Ian Douglas Smith GCLMThe Legion of Merit was a Rhodesian order of merit awarded to both civilian and military recipients for service to Rhodesia.- Institution :The award was instituted in 1970 by Presidential Warrant, the first awards being made the same year. The last awards were made in June 1980. The civil class...
IDThe Independence Decoration was a Rhodesian civil decoration awarded to persons who played a notable and significant part in the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.- Institution :...
(8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a politician active in the government of
Southern RhodesiaSouthern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
, the
Federation of Rhodesia and NyasalandThe Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation , was a semi-independent state in southern Africa that existed from 1953 to the end of 1963, comprising the former self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia,...
,
RhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
,
Zimbabwe RhodesiaZimbabwe Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, was an unrecognized state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 12 December 1979...
and
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
from 1948 to 1987, most notably serving as
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Rhodesia was the head of government in the colony of Rhodesia. Rhodesia's political system was modelled on the Westminster system and the Prime Minister's role was similar to that of the same position in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New...
of Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 1 June 1979. Born and raised in
SelukweShurugwi, formerly Selukwe, a town and administrative centre in Midlands Province, southern Zimbabwe, located about 350 km south of Harare; population 16,138...
(now Shurugwi), a small rural town in the British
self-governing colonyA self-governing colony is a colony with an elected legislature, in which politicians are able to make most decisions without reference to the colonial power with formal or nominal control of the colony...
of Southern Rhodesia, Smith served in the
Southern Rhodesian Air ForceThe Rhodesian Air Force was the air arm of the British colonial state of Rhodesia. It existed between 1935 and 1980 under various names, and is now the Air Force of Zimbabwe.-History:...
and British
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
during the Second World War and, after graduating from
Rhodes UniversityRhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, bought a farm in his home town in 1948. At the same time, he was elected as Selukwe's representative in the legislative assembly, running for the
Southern Rhodesia Liberal PartyThe Southern Rhodesian Liberal Party was a political party in Southern Rhodesia, founded in 1939 by Jacob Smit , the former United Party minister of finance...
; in doing so he became Southern Rhodesia's youngest ever member of parliament.
Smith supported the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953, and won the Midlands federal constituency for the
United Federal PartyThe United Federal Party, previously known as the United Party and the United Rhodesia Party, was one of Southern Rhodesia's most successful political parties, and governed the country for over 30 years...
(UFP) in that year's inaugural federal election; following his election at federal level he resigned the territorial Selukwe seat. He served as the UFP's Chief Whip in the Federal Assembly from 1958 to 1962 before resigning to help form the pro-independence Rhodesia Reform Party, which shortly merged with the Dominion Party to form the
Rhodesian FrontThe Rhodesian Front was a political party in Southern Rhodesia when the country was under white minority rule. Led first by Winston Field, and, from 1964, by Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Front was the successor to the Dominion Party, which was the main opposition party in Southern Rhodesia during the...
(RF). After the RF's victory in the 1962 Southern Rhodesian general election Smith became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Treasury under Prime Minister
Winston FieldWinston Joseph Field MBE was a Rhodesian politician. Field was a former Dominion Party MP who founded the Rhodesian Front political party with Ian Douglas Smith. Field was born and brought up in Bromsgrove in the United Kingdom, and moved to Southern Rhodesia in 1921...
.
After Field failed to win the country's independence from Britain on the federation's dissolution in 1963, Smith took his place in 1964 and, running on an
election promiseAn election promise is a promise made to the public by a politician who is trying to win an election. They have long been a central element of elections and remain so today...
of independence, led the RF to a clean sweep of the 50 largely white-elected "A" roll seats in the
May 1965 general electionGeneral elections were held in Rhodesia on 7 May 1965. The election was held using two rolls, an "A" roll, which was largely white and elected 50 seats, and a "B" roll, which was largely black and elected 15 seats. Only 10,544 voters were registered on the B roll...
. Frustrated by repeated failures to achieve this goal by negotiation with the British, who insisted on an immediate hand-over to the African nationalists, Smith's government unilaterally declared Rhodesia's independence from the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on 11 November 1965. Smith remained as premier until 1 June 1979 as the head of a
white minorityA dominant minority, also known as alien elites if they are recent immigrants, is a group that has overwhelming political, economic or cultural dominance in a country or region despite representing a small fraction of the overall population...
government; the state failed to gain international recognition and
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
economic sanctionsEconomic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...
were instituted.
