The Trap

According to legend, the name of Kariba should be Kariwa – the trap - for long ago, there was a lake behind the hills which broke through and this violent torrent tore out the gorge and when the water subsided, it left behind a massive stone slab, the kariwa, until it collapsed.

The real trapping of the river took place on 2 December 1958, when the peaceful course which the Zambezi had run for centuries stopped it in its stride. This was the day on which the gap in the wall was closed.

Less than 100 years ago, the Kariba Gorge was considered an obstacle to river navigation for in those 26 kilometres, the river ran fast. In 1912, a DC visiting from Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) reported the potential dam site that could irrigate the Zambezi Valley. Ten years later, it was suggested as a source of hydro-electric power, but as in 1912, there was no money available for this. In 1937 it was realized that the potential of Zambia’s copper mines could not be realized without cheap electrical power but even then, nothing happened. Only in 1946 was a Central African Council established and in 1951 they recommended Kariba as a suitable site for the construction of a dam.

This was the start of one of the controversies, for a similar scheme had already been suggested on the Kafue River. The experts all backed Kariba as it was the bigger of the schemes, but this did not satisfy the population north of the Zambezi for they were very attached to the Kafue scheme (Bamba Zonke and all that). When the final announcement was made in March 1955 that the dam was to be built at Kariba, there was outrage north of the Zambezi where politicians called it the the Great Betrayal (yes, the same as Ian Smith’s book)

But there was no time to dilly dally; the pressure was on as by 1960 our copper mines would find themselves in dire straits regarding the supply of power if the dam was not completed.

The building of the dam was an outstanding engineering feat – a great river which could in the space of a few hours become a raging torrent had to be tamed; the site was remote with no roads leading to or from it, the gorge in which they had to work was narrow and the temperatures and humidity were high.

Finance for the dam came from a variety of sources including the World Bank, Colonial Development Corp, the British South Africa Co and the Federal Government, a total of £ 80 million.

The closing date for tenders was 17 April 1956 and one tender arrived in Salisbury (Harare) with only ten minutes to spare – the aircraft with the courier from Italy had been delayed due to a technical fault. Three months later, on 17 July, the contracts were announced. But before that, Kachepa was very much in evidence – there was rumour after rumour about who had been awarded which contract. The next controversy arose when the announcements were made – the main contract for the construction of the dam and southbank power station had been awarded to an Italian firm – Impresit South Africa at a value of £ 25,278,000. Another Italian controlled firm, Rhodesia Power Lines was awarded the contract for the transmission lines, at a value of £ 9,935,000. The British companies which had tendered for the job were outraged.

One of the earliest contracts awarded was for the construction of Kariba township where those involved in the construction of the dam would live for the duration. This contact was awarded to Costains. Original estimates were that construction of the township would take 2 years, but this was cut down by a third – work went on for 18 hours a day, 7 days a week with temperatures sitting at 43 deg. C at 10 pm at night and 32 deg. C at 5 am – fitters took to carrying tools in buckets of water to prevent them becoming too hot. In one week, houses to the value of £ 300,000 were handed over, houses from foundations to door locks were being completed at the rate of three houses every two days. A bank wass built from start to finish in nine days.

In November 1956, the first skip of concrete, 2 tonnes of it, was poured. This was only the first of nearly 3,000,000 tonnes used in the wall – enough to pave a road from Zambia to Russia. On 22 June 1959, the last skip on concrete was released on the curve of the wall by Federal Prime Minister, Sir Roy Welensky – ten months ahead of schedule, despite the floods of 1957 and 1958 when the Zambezi did its best to fight man’s intentions.

Meanwhile virgin bush was being cleared to the north for the transmission lines – a job which was started in 1955 and was to take four years; the trees which would be covered with water were being pulled down and work was commencing on the south bank power station. For those who worked at Kariba, they needed no references or testimonials – they only had to say ‘I worked at Kariba’ and the job was theirs.

But there were human tragedies too – a number of people lost their lives during the construction of the dam; some are still buried within the wall. Eight of Chief Chipepo’s people who were being moved to higher ground were killed during clashes with the police. And the human tragedies continue for those displaced persons. Next month we will take a look at the achievements of the Gwembe Tonga Scheme.