Zimbabwe-Rhodesia born following 90 years of white minority rule
In June 1978, Rhodesia finally ended almost 90 years of white minority rule, renaming itself Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. The move followed elections held two months before, which saw a win for the United African National Council (UANC) party. Its leader, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, became the country’s first black prime minister on 1 June 1979.
The transition to democracy followed the country’s 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), seen as an attempt to delay a move to black majority rule under the UK’s Wind of Change policies of decolonisation.
Rhodesia was refused sovereignty under the principle of“no independence before majority rule” (“NIBMAR”), while countries it regarded as less-developed such as Kenya, Cameroon, and Nigeria had been granted independence during the early 1960s.
The UDI was declared illegal by the UK, the Commonwealth and the United Nations, with the latter imposing the first economic sanctions in the UN’s history on the breakaway state.
This, plus a five-year ‘Bush War’ – an armed insurgency by two African nationalist parties, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) – resulted in Ian Smith’s Rhodesian government eventually resigning themselves to majority rule – although Smith warned that “pushing people forward simply because of their colour, irrespective of merit, would be most unfortunate and would of course lead to disaster”.
And although there were 12 black faces in the cabinet, those in charge of army, air force and police would remain in their positions, while the jobs of top civil servants – all part of the 5 per cent white population – were protected under the new constitution.
Despite being a powersharing setup rather than true majority rule – with whites occupying around one third of one-third of the seats in parliament – sanctions were lifted. UDI ended, a ceasefire in the Bush War was negotiated, and the ZANU party, backed by the majority S ho na tribal group led by Robert Mugabe, eventually came to power in 1980 elections the following year.