The Smith administration fought against African nationalists during the
Bush WarThe Rhodesian Bush War – also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation – was a civil war which took place between July 1964 and December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia...
as part of its campaign to maintain its policy of a gradual transition of power, and negotiated an
Internal SettlementThe Internal Settlement was the agreement between Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith and Abel Muzorewa in 1978.-Negotiations:Fed up with the sanctions leveled against Rhodesia by the international community and outright political pressure from South Africa, Great Britain and the United States, the...
with black moderates in 1979 – this agreement led to majority rule, the renaming of the country to Zimbabwe Rhodesia and a coalition government led by the country's first black prime minister, the
United African National CouncilThe United African National Council is a political party in Zimbabwe.In 1979, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the UANC Party held formal power in Zimbabwe during the short-lived period of the Internal Settlement...
leader
Abel MuzorewaBishop Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979...
, who included Smith in the cabinet as a
minister without portfolioA minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
.
This still did not lead to international recognition for the country, however, and it was only in 1980, after the 1979
Lancaster House AgreementThe negotiations which led to the Lancaster House Agreement brought independence to Rhodesia following Ian Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. The Agreement covered the Independence Constitution, pre-independence arrangements, and a ceasefire...
, the British-supervised election of
Robert MugabeRobert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
as prime minister in April 1980 and the adoption of the name Zimbabwe that international acceptance came. Smith remained active in the
Zimbabwean parliamentThe Parliament of Zimbabwe consists of two chambers:*The Senate *The House of Assembly...
until 1987, when he retired to the farm he still owned in the town of his birth. He relocated in 2005 to
Cape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa, where he died in 2007.
Family and early life
Ian Smith was born in Selukwe (now known as Shurugwi), a small mining and farming town located approximately 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) southwest of the capital
SalisburyHarare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
(now
HarareHarare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
). He was the family's youngest child, with two older sisters, Phyllis and Joan. His father, John Douglas Smith (also known as "Jock"), had emigrated from
HamiltonHamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It is the fifth-biggest town in Scotland after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1898 in search of
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, but instead became a
farmerA farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
,
butcherA butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
,
bakerA baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
, garage owner and gold mine operator. His father married Agnes Hodson, who was from Cumbria in England, in 1911.
Ian Smith considered his father "a man of extremely strong principles" and "one of the fairest men I have ever met and that is the way he brought me up." After receiving his primary education at a local school in Selukwe, Smith enrolled at the Chaplin School in nearby Gwelo for his secondary studies. In his final year at Chaplin, Smith was head
prefectPrefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
, recipient of the
Victor LudorumVictor Ludorum is Latin for "the winner of the games." It is usually a trophy presented to the most successful team, club, or competitor at a sports event. It is common at rowing regattas and was traditional at some British public school sports days...
in sports, and captain of the school's
rugbyRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
,
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
teams. Smith later remarked, "I was an absolute lunatic about sport. I concede, looking back, that I should have devoted much more time to my school work and less to sport."
Smith enrolled at
Rhodes UniversityRhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
in
GrahamstownGrahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1938, where he began coursework towards a
Bachelor of CommerceA Bachelor of Commerce is an undergraduate degree in commerce and related subjects. The degree is also known as the Bachelor of Commerce and Administration, or BCA...
degree. Smith interrupted his studies during the
Second World WarWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and joined the Southern Rhodesia Air Force. After completing his flight training, he was seconded to the rank of
Pilot OfficerPilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
in the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. He served with distinction in the Royal Air Force at the
RAF stationRAF Pembrey was a Royal Air Force station, home to 233 Operational Conversion Unit which flew de Havilland Vampires and Hawker Hunters until its closure in 1957. Site of one of only five Dome Trainer Buildings still existing in the UK...
in
PembreyPembrey is a village in Carmarthenshire Wales, situated between Burry Port and Kidwelly, overlooking Carmarthen Bay.-History:The name Pembrey is an Anglicisation of the Welsh, Pen-bre...
,
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. On 4 October 1943, his
Hawker HurricaneThe Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
plane crashed on take-off from
AlexandriaAlexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
due to a throttle malfunction. His
harnessA safety harness is a form of protective equipment designed to protect a person, animal, or object from injury or damage. The harness is an attachment between a stationary and non-stationary object and is usually fabricated from rope, cable or webbing and locking hardware...
, which was built to withstand a
stressIn continuum mechanics, stress is a measure of the internal forces acting within a deformable body. Quantitatively, it is a measure of the average force per unit area of a surface within the body on which internal forces act. These internal forces are a reaction to external forces applied on the body...
of nearly one
tonneThe tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
, snapped and his face rammed against the Hurricane's
instrument panelFlight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with information about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as height, speed and altitude...
. He sustained severe facial injuries and broke his jaw, a leg and a shoulder and also buckled his back. Six months after undergoing extensive
plastic surgeryPlastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
at the 15th Scottish Hospital in
CairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, he returned to active service with the
No. 237 Squadron RAFNo. 237 Squadron was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron. During the Second World War the unit was formed from No. 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force for operations in North Africa.-History:...
in
CorsicaCorsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
. In July 1944
GermanNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
anti-aircraft fire shot down Smith's
Supermarine SpitfireThe Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
over the
Po ValleyThe Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
during a
strafingStrafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...
attack on German ground forces. He parachuted safely from his aircraft, landing behind enemy lines in the
Ligurian AlpsThe Ligurian Alps are a mountain range in northwestern Italy. A small part is located in France. They form the south-western extremity of the Alps, separated from the Apennines by the Colle di Cadibona. The Col de Tende separates them from the Maritime Alps...
