Rhodesia was a region in south-central Africa, now divided into Zimbabwe in the south and Zambia in the north. Named after British colonial administrator Cecil Rhodes, it was administered by the British South Africa Company in the 19th century and exploited mostly for its gold, copper, and coal deposits. In 1911 it was divided into Northern and Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively); Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing British colony (1923) and Northern Rhodesia a British protectorate (1924). They joined with Nyasaland to become the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953-63). See also Malawi.
From 1964 to 1979, Rhodesia was the name used by the former Southern Rhodesia, first as a British colony (1964-65), then as a self-declared independent country without international recognition (1965-79). Zimbabwe Rhodesia, alternatively known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, also informally known as Zimbabwe or Rhodesia, was a short-lived unrecognised sovereign state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980,[1] though it lacked international recognition.
Zimbabwe Rhodesia was preceded by another state named the Republic of Rhodesia and was briefly under a British-supervised transitional government sometimes referred to as a reestablished Southern Rhodesia, which according to British constitutional theory had remained the lawful government in the area after Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965.
The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was the most polarizing event in the colonial history of Zimbabwe. Locally, regionally, and internationally, it sharpened differences of opinion with respect to independence, especially along racial lines. It also deepened the Cold War in the region, as most Western countries stood behind the regime of Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith, which was responsible for declaring the UDI. The Eastern Bloc supported the African nationalists who fiercely condemned the UDI, and used that support to agitate for majority rule.
On November 11, 1965, a Rhodesian White minority government led by Ian Smith in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) declared unilateral independence from Great Britain, ostensibly to preserve “justice, civilization, and Christianity” as well as to defend the country and the world against communism. This declaration created a seemingly intractable colonial and foreign policy crisis for the British government, and immediately put it at loggerheads with newly independent African countries in the 1960s.
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Up to the time the Smith government declared the UDI, Southern Rhodesia had been effectively self-governing, and was very close to attaining the status of full dominion like the older Commonwealth countries-Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Thus, the UDI is one of the few watershed events in the history of Zimbabwe.
Founded by Cecil John Rhodes, a British-born businessman, the British South Africa Company (BSAC) colonized Southern Rhodesia in 1890. Rhodes and his company had been granted a colonization charter by the Queen of England, through the British government. Under BSAC rule, the territory was renamed Rhodesia (from the name Rhodes). The British government revoked the charter in 1923, prompting the settlers to vote for self-rule,[1] thus creating the colony of Southern Rhodesia.[2] The constitution of 1923, granted by letters patent,[3] placed political power in the hands of the White settlers at the expense of the Africans, who were systematically disenfranchised through economic and educational clauses in the constitution.
Between 1953 and 1963, the settler government formed a federation of British colonies in Central Africa, including Nyasaland (Malawi), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), and Southern Rhodesia. It became known as the Central African Federation.
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
From the early 1960s, the British government succumbed to international pressure for the independence of African countries and the introduction of majority rule. In 1961, Britain introduced a constitution in Southern Rhodesia, which granted Africans a Bill of Rights, which some Whites considered gave Africans rights they did not deserve.
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Unlike apartheid in South Africa, which did not envisage any African rule, the 1961 constitution provided for unimpeded progress toward African majority rule, and also offered a way for Africans to qualify to vote, based on education and property ownership. Britain adopted a policy referred to as “No Independence Before Majority Rule” (NIBMAR), which demanded all its colonies go through the process of instituting majority rule before political independence could be attained.
This policy meant that Africans, who were always the majority population, would be handed power through the process of democratic elections. The period prior to the UDI was characterized by increased political activity both within Southern Rhodesia and beyond. Ghana had attained its political independence in March 1957, becoming the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve self-rule.
The independence of the two neighboring countries, Zambia and Malawi, led to growing nationalist sentiment among Africans in Southern Rhodesia, while also sounding an alarm in the White population that feared losing power. According to the Commonwealth, however, White supremacist aspirations in Central and Southern Africa were doomed.
The core mandate of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) [now called the African Union (AU)], the continental bloc established in 1963, was to assist nationalist groups gain independence from their European colonizers.
The period between 1957 and 1965 also saw the formation of militant nationalist movements, including the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), led by Joshua Nkomo, and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), led by Ndabaningi Sithole. With pressure also from African countries that had already attained independence, the nationalist movements began massive political campaigns to win the support of the African people, particularly the peasants in the rural areas.
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Elections in 1962 resulted in the Rhodesian Front (RF) winning power. Led initially by Winston Field, Ian Smith, an extreme White supremacist, took over in 1964. During Smith’s reign, the radical White minority embarked on a campaign to hinder (if not block) all prospects of African rule in Southern Rhodesia.
