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Political history of Zimbabwe

The modern political history of Zimbabwe starts with the arrival of white people to what was dubbed Southern Rhodesia in the 1890s. The country was initially run by an administrator appointed by the British South Africa Company. The prime ministerial role was first created in October 1923, when the country achieved responsible government, with Sir Charles Coghlan as its first Premier. The third premier, George Mitchell, renamed the post prime minister in 1933.

The Rhodesian prime minister acted as Head of His or Her Majesty's Rhodesian Government, under the largely symbolic supervision of a British colonial Governor, until Rhodesia issued its unrecognised Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 11 November 1965. British-appointed figures such as the governor were thereafter ignored by Salisbury. The unrecognised state's system of government, however, remained otherwise unchanged, right down to its declared loyalty to Elizabeth II, which Britain did not acknowledge. This situation remained until March 1970, when Rhodesia adopted a republican system of government. In republican Rhodesia, the Prime Minister instead nominally reported to the President.

The prime minister was responsible for nominating the other members of the government, chairing meetings of the Rhodesian Cabinet, and deciding when to call a new general election for the House of Assembly. He retained this role following the reconstitution of Rhodesia under black majority rule, first into Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979, then into Zimbabwe the following year. The Zimbabwean government was headed by a prime minister from 1980 to 1987, when that post was superseded by an executive presidency. The former prime minister, Robert Mugabe, became president; he was succeeded by Emmerson Mnangagwa during the 2017 coup d'état.

1890–1923: British South Africa Company rule edit

Context edit

Having secured the Rudd Concession on mining rights from King Lobengula of Matabeleland on 30 October 1888,[1] Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company were granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in October 1889.[2] Under this charter, the company was empowered to trade with indigenous rulers, form banks, own and manage land, and raise and run a police force.[n 1] In return for these rights, the British South Africa Company would administer and develop any territory it acquired, while respecting laws enacted by extant African rulers, and upholding free trade within its borders. Though the company made good on most of these pledges, the assent of Lobengula and other native leaders, particularly regarding mining rights, was often evaded, misrepresented or simply ignored.[2] Lobengula reacted by making war on the new arrivals, their Tswana allies and the local Mashona people in 1893. The resulting conflict ended with Lobengula's torching of his own capital at Bulawayo,[4] his death from smallpox in early 1894,[5] and the subsequent submission of his izinDuna (advisors) to the company.[4] Violent rebellion to the north-east, in neighbouring Mashonaland, was forcibly put down by the company during 1897.[6]

Following these victories, the British South Africa Company controlled a country equivalent to modern Zambia and Zimbabwe. This domain was initially referred to as "Zambesia" (or Zambezia) after the Zambezi, which bisected it; however, the first immigrants almost immediately began instead calling their new home "Rhodesia" in honour of their Company benefactor, and this name was officially adopted in 1895.[n 2] Matabeleland and Mashonaland, both of which lay south of the Zambezi, were first formally referred to by Britain as "Southern Rhodesia" in 1898,[8] and were united under that name in 1901. The areas to the river's north, Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia, were governed separately, and amalgamated in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia.[9]

Company administrators edit

 Horace FarquharAlbert GreyAlfred BeitEarl of Fife (vice-chairman)Duke of Abercorn (chairman)Lord GiffordHerbert Canning (secretary)George CawstonCecil Rhodes (managing director)
The British South Africa Company's original board of directors, 1889.
Hover your mouse over each man for his name; click for more details.

The head of the southern territories' government during this time was in effect the company's regional administrator. The first of these was appointed in 1890, soon after the Pioneer Column's establishment of Fort Salisbury, the capital, on 12 September that year.[10] From 1899, the administrator governed as part of a ten-man Legislative Council, originally made up of himself, five other members nominated by the company, and four elected by registered voters.[11] The number of elected members rose gradually under Company rule until they numbered 13 in 1920, sitting alongside the administrator and six other Company officials in the 20-member Legislative Council.[12] The company's Royal Charter, which originally ran out in October 1914,[13] was renewed for a further ten years in 1915.[2]

The post of national administrator was held by three people, with three others holding the post while it only covered Mashonaland; between 1898 and 1901, a separate office existed in Matabeleland.[14]

Company administrators from 1890 to 1923
Name Term of office Post(s)
Sir Archibald Ross Colquhoun
(1848–1914)
1 October
1890
10 September
1894
Administrator of Mashonaland
Dr Leander Starr Jameson
(1853–1917)
10 September
1894
2 April
1896[n 3]
Administrator of Mashonaland
Albert Grey
4th Earl Grey

(1851–1917)
2 April
1896
5 December
1898
Administrator of Mashonaland
Sir William Henry Milton
(1854–1930)
5 December
1898
20 December
1901
Senior Administrator of Southern Rhodesia
Administrator of Mashonaland
Arthur Lawley
6th Baron Wenlock

(1860–1932)
Administrator of Matabeleland
Sir William Henry Milton
(1854–1930)
20 December
1901
1 November
1914
Administrator of Southern Rhodesia
Sir Francis Drummond Chaplin
(1866–1933)
1 November
1914
1 September
1923
Administrator of Southern Rhodesia

Frontier politics: towards responsible government edit

 
Southern Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa

Southern Rhodesians of all races fought for Britain in the First World War, during which the Responsible Government Association (RGA) was formed in 1917. By 1919, Sir Charles Coghlan, a South African-born Bulawayo lawyer, had become the RGA's leader.[16] The RGA sought self-government for Southern Rhodesia within the British Empire—the same "responsible government" previously granted to Britain's colonies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa as a precursor to full dominion status—and opposed Southern Rhodesia's proposed integration into the recently formed Union of South Africa. The accession of territories governed by the British South Africa Company was explicitly provisioned for by Section 150 of the South Africa Act 1909, the British Act of Parliament which created the union in 1910 by consolidating the Empire's Cape, Natal, Orange River and Transvaal Colonies into a unitary dominion. The Company originally stood against Southern Rhodesia's addition, fearing the territory's potential domination by Afrikaners,[17] but changed its tune dramatically when, in 1918, the Privy Council in London ruled that unalienated land in the Rhodesias was owned not by the company but by the Crown.[17]

The loss of the ability to raise funds through the sale of land hampered the company's ability to pay dividends to its shareholders, and caused its development of Southern Rhodesia to slow. Believing that membership in the union could help solve both problems,[17] the company now backed Southern Rhodesia's incorporation as South Africa's fifth province.[18] However, this prospect proved largely unpopular among Southern Rhodesian settlers, most of whom wanted self-government, and came to vote for the RGA in large numbers.[17] In the 1920 Legislative Council election, the RGA won ten of the 13 seats contested.[19] A referendum on the colony's future was held on 27 October 1922—at the suggestion of Winston Churchill, then Britain's Colonial Secretary, continuing the initiative of his preprocessor Viscount Milner—and responsible government won the day by 59%.[20] Southern Rhodesia was duly annexed by the Empire on 12 September 1923, and granted full self-government on 1 October the same year.[21] The new Southern Rhodesian government immediately purchased the land from the British Treasury for £2 million,[22] and ten years later paid the same sum to the British South Africa Company for the country's mineral rights.[23]

1923–1965: colonial Prime Ministers edit

Responsible government; early years (1923–53) edit

 
The first responsible government of Southern Rhodesia, pictured in 1924

The RGA reorganised itself to become the governing Rhodesia Party, with Coghlan as Southern Rhodesia's first Premier.[24][25] The title was changed to Prime Minister in 1933 by George Mitchell, the third man to hold the office.[25] In 1932, the Southern Rhodesian leader was first invited to an Imperial Conference. Although Southern Rhodesia was not a dominion, it was seen elsewhere in the Empire as a sui generis case among Britain's colonies, and worthy of inclusion, particularly as it was the only one which governed itself.[26] Southern Rhodesian Prime Ministers thereafter became a regular fixture at such meetings and, from 1944, at Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences.[27]

The Rhodesia Party remained in power until September 1933, when, despite narrowly topping the popular vote, it lost the month's election, winning only nine of the 30 seats compared to the Reform Party's 16.[28] Although the Reform Party was left-wing in name, many of its leading members, including the new Prime Minister Dr Godfrey Huggins, were politically conservative; the more rightist members of the party merged with the Rhodesia Party in 1934 to form the United Party, and, with Huggins at the helm, roundly defeated the rump left wing of the Reform Party to begin 28 years of uninterrupted stewardship.[29]