. Italian
partisanA partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
and
French resistanceThe French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
groups gave him refuge. After assisting in the planning of bomb raids against Germans for nearly five months, Smith and three other Allied soldiers embarked on a 23-day hike through occupied Italy and
Maritime AlpsThe Maritime Alps are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the French département Alpes-Maritimes and the Italian province of Cuneo. The Col de Tende separates them from the Ligurian Alps; the Maddalena Pass separates them from the Cottian Alps...
to reach
AlliedThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
lines. After being repatriated to Britain, he served with the No. 130 Squadron RAF until the end of the war. Smith returned to civilian life and obtained his Bachelor of Commerce degree at Rhodes, where he was also elected chairman of the students' representative council. After college, he bought a farm in Selukwe, later expanding it into a 21500 acres (87 km²) estate. Regarding his decision to start farming, Smith remarked, "[c]ommerce and economics are associated with mathematics. Maths was one of my better subjects. Economics is one of the most important aspects of farming and so I decided to farm. It was as simple as that."
Smith married Janet Watt (d. 1994), a widowed South African schoolteacher, in 1948 and had one child,
AlecAlexander Douglas Smith, commonly known as Alec Smith was born in Gwelo, Rhodesia. He was a Rhodesian army chaplain and farmer...
, whom he raised with his wife's two children, Robert and Jean, from her earlier marriage to South African rugby player Piet Duvenage. He remained on close terms with his son Alec despite having major disagreements with him on a number of political issues. Alec deserted from the Rhodesian army while serving as a
conscriptConscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
in the 1970s and went to Europe. There he married Elisabeth Knudsen, a
NorwegianNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
national, by whom he had three children: one son and two daughters. Alec was a staunch supporter of majority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa and became an outspoken critic of the white regime's discrimination against the majority black population. Alec died on 19 January 2006 of a heart attack at
London Heathrow AirportLondon Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
.
Smith's stepdaughter Jean married Rhodesian folk singer
Clem TholetClem Tholet was a Rhodesian folk singer who became popular in the 1970s for his Rhodesian patriotic songs. He reached the height of his fame during the Rhodesian Bush War....
in 1967. Tholet was famous for songs such as
Vagabond Gun and
Rhodesians Never Die. Tholet died on 6 October 2004 at age 56.
Political career
Entry into politics and the Federation
Smith became active in politics when he successfully ran as a candidate for the
right-wingIn politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
Southern Rhodesia Liberal PartyThe Southern Rhodesian Liberal Party was a political party in Southern Rhodesia, founded in 1939 by Jacob Smit , the former United Party minister of finance...
in the 1948 general election for a seat representing the Selukwe district in the Legislative Assembly. He was initially reluctant to stand due to his youth and the fact that he was concurrently establishing a farm: Indeed, he was the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) in the history of the Southern Rhodesian Parliament. In 1953, he supported the
federationThe Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation , was a semi-independent state in southern Africa that existed from 1953 to the end of 1963, comprising the former self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia,...
of Southern Rhodesia with
Northern RhodesiaNorthern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia...
and
NyasalandNyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
and on its foundation joined the
United Federal PartyThe United Federal Party, previously known as the United Party and the United Rhodesia Party, was one of Southern Rhodesia's most successful political parties, and governed the country for over 30 years...
(UFP) set up by Prime Minister
Godfrey HugginsGodfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern, CH, KCMG, PC was a Rhodesian politician and physician. He served as the fourth Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia from 1933 to 1953 and remained in office as the first Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland until 1956, becoming the...
. In the inaugural federal general election, held in that year, he was elected as federal MP for Midlands, and therefore stood down from his seat in the Southern Rhodesian legislature. From 1958, Smith served as Chief Whip for the UFP in the Federal Assembly, but grew increasingly disillusioned with the party, as well as the new Prime Minister, Sir
Roy WelenskySir Raphael "Roy" Welensky, KCMG was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland...
.
At a UFP congress in 1961, Smith publicly denounced the party's platform on Southern Rhodesia constitutional proposals. The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was on the brink of dissolution, and the new constitution was widely understood to be "the independence constitution" for Southern Rhodesia when this occurred. Smith went against the party line on the basis that although the country's electoral system had never before explicitly discriminated by colour, the proposal to grant 15 out of the 65 parliamentary seats to Rhodesian blacks was in direct contrast with the principles of the UFP; he said: "Our policy in the past has always been that we would have a government, in Rhodesia, based on merit and that people wouldn't worry whether you were black or whether you were white." In early 1962, he resigned as the UFP whip and formed a break-away party called the Rhodesia Reform Party, which merged with the Dominion Party after a few months to form the
Rhodesian FrontThe Rhodesian Front was a political party in Southern Rhodesia when the country was under white minority rule. Led first by Winston Field, and, from 1964, by Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Front was the successor to the Dominion Party, which was the main opposition party in Southern Rhodesia during the...
