The confederation plan was also highly unpopular among ordinary southern Africans.
Drought is only the surface explanation for why millions of Malawians and other southern Africans are hungry.
Now an offensive ethnic slur, it was previously a neutral term for black southern Africans.
He emigrated to southern African in 1873 due to poor health, settling in the Orange Free State.
It wasn't likely to be identical with the attitudes of Australians or Brazilians or even southern Africans.
On this occasion however, it was largely rejected by southern Africans, primarily due to its very bad timing.
He cannot in good conscience oppose the dams, however, because the farms they help irrigate also employ many southern Africans who might otherwise go hungry.
"We used putty or clay to try to make the faces look like southern Africans," she said.
However, the southern Africans have always been in a minority within the African elephant range states.
She notes Rodrigo's description of Othello having "thick lips" was a racial stereotype used by 16th century explorers for southern Africans.