Though uninvolved in foreign affairs, and therefore obliged to follow Britain's lead, the colony enthusiastically supported the mother country during the Second World War, symbolically affirming the British declaration of war before any other part of the Empire.[n 4] During the ensuing conflict over 26,100 Southern Rhodesians of all races served in the armed forces, pro rata to white population a higher contribution of manpower than any other British colony or dominion, and more than the UK itself.[31] George VI knighted Huggins in 1941,[32] and, with the war still ongoing, Britain made overtures towards dominion status. Huggins dismissed this, saying it was imperative to win the war first.[33] The idea of dominionship was raised again in 1952,[33] but Salisbury once more did not pursue it, instead following the results of a referendum held early the next April to enter an initially semi-independent Federation with the directly administered British colonies of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland.[33]

Colour key (for political parties)
  Reform Party
Premiers of Southern Rhodesia from 1923 to 1933, and Prime Ministers from 1933 to 1953
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency/Title
Term of office

Electoral mandates
Other ministerial offices
held while Premier / Prime Minister
Political party
of PM
Refs
  Sir Charles Coghlan
(1863–1927)
MP for Bulawayo North
1 October
1923
28 August
1927 (died in office)
Minister for Native Affairs Rhodesia Party [35]
1924
Howard Moffat
(1869–1951)
MP for Gwanda
2 September
1927
5 July
1933
Minister for Native Affairs Rhodesia Party [35]
1928
George Mitchell
(1867–1937)
MP for Gwanda
5 July
1933
12 September
1933
Rhodesia Party [35]
 –
Sir Godfrey Huggins
(1883–1971)
MP for Salisbury North
12 September
1933
7 September
1953
  • Minister for Native Affairs (1933–49)
  • Minister for Defence (1948–53)
Reform Party (1933–34) [35]
1933, 1934, 1939, 1946, 1948 United Party (1934–53)

As a territory in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–63) edit

 
The three territories of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland

A month after Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland formed the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in August 1953, Huggins became the amalgamated body's first Prime Minister.[36] Salisbury was designated the Federal capital,[37] and the United Party renamed itself the United Rhodesia Party.[24] Garfield Todd took over as Southern Rhodesia's Prime Minister.[24] Huggins headed the Federal government for three years, then retired in November 1956 after a combined 23 years as a national leader.[36] The United Rhodesia Party merged with the Federal Party to become the United Federal Party (UFP) in November 1957,[24] and the liberal Todd was voted out of office by the more right-wing members of his party four months later, in February 1958.[38] He was replaced by Sir Edgar Whitehead.[25] Todd led his own version of the United Rhodesia Party against the UFP and the Dominion Party in June the same year, but failed to win a single seat—the UFP won 17 of the 30 seats, with the Dominion Party taking the remainder.[34]

Whitehead served as prime minister for the next four years,[25] under Federal leader Roy Welensky, as black nationalist ambitions and changing international attitudes propelled the Federation towards collapse.[39] In Southern Rhodesia, constitutional changes adopted in 1961 as the result of a referendum split the heretofore non-racial (though qualified) electoral roll into graduated "A" and "B" rolls; the latter had lower qualifications, and was intended to cater for prospective black voters who had previously not qualified.[40]

This plan was given assent by the Southern Rhodesian and British governments, and initially enjoyed support from black nationalists in the country, though the latter soon reversed their stance, saying the changes did not go far enough. Some government members opposed this partitioning of the electorate, which essentially divided it along ethnic lines; the UFP's chief whip in the Federal assembly, Ian Smith, resigned in protest, saying the new system was "racialist".[40] Former Dominion Party leader Winston Field formed the pro-independence Rhodesian Front (RF) in 1962 to contest that November's Southern Rhodesian election, with Smith running as his deputy, and in a shock result won 35 of the 50 territorial "A"-roll seats.[24] Field and Smith became prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively,[41] and remained in office after the Federation's dissolution on the last day of 1963.[42]

Prime Ministers of Southern Rhodesia, a territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, from 1953 to 1963
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency/Title
Term of office

Electoral mandates
Other ministerial offices
held while Prime Minister
Political party
of PM
Refs
  Garfield Todd
(1908–2002)
MP for Shabani
7 September
1953
17 February
1958
Minister for Native Affairs United Rhodesia Party [35]
1954
  Sir Edgar Whitehead
(1905–1971)
MP for Salisbury North
17 February
1958
17 December
1962
Minister for Native Affairs United Federal Party [35]
1958
  Winston Field
(1904–1969)
MP for Marandellas
17 December
1962
31 December
1963
Rhodesian Front [35]
1962

From Federation to UDI (1964–65) edit

 
Ian Smith (left) and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, pictured outside 10 Downing Street in October 1965, during independence negotiations

After the Federation broke up on 31 December 1963,[42] Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland became independent during 1964, respectively renamed Zambia and Malawi, and under black majority governments.[43] Southern Rhodesia was denied the same under the ideal of "no independence before majority rule" that was newly ascendant in Britain and elsewhere. The RF was enraged by what it saw as British duplicity; according to Field and Smith, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State R. A. Butler had verbally promised "independence no later than, if not before, the other two territories" at a meeting in 1963, in return for Salisbury's help in winding up the Federation. Butler denied having said this.[44]

Under severe pressure from his ministers to resolve this issue, Field travelled to England in March 1964 to pursue sovereign statehood, but returned empty-handed a month later. He resigned his position on 13 April; this came as no surprise to many government insiders, but appeared sudden to most sections of the general public. Smith promptly accepted the cabinet's invitation to take over, though he expressed surprise at the nomination.[45] A farmer and erstwhile British Royal Air Force pilot from the rural town of Selukwe, Smith was Southern Rhodesia's first native-born head of government.[46] He immediately promised to take a harder line on independence than his predecessor.[45]

Only two months into his premiership, Smith was deeply offended when Whitehall informed him that, for the first time since 1930, Southern Rhodesia would not be represented at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference.[47] Huggins described this in 1969 as tantamount to "kicking [Southern Rhodesia] out of the Commonwealth".[48] When Northern Rhodesia became Zambia on 24 October 1964, Southern Rhodesia dropped "Southern" from its name, and initiated legislation to this effect. Britain refused assent two months later, saying that although the colony was self-governing, it did not have the power to rename itself. Salisbury continued using the shortened name anyway.[49]

The Rhodesian government, which remained predominantly white, contended that it had almost complete support from all races in its drive for full statehood; in October 1964, a national indaba (tribal conference) comprising 622 black representatives unanimously backed independence under the 1961 constitution, and a month later a general independence referendum yielded an 89% "yes" vote for the same.[50] Harold Wilson's British Labour Cabinet did not give credence to either of these tests of opinion, and continued to insist on an immediate shift to majority rule before the granting of sovereign independence.[51] Campaigning on an election promise of independence, the RF called a new general election for May 1965, and won all 50 "A"-roll seats.[24]

Negotiations between Smith and Wilson took place throughout the rest of the year, but repeatedly broke down; between July and September, a parallel development concerned Rhodesia's opening of a representative mission in Lisbon, which Britain opposed, but proved unable to stop.[52] Soon after Smith visited London in October 1965, Wilson resolved to curb his rival's ambitions. During his own visit to Salisbury later that month, he proposed to safeguard future black representation in the Rhodesian parliament by withdrawing control over the Rhodesian parliamentary structure to London. Salisbury had held these powers since 1923.[53] This proved the last straw for Smith's Rhodesian government, which issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) on 11 November.[54]

Prime Ministers of Southern Rhodesia (or Rhodesia) from January 1964 to November 1965
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency/Title
Term of office

Electoral mandates
Other ministerial offices
held while Prime Minister
Political party
of PM
Refs
  Winston Field
(1904–1969)
MP for Marandellas
1 January
1964
13 April
1964
Rhodesian Front [35]
  Ian Smith
(1919–2007)
MP for Umzingwane
13 April
1964
11 November
1965
Rhodesian Front [35]
1965

