Black power vs. white capital: Obsolescing political legitimacy and the unravelling of colonial capitalism in Northern Rhodesia

In the broader context of decolonisation, corporate asset expropriation and nationalisation were widespread. Yet, in a notable departure, the British South Africa Company (BSAC) agreed to transfer its Northern Rhodesian mineral rights to Zambia’s incoming government just hours before independence in 1964. The settlement represented only a fraction of the value the company had previously attached to the rights. Drawing on the obsolescing political legitimacy (OPL) framework, this paper examines how competing actors assessed and negotiated the legitimacy of the BSAC’s mineral rights during the transition to independence. It argues that the settlement cannot be understood solely as a bargaining dispute over compensation. Using archival evidence, the paper shows how disputes over the legitimacy of colonial property rights shaped negotiations among colonial, imperial, corporate, and nationalist actors during the transition to independence, offering a reinterpretation of the BSAC settlement as a struggle over the legitimacy of colonial capitalism during decolonisation.