As a prelude to the UDI, Smith asked the governor of Rhodesia, Humphrey Gibbs, to sign a proclamation introducing a state of emergency. Despite Smith’s attempts to blame Great Britain for being uncooperative, international responses to the UDI were mostly in opposition. Though Smith wanted the UDI to consolidate his power, the British government imposed an economic embargo on the colony in response. It also considered military intervention to stop the UDI, in both October 1965 and October 1966. Smith however shrewdly dismissed the likelihood of British military intervention.
Closer to home, ZANU and ZAPU, the principal Rhodesian nationalist parties, vigorously opposed the UDI. They pressured the Organization for African Unity, the Commonwealth, and the United Nations to urge Britain to put an end to the UDI by force, if necessary.
Regionally, however, while the Organization of African Unity opposed the UDI, South Africa’s White population endorsed it. The British government’s response to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence was strategic, not only to protect the White population in Rhodesia, but also to protect its economic interests in the region. It did not appeal to the UN for full-blown sanctions against Rhodesia, fearing the UN might then end up sanctioning South Africa, a staunch supporter of the UDI, too.
This would have interfered with British interests in South African minerals as well as other investments. The Unilateral Declaration of Independence, therefore, was a serious political gaffe by the colonial Rhodesian Front government under Prime Minister Ian Smith.
Political Landscape and Internal Settlement
Under pressure from the international community, an "Internal Settlement" was drawn up between the Smith administration of Rhodesia and moderate African nationalist parties. Meanwhile, the government continued to battle armed resistance from the Patriotic Front,[4] a coalition of two African Leadership parties: the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).
The "Internal Settlement", signed in March 1978, led to the creation of an interim government in which Africans were included in leading positions for the first time, while creating an independent civil service, judiciary, police force, and army.
The settlement also created an executive council composed of Ian Smith and three black individuals (Muzorewa, Sithole, and Chirau),[4] and a ministerial council, while Smith retained his title as prime minister. Furthermore, a goal of the settlement was for Rhodesia to receive international recognition and have the sanctions imposed on the country due to Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 to be removed.
The new state did not gain international recognition. The Commonwealth Secretariat claiming that the "so-called 'Constitution of Zimbabwe Rhodesia'" would be "no more legal and valid" than the UDI constitution it replaced.
As early as 1960, African nationalist political organizations in Rhodesia agreed that the country should use the name "Zimbabwe"; they used that name as part of the titles of their organisations. The name "Zimbabwe", broken down to Dzimba dzamabwe in Shona (one of the two major languages in the country), means "houses of stone".
Rhodesia-Zimbabwe
The 1979 Elections and Government Formation
Zimbabwe Rhodesia's short-lived government was elected prior to the creation of the state, with the 1979 Rhodesian general election, the first in which a majority of elected representatives were black. Of the 100 members of the House of Assembly, 72 were "common roll" members for whom the electorate was every adult citizen. All of these members were black Africans.
Those on the previous electoral roll of Rhodesia (due to education, property and income qualifications for voter rolls) elected 20 members; although this did not in theory exclude non-whites, very few black Africans met the qualification requirements. A delimitation commission sat in 1978 to determine how to reduce the previous 50 constituencies to 20.
The remaining eight seats for old voter role non-constituency members were filled by members chosen by the other 92 members of the House of Assembly once their election was complete. In the only election held by Zimbabwe Rhodesia, Bishop Abel Muzorewa's United African National Council (UANC) won a majority in the common-roll seats, while Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front (RF) won all of the old voter roll seats.
The Senate of Zimbabwe Rhodesia had 40 members. Ten members each were returned by the old voter roll members of the House of Assembly and the common roll members, and five members each by the Council of Chiefs of Mashonaland and Matabeleland. The President of Zimbabwe Rhodesia was elected by the members of the Parliament, sitting together.
Starting with 51 seats out of 100, Abel Muzorewa of the UANC was appointed as Prime Minister, and also appointed Minister of Combined Operations and Defence.[40] He formed a joint government with Ian Smith, the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia, who was a Minister without Portfolio.[41] Muzorewa also attempted to include the other African parties who had lost the election.
Rhodesian Front members served as Muzorewa's ministers of justice, agriculture, and finance, with David Smith continuing in the role of Minister of Finance, while P. K.
What happened to Rhodesia? (Short Animated Documentary)
The Lancaster House Agreement and Transition to Zimbabwe
The Lancaster House Agreement, signed on 21 December 1979,[42] stipulated that control over the country be returned to the United Kingdom in preparation for elections to be held in the spring of 1980.
The rapid decolonisation of Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s alarmed a significant proportion of Southern Rhodesia's white population. In an effort to delay the transition to black majority rule, the predominantly white Southern Rhodesian government issued its own Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965.
The new nation, identified simply as Rhodesia, initially sought recognition as an autonomous realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, but reconstituted itself as a republic in 1970. Following the declaration of independence in 1965,[4] the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that called upon all states not to grant recognition to Rhodesia.
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