1965–80: UDI era edit

Unrecognised state (1965–79) edit

 
The Rhodesian government adopted a new green-and-white flag (pictured) on 11 November 1968, the third anniversary of UDI.[55]

The Rhodesians modelled their independence document on that of the American Thirteen Colonies in 1776, which remains the only other such proclamation in the history of the British Empire.[56] According to UDI—which went unrecognised by Britain, the Commonwealth and the United Nations, all of which declared it illegal and imposed economic sanctions—the Rhodesian government still professed loyalty to Elizabeth II, whom it called the "Queen of Rhodesia".[56] The British-appointed Governor, Sir Humphrey Gibbs, remained at his post in Government House, Salisbury, but was now ignored by the local government, which appointed its own "Officer Administrating the Government" to fill his ceremonial role.[57] Smith represented Rhodesia in two abortive rounds of talks with Wilson, first aboard HMS Tiger in 1966,[58] then on HMS Fearless two years later.[59] Under Rhodesia's 1965 constitution, the Prime Minister remained at the head of Her Majesty's Rhodesian Government until 2 March 1970, when a republican constitution was adopted in line with the results of a referendum held the previous June. In the Republic of Rhodesia, the Prime Minister formally reported to the President.[60]

Smith and the RF decisively won three more general elections during the 1970s.[24] The Anglo-Rhodesian Agreement of 1971–72, which would have legitimised the country's independence in Britain's eyes, fell apart after a British test of Rhodesian national opinion reported most blacks to be against it.[61] The Rhodesian Bush War, fought against the government by the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), the respective guerrilla armies of the Maoist Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and its Warsaw Pact-aligned Marxist rival, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), intensified soon after, starting with ZANLA's attack on Altena and Whistlefield Farms in the country's north-east in December 1972.[62] After a strong security force counter-campaign, the South African détente initiative of December 1974 introduced a ceasefire, which the security forces respected, and the guerrillas ignored.[63] This shifted the course of the war significantly in the nationalists' favour.[63]

Mozambican independence under a communist government in 1975 further assisted the cadres,[64] and exacerbated the Rhodesian government's economic dependency on South Africa.[63] Unproductive talks between Smith and the guerrilla leaders took place at Victoria Falls in 1975,[65] then in Geneva the following year.[66] In March 1978, the Internal Settlement was agreed between the government and moderate nationalist parties, the most prominent of which was Bishop Abel Muzorewa's United African National Council (UANC).[67] The militant nationalist campaigns continued, however, and indeed extended to attacks on civilian aircraft: ZAPU shot down Air Rhodesia Flight 825 in September 1978, then Air Rhodesia Flight 827 in February 1979.[68] ZANU and ZAPU boycotted the elections held per the Internal Settlement in April 1979,[69] which UN Security Council Resolution 448 called "sham elections ... [held] in utter defiance of the United Nations".[70] In these elections, the UANC won a majority in the new House of Assembly, with 51 of the 72 common roll seats (for which universal suffrage applied) and 67% of the popular vote.[67] The RF took all 20 of the seats elected by white voters and also provided eight non-constituency members.[71] All of this settled, Rhodesia became black majority-ruled Zimbabwe Rhodesia on 1 June 1979, with Muzorewa replacing Smith as Prime Minister.[67]

Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1965 to 1979
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency/Title
Term of office

Electoral mandates
Other ministerial offices
held while Prime Minister
Political party
of PM
Refs
  Ian Smith
(1919–2007)
MP for Umzingwane
11 November
1965
1 June
1979
Rhodesian Front [35]
1970, 1974, 1977

Internal Settlement; interim British control (1979–80) edit

With Muzorewa and the UANC in government, Zimbabwe Rhodesia failed to gain international acceptance. ZANU leader Robert Mugabe publicly damned Muzorewa's new order, dismissing the bishop as a "neocolonial puppet";[69] he pledged to continue ZANLA's campaign "to the last man".[69] Muzorewa took office at the head of a UANC–RF coalition cabinet made up of 12 blacks and five whites. "Instead of the enemy wearing a white skin, he will soon wear a black skin," said Mugabe, just before the bishop took over.[69][71] The Bush War went on until December 1979, when Salisbury, Whitehall and the revolutionary nationalists signed the Lancaster House Agreement in London.[72] Zimbabwe Rhodesia came under the temporary control of Britain, and a Commonwealth monitoring force was convened to supervise fresh elections, in which ZANU and ZAPU would take part for the first time. ZANU won, and, with Mugabe as Prime Minister, formed the first government of Zimbabwe following its recognised independence on 18 April 1980.[73]

Prime Minister of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia in 1979
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency/Title
Term of office

Electoral mandates
Other ministerial offices
held while Prime Minister
Political party
of PM
Refs
  Bishop Abel Muzorewa
(1925–2010)
MP for Mashonaland East
1 June
1979
12 December
1979
Minister of Combined Operations
Minister of Defence
United African National Council [35]
1979

Since 1980: Zimbabwe edit

Prime Minister and ceremonial President (1980–87) edit

Seven years into Mugabe's premiership, Zimbabwe scrapped the white seats amid sweeping constitutional reforms in September 1987. The office of Prime Minister was abolished in October; Mugabe became the country's first executive President two months later.[74] Mugabe and the ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo signed a unity accord at the same time merging ZAPU into ZANU–PF with the stated goal of a Marxist–Leninist one-party state.[75]

Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency/Title
Term of office

Electoral mandates
Other ministerial offices
held while Prime Minister
Political party
of PM
Refs
  Robert Mugabe
(born 1924)
MP for Mashonaland East (1980–85)
MP for Highfield (1985–87)(Death 2019)
18 April
1980
22 December
1987
Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–89) Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front [35]
1980, 1985

Executive President (1987–present) edit

President of Zimbabwe since 1987
Portrait Name
(Birth–Death)
Constituency/Title
Term of office

Electoral mandates
Other offices
held while President
Political party
of PM
Refs
  Robert Mugabe
(born 1924)
22 December
1987
21 November
2017
Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–89) Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front [35]
1990, 1996, 2002, 2008, 2013
  Emmerson Mnangagwa
(born 1942)
21 November
2017
present Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
2018

Notes and references edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The police force raised by the Company, the British South Africa Company's Police, was renamed the Mashonaland Mounted Police in 1892. The Matabeleland Mounted Police was founded in 1895, and it and its Mashonaland counterpart collectively became referred to as the Rhodesia Mounted Police. This became the independently-run British South Africa Police (BSAP) in 1896. The BSAP retained its name and remained Rhodesia's law enforcement arm until 1980.[3]
  2. ^ The first recorded use in this context is in the titles of the Rhodesia Chronicle and Rhodesia Herald newspapers, respectively first published at Fort Tuli and Fort Salisbury in May and October 1892. The Company officially applied the name Rhodesia in 1895.[7]
  3. ^ Jameson offered his resignation immediately following his eponymous raid into the South African Republic in December 1895, but it was not accepted until April 1896.[15]
  4. ^ Southern Rhodesia's government made this symbolic announcement in an attempt to demonstrate concurrent fealty to, and independence from, Britain. It was irrelevant in any legal or diplomatic sense as the self-governing colony's foreign affairs were still handled by Britain; so long as Britain was at war, Southern Rhodesia was as well. The Australian and New Zealand dominions were respectively in a similar situation, having not yet ratified the Statute of Westminster 1931, which, on adoption, transferred diplomatic responsibility from Britain to the relevant local government.[30]
  5. ^ The United Party, formed in 1934, renamed itself the United Rhodesia Party in 1953, when the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created. In 1957, it merged with the Federal Party to become the United Federal Party.[24] It should not be confused with the rump United Rhodesia Party led by former Prime Minister Garfield Todd, which fought the 1958 general election, then promptly dissolved.[34]

