completely, immediate
self-interest might dictate, on their part, a course of action which
might delay production in Rhodesia, so as to make the continuity of
production elsewhere more possible. The danger which he apprehended was
the result of the emergence in the preceding five or six years of two
major groups, which had found it necessary in the year 1928 to create
two 'apex' organizations—Rhodesian Anglo American Limited, registered
on 8 December 1928, and Rhodesian Selection Trust Limited, registered
on 1 May 1928. Both were British companies: the chairman of the
first-named company was Ernest Oppenheimer, and of the second, A. C.
Beatty, who also had interests in the diamond world in West Africa and
Namaqualand. The composition of the board of Rhodesian Anglo American
was overwhelmingly British—it was a very strong one and was
representative, not only of Anglo American Corporation, but of Barnato
Brothers and the British South Africa Company (though it included a
representative of the Newmont Mining Corporation of New York).