(RF).
Rise to premiership and negotiations for independence
Smith was re-elected to Parliament as an RF member for Umzingwane in the 1962 general election, in which the RF won a slim majority and formed a government at the first time of asking. Under new Prime Minister
Winston FieldWinston Joseph Field MBE was a Rhodesian politician. Field was a former Dominion Party MP who founded the Rhodesian Front political party with Ian Douglas Smith. Field was born and brought up in Bromsgrove in the United Kingdom, and moved to Southern Rhodesia in 1921...
, Smith became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Treasury. Field's failure to secure independence from Britain upon dissolution of the Federation in 1963 left many dissatisfied with his leadership, leading Smith to replace him as Prime Minister on 13 April 1964. Shortly after taking office, Smith announced his policies in full-page advertisements in Rhodesian newspapers: "No forced integration. No lowering of standards. No abdication of responsible government. No repeal of the Land Appropriation Act. No appeasement to suit the Afro-Asian bloc." He was staunchly opposed to the British government's insistence that Rhodesia introduce majority rule before independence, and believed that "
Perfidious Albion'Perfidious Albion' is a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations and diplomacy to refer to acts of duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity by monarchs or governments of Britain in their pursuit of self-interest and the requirements of...
" (as he called it) was going back on numerous promises of independence for Rhodesia. Three days after becoming Prime Minister, Smith announced there would be no plans to bring Rhodesia under "black majority rule" in his lifetime; later, in his memoirs, Smith maintained that he was referring to black rule as it was in other African countries such as
GhanaGhana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
,
UgandaUganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and
TanzaniaThe United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, which after independence and the implementation of black control had become dictatorships.
White minority rule originated in property and education qualifications for voting that were in place when the British government introduced self-government in 1923. Such qualifications were unexceptional by the standards of the 1920s, and, although slightly modified over the years, they ensured a situation up to 1979 in which whites had 95% of the votes in national elections, while they were never more than 5.5% of the population. Despite this imbalance in the Rhodesian electoral system, Smith and other white politicians argued there was nothing fundamentally racist about it: They stated that improvements in black education and wealth would, over time, ensure a gradual move to majority rule. The Rhodesian government retained the African community's traditional tribal structure, and regularly consulted the tribal chiefs – seen by the government as the legitimate voice of the country's black people – to gain an insight into the feelings of those parts of the population that were difficult to reach by other political means. This was often done by the calling of an "indaba", a large scale conference of tribal leaders to air opinions and concerns. However, critics argued that the entire political arrangement in Rhodesia was poised deliberately to entrench indefinite economic and political privilege for the country's whites, and that the maintenance of the tribal system was done to discourage blacks from participating in mainstream politics.
During the mid-1950s, a black nationalist movement emerged in Rhodesia which adopted a campaign of violence and intimidation to make black voters boycott any elections. Many of the people targeted were peaceful farmers with no interest in politics; despite this, the boycotts were later cited by the British as evidence that the Rhodesian electoral system was biased towards the European minority. The early political parties were banned before the RF was elected in 1962; they re-emerged in the form of two main parties, the
Zimbabwe African National UnionThe Zimbabwe African National Union was a militant organization that fought against the standing government in Rhodesia, formed as a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union...
(ZANU) and the
Zimbabwe African People's UnionThe Zimbabwe African People's Union was a militant organization and political party that fought for the national liberation of Zimbabwe from its founding in 1961 until it merged with the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front in December 1987....
(ZAPU), which espoused an increasingly militant nationalism. ZANU came to be led by
Robert MugabeRobert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
, a man of the majority
Shona tribeShona is the name collectively given to two groups of people in the east and southwest of Zimbabwe, north eastern Botswana and southern Mozambique.-Shona Regional Classification:...
who drew on a largely
Shona-speakingShona is a Bantu language, native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia; the term is also used to identify peoples who speak one of the Shona language dialects: Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika, Ndau and Korekore...
support base; meanwhile, Ndebele
Joshua NkomoJoshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was the leader and founder of the Zimbabwe African People's Union and a member of the Kalanga tribe...
led ZAPU, made up primarily by the
Ndebele-speakingThe Northern Ndebele language, isiNdebele, or Ndebele is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of Zimbabwe. It is commonly known as Sindebele....
minority. Both parties held Communist ideologies, which resulted in Smith's strong opposition: Soon after he became prime minister in 1964, Smith imprisoned the entire leadership of the black nationalist movement, resulting in the widespread rioting in Salisbury and the arrest of 250 black Rhodesians. Smith justified this by stating that they were interned for criminal acts, not political ones, but the damage was still done. The banning of successive nationalist parties from August 1959 to August 1964 hastened their radicalisation and strengthened the nationalists' resolve to turn to armed struggle.