References edit

  1. ^ Keppel-Jones 1983, p. 77
  2. ^ a b c Encyclopædia Britannica 2012
  3. ^ Gibbs, Phillips & Russell 2009, p. 3
  4. ^ a b Ranger 2010, pp. 14–17
  5. ^ Hopkins 2002, p. 191
  6. ^ Wessels 2010, pp. 16–17
  7. ^ Brelsford 1954
  8. ^ Blake 1977, p. 114
  9. ^ Brelsford 1960, p. 619
  10. ^ Palley 1966, p. 149
  11. ^ Willson 1963, p. 101
  12. ^ Willson 1963, pp. 111–114
  13. ^ Wessels 2010, p. 18
  14. ^ Willson, Passmore & Mitchell 1966
  15. ^ Wills & Barrett 1905, p. 260
  16. ^ Blake 1977, p. 179
  17. ^ a b c d Wood 2005, p. 8
  18. ^ Okoth 2006, p. 123
  19. ^ Willson 1963, p. 111
  20. ^ Willson 1963, p. 115
  21. ^ Willson 1963, p. 46
  22. ^ Berlyn 1978, p. 103
  23. ^ Blake 1977, p. 213
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h Gale 1973, pp. 88–89
  25. ^ a b c d Hutson 1978, p. 189
  26. ^ Saint Brides 1980
  27. ^ Berlyn 1978, pp. 134–142
  28. ^ Willson 1963, p. 129
  29. ^ Blake 1977, pp. 220–221
  30. ^ Wood 2005, p. 9
  31. ^ Moorcraft 1990
  32. ^ Blake 1977, p. 238
  33. ^ a b c Wood 2005, p. 279
  34. ^ a b Leys 1959, pp. 306–311
  35. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gale 1973, pp. 88–89; Hutson 1978, p. 189; Leys 1959, p. 136
  36. ^ a b Gale 1973, pp. 43, 88
  37. ^ Smith 1997, p. 33
  38. ^ Leys 1959, p. 144
  39. ^ Blake 1977, p. 331; Welensky 1964, p. 64
  40. ^ a b Blake 1977, p. 335
  41. ^ Smith 1997, p. 47
  42. ^ a b Wood 2005, p. 189
  43. ^ Wood 2005, p. 38
  44. ^ Wood 2005, pp. 138–140, 167; Berlyn 1978, p. 135; Smith 1997, pp. 51–52
  45. ^ a b Berlyn 1978, pp. 131–132; Wessels 2010, pp. 102–104
  46. ^ Berlyn 1978, p. 35
  47. ^ Smith 1997, p. 70
  48. ^ Berlyn 1978, pp. 140, 143
  49. ^ Palley 1966, pp. 742–743
  50. ^ The Sydney Morning Herald 1964; Harris 1969; Berlyn 1978, pp. 144–146; Wessels 2010, p. 105
  51. ^ Wood 2005, pp. 418–420, 445; Wessels 2010, p. 105
  52. ^ Fedorowich & Thomas 2001, pp. 185–186
  53. ^ Wood 2005, pp. 412–414
  54. ^ Wood 2005, pp. 468–475
  55. ^ Barraclough & Crampton 1978, p. 157
  56. ^ a b Wood 2008, pp. 1–8
  57. ^ Wood 2005, p. 471
  58. ^ Wessels 2010, pp. 133–136; Wood 2008, pp. 229, 242–246
  59. ^ Wessels 2010, pp. 149–152; Wood 2008, pp. 542–555
  60. ^ Harris 1969; The New York Times 1970
  61. ^ Smith 1997, pp. 152–157
  62. ^ Binda 2008, pp. 133–136; ZANU 1974; Windsor Star 1976
  63. ^ a b c Cilliers 1984, pp. 22–24; Lockley 1990
  64. ^ Binda 2008, p. 166; Duignan & Gann 1994, pp. 19–21
  65. ^ BBC 1975
  66. ^ Sibanda 2005, pp. 211–213; Smith 1997, pp. 213–217; Wessels 2010, p. 216
  67. ^ a b c Williams & Hackland 1988, p. 289
  68. ^ Petter-Bowyer 2005, pp. 330–331
  69. ^ a b c d Winn 1979
  70. ^ UN Security Council 1979
  71. ^ a b Gowlland-Debbas 1990, p. 79
  72. ^ Gowlland-Debbas 1990, p. 89
  73. ^ BBC 1979
  74. ^ Chikuhwa 2004, pp. 38–39.
  75. ^ Meredith 2007, p. 73.

Online sources edit

  • "British South Africa Company (BSAC, BSACO, or BSA Company)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

Newspaper and journal articles edit

  • Brelsford, W. V., ed. (1954). "First Records—No. 6. The Name 'Rhodesia'". The Northern Rhodesia Journal. II (4). Lusaka: Northern Rhodesia Society: 101–102. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  • Harris, P. B. (September 1969). (PDF). Parliamentary Affairs. 23 (1969sep). Oxford University Press: 72–80. doi:10.1093/parlij/23.1969sep.72. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  • Lockley, Lt-Col R. E. H. (July 1990). "A brief operational history of the campaign in Rhodesia from 1964 to 1978". The Lion & Tusk. 2 (1). Southampton: Rhodesian Army Association. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  • Moorcraft, Paul (1990). "Rhodesia's War of Independence". History Today. 40 (9). London: History Today Ltd. ISSN 0018-2753.
  • Lord Saint Brides (April 1980). "The Lessons of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia". International Security. 4 (4). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press: 177–184. doi:10.2307/2626673. JSTOR 2626673.
  • Winn, Michael (7 May 1979). "Despite Rhodesia's Elections, Robert Mugabe Vows to Wage Guerrilla War 'to the Last Man'". People. 11 (18). New York. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  • "1975: Rhodesia peace talks fail". London: BBC. 26 August 1975. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  • "Rhodesia reverts to British rule". London: BBC. 11 December 1979. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  • "Rhodesia's First Day as a Republic Passes Quietly". The New York Times. 3 March 1970. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  • "Britain 'Gets Tough': Warns Rhodesia Of 'Rebellion' Consequences". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 October 1964. p. 3. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  • "USSR viewed as blacks' friend". The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario: Postmedia News. 9 November 1976. p. 20. Retrieved 20 June 2012.

Other documents edit

  • "Resolution 448 (1979) Adopted by the Security Council at its 2143rd meeting". New York: UN Security Council. 30 April 1979. UN Document S/RES/448 (1979). Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  • "Chimurenga war communiqué No. 8. Period from 30 Jan to 20 March 1974". Lusaka: Zimbabwe African National Union. 27 March 1974.

