Suppressed data: The controversy on Lynn Saffery’s enquiry into African living conditions on the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt, 1942-1945

Abstract

This article examines the controversy over Ambrose Lynn Saffery’s enquiry into African living conditions on the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt during the Second World War. The enquiry was held from August 1942 to January 1943 at the peak of the war, when the colonial government, mineworkers and mine management all faced the worst pressures of the war. The article contributes to scholarship on the impact of the wartime political economy on African living conditions in urban areas. Scholars analysed the surveys conducted on the urban African cost of living and demonstrate how they were shaped by the prevailing political economy. However, they largely overlook the debates that ensued during the enquiries and how they affected their conduct. The article uses archival evidence to demonstrate that Saffery’s enquiry was shaped by the controversy between the Northern Rhodesia Chamber of Mines and the Labour Commissioner. While the former criticised the enquiry to protect the interests of the mining companies, the latter defended the study because it was organised by the Labour Department under his charge. The article reveals how the interests of different stakeholders influenced their perspectives on statistical enquiries. The controversy arose when the colonial government and the mining firms failed to accept and act upon the revelations of the survey. Instead, they suppressed the report to evade its political and economic implications.