The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) and its aftermath
Most of the United Kingdom's African colonies had won independence during the early 1960s: Rhodesia sought this also, but the British government insisted on a transfer to majority rule before independence would be granted. The Rhodesian cabinet issued a
Unilateral Declaration of IndependenceThe Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia from the United Kingdom was signed on November 11, 1965, by the administration of Ian Smith, whose Rhodesian Front party opposed black majority rule in the then British colony. Although it declared independence from the United Kingdom it...
(UDI) on 11 November 1965 anyway, attracting widespread international condemnation and the first instance of
economic sanctionsEconomic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...
in the history of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, led by Britain and the OAU. The government of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
was sympathetic and supportive of the Smith administration and continued trading as usual with Rhodesia; additionally as trade was lost with Britain and America, export and import contracts were simply secured with other countries, rendering the sanctions ineffective.
The UN sanctions implemented restrictions on any form of trade or financial transaction with Rhodesia. They also made it difficult for Rhodesians to travel abroad: The Norwegian government angered Smith in 1979 when it refused to allow him to travel to Norway to attend the wedding of his son Alec. In the short term, Rhodesia was able to evade sanctions with the assistance of a few sympathetic governments and some "sanction-busting" private companies. A number of white Rhodesians were uneasy about UDI; the business community was particularly concerned about the resultant economic dislocation and loss of markets. The Rhodesian Council of Churches became increasingly opposed to UDI on moral grounds.
In the three years after UDI, there were two rounds of negotiations between the Rhodesian and British governments. The issue was the terms on which UDI could be ended and the position of Rhodesia regularized within the international community. The central figures in both these negotiations were Smith and British Prime Minister
Harold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
.
The first round of negotiations was held in
GibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
in December 1966 on board
HMS TigerHMS Tiger was a conventional cruiser of the Royal Navy, one of a three ship class known as the Tiger class.-Construction, redesign and commissioning:...
. The terms the British offered on this occasion were that Smith's government should resign, allowing the British governor to appoint a "broad-based" government with an RF majority, but with five non-RF members of whom two would be black. The existing 1961 constitution would be modified to accelerate the expansion of black representation leading to majority rule in the near term. This offer was dismissed by Smith, who viewed it as terms for surrender.
A second round of negotiations took place on board
HMS FearlessHMS Fearless was a Royal Navy ship which served from 1965 until 2002. One of two from the Landing Platform Dock class she was based in HMNB Portsmouth and saw service around the world over her 37 year life...
in October 1968. The terms offered on HMS
Tiger were moderated by dropping the need for an interim return to British rule. However, the requirement for the installation of a broad-based government and an accelerated move to majority rule remained. Smith dismissed this offer as well. Smith's perceived unconditional support from the South African government was critical to his decision not to agree to the deal.
In 1969 Smith unveiled the new republican constitution for Rhodesia. The architects of UDI offered "equal partnership between black and white" as an alternative to majority rule. Whites and blacks would vote in general elections on separate rolls and the number of assembly members elected by each roll would depend on the total income tax paid by each community. Initially, whites would have 50 assembly members and blacks 16. But it was planned that the number of black members would rise over time in line with growing contribution to the “fisc” until there were 50. At that point, equal partnership would have been achieved and a final settlement would have been arrived at. This was presented to the outside world as Smith's vision for the future of the country.
However, Smith made comments indicating that his commitment to equal partnership was less than wholehearted. One journalist heard him say, "With immigration and so forth, this thing may never come." White immigration in the late 1960s had pushed the white share of the population to its all time peak of 5.5% in 1970. Smith indicated that a continuation of this trend might fundamentally shift the demographics of the country.
The
ConservativesThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
won the 1970 British general election and the new British government reopened negotiations with Smith. In 1971 the British government offered the Smith administration even more generous terms to end UDI. In particular, the Rhodesian land apportionment which reserved 50% of the country's land for white ownership would be allowed to continue in perpetuity. British Foreign Secretary
Alec Douglas-HomeAlexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC , known as The Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963 and as Sir Alec Douglas-Home from 1963 to 1974, was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1963 to October 1964.He is the last...
privately warned Smith that it would be unwise to do this. The electoral system would be modified to allow black representation in the assembly to grow in line with voter numbers rather than contribution to the fisc and there would be no equal representation cap. However, education and wealth qualifications in the electoral roll would keep black representation very much in a minority for an extended period. Smith stated that this settlement allowed that "racial discrimination may continue as long as it is justifiable and reasonable" and he accepted it.