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political, history, zimbabwe, modern, political, history, zimbabwe, starts, with, arrival, white, people, what, dubbed, southern, rhodesia, 1890s, country, initially, administrator, appointed, british, south, africa, company, prime, ministerial, role, first, c. The modern political history of Zimbabwe starts with the arrival of white people to what was dubbed Southern Rhodesia in the 1890s The country was initially run by an administrator appointed by the British South Africa Company The prime ministerial role was first created in October 1923 when the country achieved responsible government with Sir Charles Coghlan as its first Premier The third premier George Mitchell renamed the post prime minister in 1933 The Rhodesian prime minister acted as Head of His or Her Majesty s Rhodesian Government under the largely symbolic supervision of a British colonial Governor until Rhodesia issued its unrecognised Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 11 November 1965 British appointed figures such as the governor were thereafter ignored by Salisbury The unrecognised state s system of government however remained otherwise unchanged right down to its declared loyalty to Elizabeth II which Britain did not acknowledge This situation remained until March 1970 when Rhodesia adopted a republican system of government In republican Rhodesia the Prime Minister instead nominally reported to the President The prime minister was responsible for nominating the other members of the government chairing meetings of the Rhodesian Cabinet and deciding when to call a new general election for the House of Assembly He retained this role following the reconstitution of Rhodesia under black majority rule first into Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979 then into Zimbabwe the following year The Zimbabwean government was headed by a prime minister from 1980 to 1987 when that post was superseded by an executive presidency The former prime minister Robert Mugabe became president he was succeeded by Emmerson Mnangagwa during the 2017 coup d etat Contents 1 1890 1923 British South Africa Company rule 1 1 Context 1 2 Company administrators 1 3 Frontier politics towards responsible government 2 1923 1965 colonial Prime Ministers 2 1 Responsible government early years 1923 53 2 2 As a territory in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1953 63 2 3 From Federation to UDI 1964 65 3 1965 80 UDI era 3 1 Unrecognised state 1965 79 3 2 Internal Settlement interim British control 1979 80 4 Since 1980 Zimbabwe 4 1 Prime Minister and ceremonial President 1980 87 4 2 Executive President 1987 present 5 Notes and references 5 1 Notes 5 2 References 5 3 Online sources 5 4 Newspaper and journal articles 5 5 Other documents 5 6 Bibliography1890 1923 British South Africa Company rule editContext edit Main articles Rudd Concession British South Africa Company and Company rule in Rhodesia Having secured the Rudd Concession on mining rights from King Lobengula of Matabeleland on 30 October 1888 1 Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company were granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in October 1889 2 Under this charter the company was empowered to trade with indigenous rulers form banks own and manage land and raise and run a police force n 1 In return for these rights the British South Africa Company would administer and develop any territory it acquired while respecting laws enacted by extant African rulers and upholding free trade within its borders Though the company made good on most of these pledges the assent of Lobengula and other native leaders particularly regarding mining rights was often evaded misrepresented or simply ignored 2 Lobengula reacted by making war on the new arrivals their Tswana allies and the local Mashona people in 1893 The resulting conflict ended with Lobengula s torching of his own capital at Bulawayo 4 his death from smallpox in early 1894 5 and the subsequent submission of his izinDuna advisors to the company 4 Violent rebellion to the north east in neighbouring Mashonaland was forcibly put down by the company during 1897 6 Following these victories the British South Africa Company controlled a country equivalent to modern Zambia and Zimbabwe This domain was initially referred to as Zambesia or Zambezia after the Zambezi which bisected it however the first immigrants almost immediately began instead calling their new home Rhodesia in honour of their Company benefactor and this name was officially adopted in 1895 n 2 Matabeleland and Mashonaland both of which lay south of the Zambezi were first formally referred to by Britain as Southern Rhodesia in 1898 8 and were united under that name in 1901 The areas to the river s north Barotziland North Western Rhodesia and North Eastern Rhodesia were governed separately and amalgamated in 1911 to form Northern Rhodesia 9 Company administrators edit Main article Administrative posts of the British South Africa Company in Southern Rhodesia nbsp The British South Africa Company s original board of directors 1889 Hover your mouse over each man for his name click for more details The head of the southern territories government during this time was in effect the company s regional administrator The first of these was appointed in 1890 soon after the Pioneer Column s establishment of Fort Salisbury the capital on 12 September that year 10 From 1899 the administrator governed as part of a ten man Legislative Council originally made up of himself five other members nominated by the company and four elected by registered voters 11 The number of elected members rose gradually under Company rule until they numbered 13 in 1920 sitting alongside the administrator and six other Company officials in the 20 member Legislative Council 12 The company s Royal Charter which originally ran out in October 1914 13 was renewed for a further ten years in 1915 2 The post of national administrator was held by three people with three others holding the post while it only covered Mashonaland between 1898 and 1901 a separate office existed in Matabeleland 14 Company administrators from 1890 to 1923 Name Term of office Post s Sir Archibald Ross Colquhoun 1848 1914 1 October1890 10 September1894 Administrator of MashonalandDr Leander Starr Jameson 1853 1917 10 September1894 2 April1896 n 3 Administrator of MashonalandAlbert Grey4th Earl Grey 1851 1917 2 April1896 5 December1898 Administrator of MashonalandSir William Henry Milton 1854 1930 5 December1898 20 December1901 Senior Administrator of Southern RhodesiaAdministrator of MashonalandArthur Lawley6th Baron Wenlock 1860 1932 Administrator of MatabelelandSir William Henry Milton 1854 1930 20 December1901 1 November1914 Administrator of Southern RhodesiaSir Francis Drummond Chaplin 1866 1933 1 November1914 1 September1923 Administrator of Southern RhodesiaFrontier politics towards responsible government edit nbsp Southern Rhodesia and the Union of South AfricaSouthern Rhodesians of all races fought for Britain in the First World War during which the Responsible Government Association RGA was formed in 1917 By 1919 Sir Charles Coghlan a South African born Bulawayo lawyer had become the RGA s leader 16 The RGA sought self government for Southern Rhodesia within the British Empire the same responsible government previously granted to Britain s colonies in Australia Canada New Zealand and South Africa as a precursor to full dominion status and opposed Southern Rhodesia s proposed integration into the recently formed Union of South Africa The accession of territories governed by the British South Africa Company was explicitly provisioned for by Section 150 of the South Africa Act 1909 the British Act of Parliament which created the union in 1910 by consolidating the Empire s Cape Natal Orange River and Transvaal Colonies into a unitary dominion The Company originally stood against Southern Rhodesia s addition fearing the territory s potential domination by Afrikaners 17 but changed its tune dramatically when in 1918 the Privy Council in London ruled that unalienated land in the Rhodesias was owned not by the company but by the Crown 17 The loss of the ability to raise funds through the sale of land hampered the company s ability to pay dividends to its shareholders and caused its development of Southern Rhodesia to slow Believing that membership in the union could help solve both problems 17 the company now backed Southern Rhodesia s incorporation as South Africa s fifth province 18 However this prospect proved largely unpopular among Southern Rhodesian settlers most of whom wanted self government and came to vote for the RGA in large numbers 17 In the 1920 Legislative Council election the RGA won ten of the 13 seats contested 19 A referendum on the colony s future was held on 27 October 1922 at the suggestion of Winston Churchill then Britain s Colonial Secretary continuing the initiative of his preprocessor Viscount Milner and responsible government won the day by 59 20 Southern Rhodesia was duly annexed by the Empire on 12 September 1923 and granted full self government on 1 October the same year 21 The new Southern Rhodesian government immediately purchased the land from the British Treasury for 2 million 22 and ten years later paid the same sum to the British South Africa Company for the country s mineral rights 23 1923 1965 colonial Prime Ministers editResponsible government early years 1923 53 edit nbsp The first responsible government of Southern Rhodesia pictured in 1924The RGA reorganised itself to