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The Nationalization of Lonrho’s Business Interests in Postcolonial Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2016

Chibuike Uche
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Abstract

On June 2, 1978, the Tanzanian government under President Julius Nyerere ordered the British multinational corporation, Lonrho Limited, to leave the country. The “official reason” provided for this action was Lonrho’s “continued defiance of the United Nations mandatory sanctions against Rhodesia and the expansion of its business interests in South Africa.” Using newly available materials, mainly from the National Archives London, this paper attempts to document the rise of Lonrho in Tanzania up until the nationalization, the factors that influenced the compensation negotiations process between Lonrho and the Tanzanian government, and the role the British government played in the entire episode.

Keywords

Lonrho LimitedNationalizationTanzania governmentBritish government“Tiny” Rowland
Type
Articles
Information
Itinerario , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , April 2016 , pp. 126 - 148
Copyright
© 2016 Research Institute for History, Leiden University 

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Footnotes

*

The author is grateful to Virginia Riggall (Lonmin, London Office) for providing access to some of the published materials on Lonrho. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the conference on “African Economic Development: Measuring Success and Failure” (Simon Frazer University, Vancouver, Canada, April 17-21, 2013) and the 4th European Congress on World and Global History (Paris, 4-7 September 2014). Finally, the author is grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for Itinerario for their constructive criticisms and advice. The usual disclaimers apply.

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