The head of Rhodesia's Methodist Church called it a "constitutional rape of Africans by both the Rhodesian and British governments." The British withdrew the deal in 1972. A few months later Marxist insurgents attacked white-owned farms leading to the
Bush WarThe Rhodesian Bush War – also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation – was a civil war which took place between July 1964 and December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia...
.
In October 1974 Prime Minister of South Africa
B.J. VorsterBalthazar Johannes Vorster , better known as John Vorster, served as the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and as the fourth State President of South Africa from 1978 to 1979...
launched his policy of “détente” with black Africa and began pushing Smith to end white minority rule. As a consequence he withdrew diplomatic support for the UDI regime which had become a major obstacle for Vorster's new policy. Vorster demanded that Smith release the black nationalist leaders in detention and Smith reluctantly gave in and released them. Then suddenly without warning, Vorster then proceeded to remove the contingent of South African police guarding the northern border against guerrilla incursions. This shocked Smith. One could expect this from the British, he said, but now with the South Africans, “there was obvious deceit”. Vorster also severely limited the supply from South Africa of fuel, munitions and aircraft spares that were badly needed by the government in the Bush War and this consequently severely impeded the Rhodesian war effort.
In 1976
US Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Henry KissingerHeinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
formulated what came to be known as a six-step "Kissinger Plan" (or "Kissinger Initiative") with the concurrence of the British government and the participation of South Africa's Vorster. Kissinger flew to South Africa and met with Smith and Vorster in
PretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
.
UK Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
James CallaghanLeonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
said the plan could end fighting in Rhodesia. Smith accepted the plan with reluctance, explaining,
- "The proposals which were put to us do not represent what in our view would have been the best solution for the Rhodesian problem. Regretfully, however, we were not able to make our views prevail.... The American and British governments, together with major Western powers, have made up their minds as to the kind of solution they wish to see in Rhodesia, and they are determined to bring it about."
Throughout the 15-year period leading up to the independence of Zimbabwe, Ian Smith was given support in both the UK and US by various groups, including the
Conservative Monday ClubThe Conservative Monday Club is a British pressure group "on the right-wing" of the Conservative Party.-Overview:...
who organized pro-Rhodesia demonstrations outside number
10 Downing Street10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
several times during the late 1970s, and provided Smith with a platform at several receptions and major dinners. The Club had a Rhodesia sub-committee chaired by Tory MP,
Harold SorefHarold Benjamin Soref was twice a Conservative parliamentary candidate before being elected Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for Ormskirk, Lancashire, in the 1970 General Election. He subsequently lost that seat to Labour in February 1974...
. In December 1967
Barry GoldwaterBarry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, Senator from
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and Republican candidate for the
1964 presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
, praised Smith in an interview with
Harvey WardHarvey Grenville Ward was Director-General of the Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation, noted for his anti-communism and for his support for Ian Smith's government in Rhodesia and South Africa. He was a leading member of the Conservative Monday Club.-Background:Ward was born in Southern Rhodesia to...
in Salisbury, saying, "We need more men like Ian Smith, I think, in the world today. We have too few leaders and I'd like to see him multiplied a little bit, and spread around."
However, groups from other positions on the Anglo-American political spectrum were opposed to the Smith regime.
Peter HainPeter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
(the future Northern Ireland Secretary and Welsh Secretary in the British Government) was active, as a leading Young Liberal, in organising demonstrations and campaigns against Smith. US President
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
and his Ambassador to the UN
Andrew YoungAndrew Jackson Young is an American politician, diplomat, activist and pastor from Georgia. He has served as Mayor of Atlanta, a Congressman from the 5th district, and United States Ambassador to the United Nations...
would become key figures in the ultimate demise of UDI.
Having conceded the principle of immediate majority rule in 1976, Smith initially appeared reluctant to actually take the steps necessary to implement it. Smith conducted lengthy discussions with the US, British and South African governments as well as conducting secret and open talks with almost all the black nationalist parties. At one stage, the British appointed a governor-designate of Rhodesia (
Michael CarverField Marshal Richard Michael Power Carver, Baron Carver GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC was a British soldier. He served as the Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom and thus the professional head of the British Armed Forces.-Army career:Educated at Winchester College, Michael Carver was...
) in anticipation of an end to UDI. Opportunities to settle with moderate black leaders and the international community came and went.
"Smith failed to take advantage of opportunities, and in so doing, he came to appear both intransigent and indecisive." –
Brookings InstitutionThe Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
study on conflict management
Smith's intention was to secure the position of the white community in a post-independence Rhodesia through implementing majority rule with some qualifications. The practical result of this delay was that the military balance in the Bush War began to tip decisively in the insurgents' favour. Heavily armed guerrilla fighters entered Rhodesia in large numbers from bases in Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana. 80% of Rhodesian war casualties were incurred in the period January 1977 to December 1979.