become the governing Rhodesia Party with Coghlan as Southern Rhodesia s first Premier 24 25 The title was changed to Prime Minister in 1933 by George Mitchell the third man to hold the office 25 In 1932 the Southern Rhodesian leader was first invited to an Imperial Conference Although Southern Rhodesia was not a dominion it was seen elsewhere in the Empire as a sui generis case among Britain s colonies and worthy of inclusion particularly as it was the only one which governed itself 26 Southern Rhodesian Prime Ministers thereafter became a regular fixture at such meetings and from 1944 at Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conferences 27 The Rhodesia Party remained in power until September 1933 when despite narrowly topping the popular vote it lost the month s election winning only nine of the 30 seats compared to the Reform Party s 16 28 Although the Reform Party was left wing in name many of its leading members including the new Prime Minister Dr Godfrey Huggins were politically conservative the more rightist members of the party merged with the Rhodesia Party in 1934 to form the United Party and with Huggins at the helm roundly defeated the rump left wing of the Reform Party to begin 28 years of uninterrupted stewardship 29 Though uninvolved in foreign affairs and therefore obliged to follow Britain s lead the colony enthusiastically supported the mother country during the Second World War symbolically affirming the British declaration of war before any other part of the Empire n 4 During the ensuing conflict over 26 100 Southern Rhodesians of all races served in the armed forces pro rata to white population a higher contribution of manpower than any other British colony or dominion and more than the UK itself 31 George VI knighted Huggins in 1941 32 and with the war still ongoing Britain made overtures towards dominion status Huggins dismissed this saying it was imperative to win the war first 33 The idea of dominionship was raised again in 1952 33 but Salisbury once more did not pursue it instead following the results of a referendum held early the next April to enter an initially semi independent Federation with the directly administered British colonies of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland 33 Colour key for political parties Rhodesia Party Reform Party United Party United Rhodesia Party United Federal Party n 5 Rhodesian Front United African National Council Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic FrontPremiers of Southern Rhodesia from 1923 to 1933 and Prime Ministers from 1933 to 1953 Portrait Name Birth Death Constituency Title Term of office Electoral mandates Other ministerial officesheld while Premier Prime Minister Political partyof PM Refs nbsp Sir Charles Coghlan 1863 1927 MP for Bulawayo North 1 October1923 28 August1927 died in office Minister for Native Affairs Rhodesia Party 35 1924Howard Moffat 1869 1951 MP for Gwanda 2 September1927 5 July1933 Minister for Native Affairs Rhodesia Party 35 1928George Mitchell 1867 1937 MP for Gwanda 5 July1933 12 September1933 Rhodesia Party 35 Sir Godfrey Huggins 1883 1971 MP for Salisbury North 12 September1933 7 September1953 Minister for Native Affairs 1933 49 Minister for Defence 1948 53 Reform Party 1933 34 35 1933 1934 1939 1946 1948 United Party 1934 53 As a territory in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland 1953 63 edit nbsp The three territories of the Federation of Rhodesia and NyasalandA month after Southern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland formed the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in August 1953 Huggins became the amalgamated body s first Prime Minister 36 Salisbury was designated the Federal capital 37 and the United Party renamed itself the United Rhodesia Party 24 Garfield Todd took over as Southern Rhodesia s Prime Minister 24 Huggins headed the Federal government for three years then retired in November 1956 after a combined 23 years as a national leader 36 The United Rhodesia Party merged with the Federal Party to become the United Federal Party UFP in November 1957 24 and the liberal Todd was voted out of office by the more right wing members of his party four months later in February 1958 38 He was replaced by Sir Edgar Whitehead 25 Todd led his own version of the United Rhodesia Party against the UFP and the Dominion Party in June the same year but failed to win a single seat the UFP won 17 of the 30 seats with the Dominion Party taking the remainder 34 Whitehead served as prime minister for the next four years 25 under Federal leader Roy Welensky as black nationalist ambitions and changing international attitudes propelled the Federation towards collapse 39 In Southern Rhodesia constitutional changes adopted in 1961 as the result of a referendum split the heretofore non racial though qualified electoral roll into graduated A and B rolls the latter had lower qualifications and was intended to cater for prospective black voters who had previously not qualified 40 This plan was given assent by the Southern Rhodesian and British governments and initially enjoyed support from black nationalists in the country though the latter soon reversed their stance saying the changes did not go far enough Some government members opposed this partitioning of the electorate which essentially divided it along ethnic lines the UFP s chief whip in the Federal assembly Ian Smith resigned in protest saying the new system was racialist 40 Former Dominion Party leader Winston Field formed the pro independence Rhodesian Front RF in 1962 to contest that November s Southern Rhodesian election with Smith running as his deputy and in a shock result won 35 of the 50 territorial A roll seats 24 Field and Smith became prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively 41 and remained in office after the Federation s dissolution on the last day of 1963 42 Prime Ministers of Southern Rhodesia a territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to 1963 Portrait Name Birth Death Constituency Title Term of office Electoral mandates Other ministerial officesheld while Prime Minister Political partyof PM Refs nbsp Garfield Todd 1908 2002 MP for Shabani 7 September1953 17 February1958 Minister for Native Affairs United Rhodesia Party 35 1954 nbsp Sir Edgar Whitehead 1905 1971 MP for Salisbury North 17 February1958 17 December1962 Minister for Native Affairs United Federal Party 35 1958 nbsp Winston Field 1904 1969 MP for Marandellas 17 December1962 31 December1963 Rhodesian Front 35 1962From Federation to UDI 1964 65 edit nbsp Ian Smith left and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson pictured outside 10 Downing Street in October 1965 during independence negotiationsAfter the Federation broke up on 31 December 1963 42 Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland became independent during 1964 respectively renamed Zambia and Malawi and under black majority governments 43 Southern Rhodesia was denied the same under the ideal of no independence before majority rule that was newly ascendant in Britain and elsewhere The RF was enraged by what it saw as British duplicity according to Field and Smith Britain s Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State R A Butler had verbally promised independence no later than if not before the other two territories at a meeting in 1963 in return for Salisbury s help in winding up the Federation Butler denied having said this 44 Under severe pressure from his ministers to resolve this issue Field travelled to England in March 1964 to pursue sovereign statehood but returned empty handed a month later He resigned his position on 13 April this came as no surprise to many government insiders but appeared sudden to most sections of the general public Smith promptly accepted the cabinet s invitation to take over though he expressed surprise at the nomination 45 A farmer and erstwhile British Royal Air Force pilot from the rural town of Selukwe Smith was Southern Rhodesia s first native born head of government 46 He immediately promised to take a harder line on independence than his predecessor 45 Only two months into his premiership Smith was deeply offended when Whitehall informed him that for the first time since 1930 Southern Rhodesia would not be represented at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference 47 Huggins described this in 1969 as tantamount to kicking Southern Rhodesia out of the Commonwealth 48 When Northern Rhodesia became Zambia on 24 October 1964 Southern Rhodesia dropped Southern from its name and initiated legislation to this effect Britain refused assent two months later saying that although the colony was self governing it did not have the power to rename itself Salisbury continued using the shortened name anyway 49 The Rhodesian government which remained predominantly white contended that it had almost complete support from all races in its drive for full statehood in October 1964 a national indaba tribal conference comprising 622 black representatives unanimously backed independence under the 1961 constitution and a month later a general independence referendum yielded an 89 yes vote for the same 50 Harold Wilson s British Labour Cabinet did not give credence to either of these tests of opinion and continued to insist on an immediate shift to majority rule before the granting of sovereign independence 51 Campaigning on an election promise of independence the RF called a new general election for May 1965 and won all 50 A roll seats 24 Negotiations between Smith and Wilson took place throughout