Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda announced the 'Mulungushi Declaration,' which gave the government a majority (51%) stake in the foreign-owned copper mines. This was a landmark act of resource nationalism in Africa. Zambia hoped to use the copper revenue for national development ('Humanism'), but the move coincided with falling global copper prices, leading to economic crisis.

The nationalization of the Copperbelt is a watershed moment for Zambian and Southern African poetry, marking the transition from colonial to post-colonial themes. Poets like Gwendoline Konie and the 'New Writers' group celebrated the 'reclaiming of the stone' but also mourned the corruption and inefficiency that followed. The 'copper' changed its meaning in verse: from a symbol of foreign exploitation to a 'national blood' that could also become a 'curse' (the resource curse). This event is extensively analyzed in the poetry of the 'Kaunda era,' exploring the promise and failure of mineral wealth to deliver liberation from poverty.