End of UDI
Rhodesia's isolation intensified once
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
became independent of Portuguese rule in 1975, and when South Africa started to scale back its support. The measures required to evade UN sanctions meant that the Rhodesian economy as a whole had to buy at a premium and sell at a discount. There had been almost nil inward investment during UDI.
Eventually, Smith had to bow to the inevitable and concede a form of majority rule. However, he struggled to qualify the nature of majority rule. The "internal settlement" negotiated with some minor moderate black parties in 1978 left the white minority with an entrenched position. Whites were guaranteed nearly one-third of the seats in parliament, one quarter of the places in the cabinet and control of the police, army, civil service and judiciary.
In 1979 the
first multi-racial parliamentary electionsThe Zimbabwe Rhodesia general election of April 1979 was held under the internal settlement negotiated by the Rhodesian Front government of Ian Smith intended to provide a peaceful transition to majority rule on terms not harmful to Rhodesians of European descent...
(but with separate black and white rolls) were held as part of this settlement. However, ZANU and ZAPU did not participate because they opposed the internal settlement. Following the 1979 election, Rhodesia was re-named
Zimbabwe RhodesiaZimbabwe Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, was an unrecognized state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 12 December 1979...
. Bishop
Abel MuzorewaBishop Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979...
of the
United African National CouncilThe United African National Council is a political party in Zimbabwe.In 1979, led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the UANC Party held formal power in Zimbabwe during the short-lived period of the Internal Settlement...
party became the country's first and only black Prime Minister in June 1979. Smith became
minister without portfolioA minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
in the new government after failing in a bid to be made Minister of Defence.
War between the government and the insurgents continued. Sanctions continued and diplomatic recognition was not granted. The British Government persuaded all parties to come to
Lancaster HouseLancaster House is a mansion in the St. James's district in the West End of London. It is close to St. James's Palace and much of the site was once part of the palace complex...
under
Lord CarringtonPeter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, is a British Conservative politician. He served as British Foreign Secretary between 1979 and 1982 and as the sixth Secretary General of NATO from 1984 to 1988. He is the last surviving member of the Cabinets of both Harold Macmillan and Sir...
in September 1979 to work out an agreement. A critical element in arriving at that agreement was the defection of one of the members of the RF delegation, much to Smith's disgust. A peculiar feature of both the internal and Lancaster House settlements was the retention of a significant number of parliamentary seats reserved for a white electorate. This reflected a wish among Rhodesian whites to maintain a distinct and separate status from the rest of the population. It was around this time that Smith used the phrase "Perfidious Albion," 'treacherous Britain', to refer to Great Britain and the sense of betrayal he felt from the British government.
One thing Smith did achieve in the
Lancaster House AgreementThe negotiations which led to the Lancaster House Agreement brought independence to Rhodesia following Ian Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. The Agreement covered the Independence Constitution, pre-independence arrangements, and a ceasefire...
was an agreement that no form of compulsory land redistribution would take place for at least 10 years after independence, securing the immediate position of the white farming community. The Agreement gave unconditional immunity from prosecution to all those who had participated in UDI and the Bush War.
UDI ended and a British governor (
Lord SoamesArthur Christopher John Soames, Baron Soames, GCMG, GCVO, CH, CBE, PC was a British politician belonging to the Conservative Party and the son-in-law of Winston Churchill. A European Commissioner and the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia, he had previously been the longtime Member of Parliament...
) took over the running of Rhodesia on 12 December 1979. The
Rhodesian Bush WarThe Rhodesian Bush War – also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe War of Liberation – was a civil war which took place between July 1964 and December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia...
ended and sanctions were lifted a few days later.
1980 election and independence
Elections were once again held again in 1980, under international supervision. Smith hoped to retain a measure of white control over the government after this election by forming a coalition between his RF MPs and those of Muzorewa's UANC and Nkomo's ZAPU, but Mugabe's
Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic FrontThe Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front has been the ruling party in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, led by Robert Mugabe, first as Prime Minister with the party simply known as ZANU, and then as President from 1988 after taking over ZAPU and retaining the name ZANU-PF...
(ZANU-PF) won the election outright with 57 of the 80 common-roll seats. Smith initially demanded that the election be declared null and void because of widespread intimidation of voters and candidates during the election campaign; however, international observers concluded that the election was fair, given the time and place in which it was conducted.