the rest of the year but repeatedly broke down between July and September a parallel development concerned Rhodesia s opening of a representative mission in Lisbon which Britain opposed but proved unable to stop 52 Soon after Smith visited London in October 1965 Wilson resolved to curb his rival s ambitions During his own visit to Salisbury later that month he proposed to safeguard future black representation in the Rhodesian parliament by withdrawing control over the Rhodesian parliamentary structure to London Salisbury had held these powers since 1923 53 This proved the last straw for Smith s Rhodesian government which issued the Unilateral Declaration of Independence UDI on 11 November 54 Prime Ministers of Southern Rhodesia or Rhodesia from January 1964 to November 1965 Portrait Name Birth Death Constituency Title Term of office Electoral mandates Other ministerial officesheld while Prime Minister Political partyof PM Refs nbsp Winston Field 1904 1969 MP for Marandellas 1 January1964 13 April1964 Rhodesian Front 35 nbsp Ian Smith 1919 2007 MP for Umzingwane 13 April1964 11 November1965 Rhodesian Front 35 19651965 80 UDI era editUnrecognised state 1965 79 edit nbsp The Rhodesian government adopted a new green and white flag pictured on 11 November 1968 the third anniversary of UDI 55 The Rhodesians modelled their independence document on that of the American Thirteen Colonies in 1776 which remains the only other such proclamation in the history of the British Empire 56 According to UDI which went unrecognised by Britain the Commonwealth and the United Nations all of which declared it illegal and imposed economic sanctions the Rhodesian government still professed loyalty to Elizabeth II whom it called the Queen of Rhodesia 56 The British appointed Governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs remained at his post in Government House Salisbury but was now ignored by the local government which appointed its own Officer Administrating the Government to fill his ceremonial role 57 Smith represented Rhodesia in two abortive rounds of talks with Wilson first aboard HMS Tiger in 1966 58 then on HMS Fearless two years later 59 Under Rhodesia s 1965 constitution the Prime Minister remained at the head of Her Majesty s Rhodesian Government until 2 March 1970 when a republican constitution was adopted in line with the results of a referendum held the previous June In the Republic of Rhodesia the Prime Minister formally reported to the President 60 Smith and the RF decisively won three more general elections during the 1970s 24 The Anglo Rhodesian Agreement of 1971 72 which would have legitimised the country s independence in Britain s eyes fell apart after a British test of Rhodesian national opinion reported most blacks to be against it 61 The Rhodesian Bush War fought against the government by the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ZANLA and the Zimbabwe People s Revolutionary Army ZIPRA the respective guerrilla armies of the Maoist Zimbabwe African National Union ZANU and its Warsaw Pact aligned Marxist rival the Zimbabwe African People s Union ZAPU intensified soon after starting with ZANLA s attack on Altena and Whistlefield Farms in the country s north east in December 1972 62 After a strong security force counter campaign the South African detente initiative of December 1974 introduced a ceasefire which the security forces respected and the guerrillas ignored 63 This shifted the course of the war significantly in the nationalists favour 63 Mozambican independence under a communist government in 1975 further assisted the cadres 64 and exacerbated the Rhodesian government s economic dependency on South Africa 63 Unproductive talks between Smith and the guerrilla leaders took place at Victoria Falls in 1975 65 then in Geneva the following year 66 In March 1978 the Internal Settlement was agreed between the government and moderate nationalist parties the most prominent of which was Bishop Abel Muzorewa s United African National Council UANC 67 The militant nationalist campaigns continued however and indeed extended to attacks on civilian aircraft ZAPU shot down Air Rhodesia Flight 825 in September 1978 then Air Rhodesia Flight 827 in February 1979 68 ZANU and ZAPU boycotted the elections held per the Internal Settlement in April 1979 69 which UN Security Council Resolution 448 called sham elections held in utter defiance of the United Nations 70 In these elections the UANC won a majority in the new House of Assembly with 51 of the 72 common roll seats for which universal suffrage applied and 67 of the popular vote 67 The RF took all 20 of the seats elected by white voters and also provided eight non constituency members 71 All of this settled Rhodesia became black majority ruled Zimbabwe Rhodesia on 1 June 1979 with Muzorewa replacing Smith as Prime Minister 67 Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1965 to 1979 Portrait Name Birth Death Constituency Title Term of office Electoral mandates Other ministerial officesheld while Prime Minister Political partyof PM Refs nbsp Ian Smith 1919 2007 MP for Umzingwane 11 November1965 1 June1979 Rhodesian Front 35 1970 1974 1977Internal Settlement interim British control 1979 80 edit Main articles Internal Settlement Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Lancaster House Agreement With Muzorewa and the UANC in government Zimbabwe Rhodesia failed to gain international acceptance ZANU leader Robert Mugabe publicly damned Muzorewa s new order dismissing the bishop as a neocolonial puppet 69 he pledged to continue ZANLA s campaign to the last man 69 Muzorewa took office at the head of a UANC RF coalition cabinet made up of 12 blacks and five whites Instead of the enemy wearing a white skin he will soon wear a black skin said Mugabe just before the bishop took over 69 71 The Bush War went on until December 1979 when Salisbury Whitehall and the revolutionary nationalists signed the Lancaster House Agreement in London 72 Zimbabwe Rhodesia came under the temporary control of Britain and a Commonwealth monitoring force was convened to supervise fresh elections in which ZANU and ZAPU would take part for the first time ZANU won and with Mugabe as Prime Minister formed the first government of Zimbabwe following its recognised independence on 18 April 1980 73 Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979 Portrait Name Birth Death Constituency Title Term of office Electoral mandates Other ministerial officesheld while Prime Minister Political partyof PM Refs nbsp Bishop Abel Muzorewa 1925 2010 MP for Mashonaland East 1 June1979 12 December1979 Minister of Combined OperationsMinister of Defence United African National Council 35 1979Since 1980 Zimbabwe editPrime Minister and ceremonial President 1980 87 edit Main article Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Seven years into Mugabe s premiership Zimbabwe scrapped the white seats amid sweeping constitutional reforms in September 1987 The office of Prime Minister was abolished in October Mugabe became the country s first executive President two months later 74 Mugabe and the ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo signed a unity accord at the same time merging ZAPU into ZANU PF with the stated goal of a Marxist Leninist one party state 75 Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 Portrait Name Birth Death Constituency Title Term of office Electoral mandates Other ministerial officesheld while Prime Minister Political partyof PM Refs nbsp Robert Mugabe born 1924 MP for Mashonaland East 1980 85 MP for Highfield 1985 87 Death 2019 18 April1980 22 December1987 Secretary General of the Non Aligned Movement 1986 89 Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front 35 1980 1985Executive President 1987 present edit Main article President of Zimbabwe President of Zimbabwe since 1987 Portrait Name Birth Death Constituency Title Term of office Electoral mandates Other officesheld while President Political partyof PM Refs nbsp Robert Mugabe born 1924 22 December1987 21 November2017 Secretary General of the Non Aligned Movement 1986 89 Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front 35 1990 1996 2002 2008 2013 nbsp Emmerson Mnangagwa born 1942 21 November2017 present Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front2018Notes and references editNotes edit The police force raised by the Company the British South Africa Company s Police was renamed the Mashonaland Mounted Police in 1892 The Matabeleland Mounted Police was founded in 1895 and it and its Mashonaland counterpart collectively became referred to as the Rhodesia Mounted Police This became the independently run British South Africa Police BSAP in 1896 The BSAP retained its name and remained Rhodesia s law enforcement arm until 1980 3 The first recorded use in this context is in the titles of the Rhodesia Chronicle and Rhodesia Herald newspapers respectively first published at Fort Tuli and Fort Salisbury in May and October 1892 The Company officially applied the name Rhodesia in 1895 7 Jameson offered his resignation immediately following his eponymous raid into the South African Republic in December 1895 but it was not accepted until April 1896 15 Southern Rhodesia s government made this symbolic announcement in an attempt to demonstrate concurrent fealty to and independence from Britain It was irrelevant in any legal or diplomatic sense as the self governing colony s foreign affairs were still handled by Britain so long as Britain was at war Southern Rhodesia was as well The Australian and New Zealand dominions were