Writing Jasper Savanhu's biography from his awkward self-narratives

Sometime in the mid-1970s Jasper Savanhu (1917-1984), a former MP and parliamentary secretary in the Central Africa Federation government (1953-1963), sketched out a 'prospectus' for his memoirs. Savanhu had been living in political obscurity since the end of Federation, but he was inspired by an interview conducted in 1973 to write his memoirs. He wanted to emphasise his 'behind the scenes' work that helped Africans rather than his public actions during the Federation, which nationalists had dismissed as 'sell out' politics. When he could not find any backers for his project in Rhodesia, Savanhu appealed to the former Federal prime minister, Roy Welensky, for help. Welensky contacted his Federation-era colleagues but they, like nationalists, judged Savanhu's story as insignificant. Savanhu's memoir project stalled. However, a 1977 interview with the National Archives gave Savanhu another chance to tell his story. This interview revealed a different set of 'behind the scenes' stories in Savanhu's political life, stories of political betrayal, financial insecurity, threats of violence, and most of all, the very 'tight corners' for action that limited Savanhu and exposed him to criticism and charges of opportunism.