The British Governor declared his intention to endorse the result of the election (with the final results due to be declared on 4 March 1980) and a date was set for the independence of the country as
ZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
. The situation was now delicately poised, with some whites planning a military coup (Operation Quartz) to prevent
Robert MugabeRobert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
from taking power. At this point, Smith's son Alec (newly returned from political exile) approached Smith while Joram Kucherera (a senior civil servant) approached Mugabe in order to arrange a meeting to discuss the future of the country. On the night of 3 March 1980 Smith was driven to Mugabe's house by Kucherera. Smith and Mugabe spoke privately for two hours and immediately afterwards Smith met with other senior ZANU figures. The meetings were surprisingly cordial. Mugabe offered key Ministries in the new government to RF MPs and agreed to allow senior officials (such as Lieutenant-General
Peter WallsLieutenant General George Peter Walls MBE GLM served as the Commander of the Combined Operations Headquarters of the Military of Rhodesia, and later Zimbabwe, from 1977 until his retirement on 29 July 1980 during the Rhodesian Bush War...
, head of the army) to remain in post. As far as is known, no minutes of the Smith-Mugabe meeting were kept. Both parties have been guarded about what was said and agreed that night.
On 4 March Smith advised the white community to accept the verdict of the election and respond "pragmatically" to events. Specifically, he told the white community to stay in the country and co-operate with the incoming ZANU-PF government. Operation Quartz, scheduled for 4 March, was abruptly called off. A few weeks later, the co-operation agreement resulted in the Rhodesian army (with white officers) acting to maintain government control of Bulawayo in the face of an attack by ZIPRA dissidents. Later in 1980, Smith was a member of a delegation making presentations in Europe to international financial institutions regarding investment opportunities in Zimbabwe. The former Rhodesian security forces acted throughout 1980 and 1981 to maintain stability in the country. Smith contributed to the orderly manner in which the country moved to independence.
Smith became official Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, as leader of the newly re-named Republican Front. But Smith insisted on keeping the RF as a whites only party. During the next five years, Smith's support among the white elite began to erode and 11 out of the 20 sitting white MPs defected to ZANU or became independents. In the 1985 election, Smith's RF managed to recapture 15 of the 20 reserved white parliamentary seats. As allowed by the independence constitution, Mugabe moved to abolish the reserved white seats.
Smith retired to his farm in Shurugwi, his political career of 39 years over.
Retirement
After his retirement from active politics, Smith became an outspoken critic of Mugabe's government. Smith's autobiography,
The Great BetrayalThe Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith is a 1997 autobiography written by Ian Smith covering his time as Premier of the British Crown Colony of Southern Rhodesia and Prime Minister of Rhodesia...
(later reissued as
Bitter Harvest), is as much a criticism of Mugabe's governance as it is a memoir. The book received mixed reviews. Longtime admirers of Smith were confirmed in their view of him as a man of integrity. His critics saw in the book a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the need for any form of change. He accused many, such as
British Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Harold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
of purposely trying to cause harm to
RhodesiaRhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, and Smith's bitterness at his UDI government's isolation is a central theme.
Unlike most of his contemporaries from the UDI era, such as
P. K. van der BylPieter Kenyon Fleming-Voltelyn van der Byl, ID was a South African-born Rhodesian politician who served as the country's Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1979 as a member of the Rhodesian Front...
, Smith stayed in Zimbabwe and retired. His son Alec returned from Europe and became his business partner, taking over the running of the family farm. In 2001 police evicted activists who tried to occupy the Smith farm.
Smith made a number of black friends and contributed regularly to both local and foreign media reports on current affairs. Those contributions became increasingly critical of his successor
Robert MugabeRobert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
. While out of the country in 2000, Smith described Mugabe as "mentally deranged." Mugabe responded by threatening to have Smith arrested and prosecuted for genocide should Smith ever return to Zimbabwe. Upon Smith's return, he was met by a mass of reporters waiting to witness him being arrested. Smith was greeted warmly by immigration officials at Harare airport and went home. He was neither arrested nor prosecuted.
Shortly before his death, he was interviewed by journalist
Heidi HollandHeidi Holland is a South Africa–based Zimbabwean journalist and author who has been involved in the journalism industry for over 30 years. She has worked as a freelancer writer on publications such as The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times and The Guardian...
who was working on a psychological and politics based book
Dinner With Mugabe on Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. Chapter 7,
I told you so, is based on the journalist's encounter with the former Rhodesian premier. In the book, Mugabe commented on Smith, saying it was good that he (Mugabe) was a forgiving person; "Otherwise, I would have slaughtered lots of people, including Ian Smith. I always used to joke with Smith that he had borrowed hair (meaning Smith's scalp) which rightly belonged to us, but he could continue to wear it...”
Death
In early 2005 Smith travelled to South Africa for medical treatment. In January 2006 his only son, Alec, died. Ian Smith was reported to have been devastated by the news and not to have recovered from it either mentally or physically. He stayed on to live with his widowed stepdaughter Jean in
Cape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
,
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, where there is a significant Rhodesian expatriate community, until he died on 20 November 2007 at the age of 88. The cause of death was unknown but he had been reported to be in ill health in a residential home.
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