respectively in a similar situation having not yet ratified the Statute of Westminster 1931 which on adoption transferred diplomatic responsibility from Britain to the relevant local government 30 The United Party formed in 1934 renamed itself the United Rhodesia Party in 1953 when the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created In 1957 it merged with the Federal Party to become the United Federal Party 24 It should not be confused with the rump United Rhodesia Party led by former Prime Minister Garfield Todd which fought the 1958 general election then promptly dissolved 34 References edit Keppel Jones 1983 p 77 a b c Encyclopaedia Britannica 2012 Gibbs Phillips amp Russell 2009 p 3 a b Ranger 2010 pp 14 17 Hopkins 2002 p 191 Wessels 2010 pp 16 17 Brelsford 1954 Blake 1977 p 114 Brelsford 1960 p 619 Palley 1966 p 149 Willson 1963 p 101 Willson 1963 pp 111 114 Wessels 2010 p 18 Willson Passmore amp Mitchell 1966 Wills amp Barrett 1905 p 260 Blake 1977 p 179 a b c d Wood 2005 p 8 Okoth 2006 p 123 Willson 1963 p 111 Willson 1963 p 115 Willson 1963 p 46 Berlyn 1978 p 103 Blake 1977 p 213 a b c d e f g h Gale 1973 pp 88 89 a b c d Hutson 1978 p 189 Saint Brides 1980 Berlyn 1978 pp 134 142 Willson 1963 p 129 Blake 1977 pp 220 221 Wood 2005 p 9 Moorcraft 1990 Blake 1977 p 238 a b c Wood 2005 p 279 a b Leys 1959 pp 306 311 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gale 1973 pp 88 89 Hutson 1978 p 189 Leys 1959 p 136 a b Gale 1973 pp 43 88 Smith 1997 p 33 Leys 1959 p 144 Blake 1977 p 331 Welensky 1964 p 64 a b Blake 1977 p 335 Smith 1997 p 47 a b Wood 2005 p 189 Wood 2005 p 38 Wood 2005 pp 138 140 167 Berlyn 1978 p 135 Smith 1997 pp 51 52 a b Berlyn 1978 pp 131 132 Wessels 2010 pp 102 104 Berlyn 1978 p 35 Smith 1997 p 70 Berlyn 1978 pp 140 143 Palley 1966 pp 742 743 The Sydney Morning Herald 1964 Harris 1969 Berlyn 1978 pp 144 146 Wessels 2010 p 105 Wood 2005 pp 418 420 445 Wessels 2010 p 105 Fedorowich amp Thomas 2001 pp 185 186 Wood 2005 pp 412 414 Wood 2005 pp 468 475 Barraclough amp Crampton 1978 p 157 a b Wood 2008 pp 1 8 Wood 2005 p 471 Wessels 2010 pp 133 136 Wood 2008 pp 229 242 246 Wessels 2010 pp 149 152 Wood 2008 pp 542 555 Harris 1969 The New York Times 1970 Smith 1997 pp 152 157 Binda 2008 pp 133 136 ZANU 1974 Windsor Star 1976 a b c Cilliers 1984 pp 22 24 Lockley 1990 Binda 2008 p 166 Duignan amp Gann 1994 pp 19 21 BBC 1975 Sibanda 2005 pp 211 213 Smith 1997 pp 213 217 Wessels 2010 p 216 a b c Williams amp Hackland 1988 p 289 Petter Bowyer 2005 pp 330 331 a b c d Winn 1979 UN Security Council 1979 a b Gowlland Debbas 1990 p 79 Gowlland Debbas 1990 p 89 BBC 1979 Chikuhwa 2004 pp 38 39 Meredith 2007 p 73 Online sources edit British South Africa Company BSAC BSACO or BSA Company Encyclopaedia Britannica Chicago Illinois Retrieved 10 March 2012 Newspaper and journal articles edit Brelsford W V ed 1954 First Records No 6 The Name Rhodesia The Northern Rhodesia Journal II 4 Lusaka Northern Rhodesia Society 101 102 Retrieved 10 March 2012 Harris P B September 1969 The Rhodesian Referendum June 20th 1969 PDF Parliamentary Affairs 23 1969sep Oxford University Press 72 80 doi 10 1093 parlij 23 1969sep 72 Archived from the original PDF on 4 February 2016 Retrieved 18 October 2011 Lockley Lt Col R E H July 1990 A brief operational history of the campaign in Rhodesia from 1964 to 1978 The Lion amp Tusk 2 1 Southampton Rhodesian Army Association Retrieved 11 March 2012 Moorcraft Paul 1990 Rhodesia s War of Independence History Today 40 9 London History Today Ltd ISSN 0018 2753 Lord Saint Brides April 1980 The Lessons of Zimbabwe Rhodesia International Security 4 4 Cambridge Massachusetts The MIT Press 177 184 doi 10 2307 2626673 JSTOR 2626673 Winn Michael 7 May 1979 Despite Rhodesia s Elections Robert Mugabe Vows to Wage Guerrilla War to the Last Man People 11 18 New York Retrieved 11 March 2012 1975 Rhodesia peace talks fail London BBC 26 August 1975 Retrieved 15 November 2011 Rhodesia reverts to British rule London BBC 11 December 1979 Retrieved 26 September 2011 Rhodesia s First Day as a Republic Passes Quietly The New York Times 3 March 1970 Retrieved 25 February 2012 Britain Gets Tough Warns Rhodesia Of Rebellion Consequences The Sydney Morning Herald 28 October 1964 p 3 Retrieved 18 November 2011 USSR viewed as blacks friend The Windsor Star Windsor Ontario Postmedia News 9 November 1976 p 20 Retrieved 20 June 2012 Other documents edit Resolution 448 1979 Adopted by the Security Council at its 2143rd meeting New York UN Security Council 30 April 1979 UN Document S RES 448 1979 Retrieved 11 March 2012 Chimurenga war communique No 8 Period from 30 Jan to 20 March 1974 Lusaka Zimbabwe African National Union 27 March 1974 Bibliography edit Barraclough E M C Crampton William G eds 1978 Flags of the World Third Illustrated ed London Frederick Warne amp Co ISBN 978 0 7232 2015 2 Berlyn Phillippa April 1978 The Quiet Man A Biography of the Hon Ian Douglas Smith Salisbury M O Collins OCLC 4282978 Binda Alexandre May 2008 The Saints The Rhodesian Light Infantry Johannesburg 30 South Publishers ISBN 978 1 920143 07 7 Blake Robert 1977 A History of Rhodesia New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 0 394 48068 6 Brelsford W V ed 1960 Handbook to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland London Cassell Chikuhwa Jacob March 2004 A Crisis of Governance Zimbabwe First ed New York Algora Publishing ISBN 978 0 87586 286 6 Cilliers Jakkie December 1984 Counter Insurgency in Rhodesia London Sydney amp Dover New Hampshire Croom Helm ISBN 978 0 7099 3412 7 Duignan Peter Gann Lewis H 1994 Communism in Sub Saharan Africa a Reappraisal Stanford California Hoover Press ISBN 978 0 8179 3712 6 Fedorowich Kent Thomas Martin eds 2001 International Diplomacy and Colonial Retreat London Frank Cass ISBN 978 0 7146 5063 0 Gale William Daniel 1973 The Years Between 1923 1973 Half a Century of Responsible Government in Rhodesia Salisbury H C P Andersen OCLC 224687202 Gibbs Peter Phillips Hugh Russell Nick May 2009 Blue and Old Gold The History of the British South Africa Police 1889 1980 Johannesburg 30 South Publishers ISBN 978 1 920143 35 0 Gowlland Debbas Vera 1990 Collective Responses to Illegal Acts in International Law United Nations action in the question of Southern Rhodesia First ed Leiden and New York Martinus Nijhoff Publishers ISBN 0 7923 0811 5 Hopkins Donald R September 2002 1983 The Greatest Killer Smallpox in History Chicago Illinois University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 35168 1 Hutson H P W March 1978 Rhodesia Ending an Era Second ed London Springwood Books Keppel Jones Arthur 1983 Rhodes and Rhodesia The White Conquest of Zimbabwe 1884 1902 Montreal Quebec and Kingston Ontario McGill Queen s University Press ISBN 978 0 7735 0534 6 Leys Colin 1959 European Politics in Southern Rhodesia First ed Oxford Clarendon Press Meredith Martin September 2007 2002 Mugabe Power Plunder and the Struggle for Zimbabwe New York PublicAffairs ISBN 978 1 58648 558 0 Okoth Assa 2006 A History of Africa Volume Two African nationalism and the de colonisation process First ed Nairobi Kampala and Dar es Salaam East African Educational Publishers ISBN 9966 25 358 0 Palley Claire 1966 The Constitutional History and Law of Southern Rhodesia 1888 1965 with Special Reference to Imperial control Oxford Clarendon Press ASIN B0000CMYXJ Petter Bowyer P J H November 2005 2003 Winds of Destruction the Autobiography of a Rhodesian Combat Pilot Johannesburg 30 South Publishers ISBN 978 0 9584890 3 4 Ranger Terence O September 2010 Bulawayo Burning The Social History of a Southern African City 1893 1960 Oxford James Currey ISBN 978 1 84701 020 9 Sibanda Eliakim M January 2005 The Zimbabwe African People s Union 1961 87 A Political History of Insurgency in Southern Rhodesia Trenton New Jersey Africa Research amp Publications ISBN 978 1 59221 276 7 Smith Ian June 1997 The Great Betrayal The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith London John Blake Publishing ISBN 1 85782 176 9 Welensky Roy 1964 Welensky s 4000 Days London Collins ASIN B0006DBAJ6 Wessels Hannes July 2010 P K van der Byl African Statesman Johannesburg 30 South Publishers ISBN 978 1 920143 49 7 Williams Gwyneth Hackland Brian July 1988 The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Southern Africa First ed London Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 00245 5 Wills Walter H Barrett R J 1905 The Anglo African Who s Who and Biographical Sketch Book London George Routledge amp Sons Willson F M G ed 1963 Source Book of Parliamentary Elections and Referenda in Southern Rhodesia 1898 1962 Salisbury Department of Government University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland Willson F M G Passmore G C Mitchell Margaret T eds 1966 Holders of Administrative and Ministerial Office 1894 1964 and Members of the Legislative Council 1899 1923 and the Legislative Assembly 1924 1964 Salisbury Department of Government University of Rhodesia Wood J R T June 2005 So Far And No Further Rhodesia s Bid For Independence During the Retreat From Empire 1959 1965 Victoria British Columbia Trafford Publishing ISBN 978 1 4120 4952 8 Wood J R T April 2008 A Matter Of Weeks Rather Than Months The Impasse Between Harold Wilson and Ian Smith Sanctions Aborted Settlements and War 1965 1969 Victoria British Columbia Trafford Publishing ISBN 978 1 4251 4807 2 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Political history of Zimbabwe amp oldid 1218082644, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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