Throughout
the early post-war years, however, the power position remained a matter
of great difficulty, though the copper-mining industry tried to
supplement coal supphes by an 'enormous and continuing programme of
using fuel from the local forests', admittedly a 'most undesirable and
expensive practice'. Rhoanglo played a twofold part in meeting the
needs of the mining industry. First, in 1953 it acquired a large
shareholding in Wankie Colliery Company; at the same time it took over
the 'duties and responsibilities of managers, consulting engineers and
buyers to the Wankie Colliery. The full financial and technical
strength of the corporation and its associates will be available to
ensure that the Wankie Colliery will within two or three years be
brought to a position when it can meet the full requirements of the
territories which it serves.'53 Nevertheless, as Ernest
Oppenheimer pointed out to his shareholders, even the various measures
then contemplated were not sufficient—'the growing demand for power for
the copper industry will outstrip available supplies very early in the
1960s'. He therefore announced a second step.
We
are, therefore, interesting ourselves in the great hydro-electric
project at Kafue and Kariba, and have offered to the Rhodesian
Governments our technical and financial advice and assistance.54 One of these great projects
three
copper-producing companies have each guaranteed a quarter of the
repayment and interest obligations of the Power Corporation to the
Export-Import Bank of Washington and these obligations will be
satisfied by supplies of copper and cobalt. . . .'
63 The
task assumed was a formidable one. Output capacity at the time when
Anglo American Corporation interests took over was about 2,750,000
tons; a study of market needs indicated that capacity would have to be
increased to 5,000,000 tons at the end of 1956, and a guarantee that
this output would be reached was given to the Southern Rhodesian
Government in 1953. In 1948 the capital employed in the business had
been £1,951,000; by August 1955 that figure had risen to £9,121,000.
Not only was it necessary to provide for the technical reorganization
of the mines and the ancillary plants, but a great rehousing programme
was required for workers of all races. Moreover, 'it is not generally
appreciated that Wankie has to be entirely self-supporting. It is a
township of some 2,800 Europeans and 20,000 Natives, of whom more than
three-quarters are employees of the company and their families. It is
situated 70 miles from Livingstone and the Victoria Falls and 200 miles
from Bulawayo, and its remoteness has debarred it from participating in
such essential services as power, water, hospitals and the like, which,
in larger communities, are provided by the local authority or the
Government. The vital part which Wankie has played and must continue to
play in the development of the Federation has placed upon the company
the necessity of providing such facilities to meet an ever-growing
demand. When the current programme is completed, the company will have
spent about £1,750,000 in improving supplies of power, water, hospital
and medical facilities.' (From the review by the chairman, Mr. T.
Coulter, in the Directors' report for the year ended 31 August 1955, p. 14.)
54 The later history can be followed from the following extract from the report of Anglo American Corporation for 1954, page 31:
'.
. . On 5 November 1953 this corporation was appointed to the position
of consulting enginecrs-in-chicf to the Kafue Hydro-Electric Authority,
and in August 1954 to the Federal Hydro-Electric Board for the
construction of the Kafue scheme. The corpora-
