The Rhodesia medal of 1980
Peter Duckers takes a look at a medal for a country that was moving from a white, colonial government, to independence under African majority rule
Peter Duckers takes a look at a medal for a country that was moving from a white, colonial government, to independence under African majority rule.
In the 1960s, as the winds of change swept across Africa and the complex process of decolonisation got underway, one of Britain's
African self-governing territories proved to be particularly troublesome. As
African nationalist movements rose to prominence across colonial Africa, the white government in Southern Rhodesia resisted all attempts at a solution to its political future which would undoubtedly lead to majority African rule. After long, but fruitless, political discussions between the British government, African political parties and the country's existing government, in November 1965 the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), declaring the country to be an independent sovereign state, hoping thereby to retain white minority rule and preserve the status quo.
Multi-level and international discussions on Rhodesia's future continued over the following years, but the immediate outcome was international rejection, which led to the imposition of sanctions of all kinds (especially difficult for a country which so entirely depended on foreign trade) and the significant growth of African nationalist parties, especially under Bishop Abel Muzorewa, Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe.
More seriously, armed warfare broke out between the forces of the various nationalist parties and the powerful standing forces of Rhodesia, aided to one extent or another by South Africa.
The Rhodesian Civil War (or Bush War) lasted from 1965 to 1979, by which time casualties were mounting and sanctions and international isolation were crippling Rhodesia. Ian Smith's government was finally forced accept change and, in 1979, renewed discussions led to the Lancaster House Agreement, the revocation of UDI and an acceptance of the fact of new elections and whatever their outcome would be.
Rhodesia temporarily returned to
British rule while a complex process of elections was organised, complicated not only by the existence of armed and partisan guerrilla forces (estimated at 22,000) which might intervene, but also by the nature of Rhodesian society which, apart from simple white or African divisions in various political groupings, contained a number of different tribal affiliations. The elections, monitored by British and Commonwealth forces and observers, took place during February and March 1980 and were won by the Zimbabwean African National Union (ZANU), whose leader Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister in April 1980, when the UK granted independence to the country (as Zimbabwe) which became a republic within the Commonwealth.
The Rhodesia Medal was awarded to those serving in the Commonwealth Monitoring Force - members of the Commonwealth armed services (largely British), police personnel and civilians who took part in Operation AGILA (known as Operation MIDFORD for New Zealand forces). The cupro-nickel medal is of the standard dimensions and hangs from a straight, non-swivelling suspension from a ribbon of sky blue with three central narrow stripes of red, white and blue. A novel feature was that the medal was rhodium plated, which gives it a hard and very bright surface. Since the medal is for peacekeeping it is not regarded as a campaign medal and is worn after Long Service medals and before foreign awards.
The obverse saw the first use of the Jubilee head design on a service medal, with the Queen depicted wearing the high Jubilee Crown and with the usual royal titles ‘ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FID DEF’. This effigy had first appeared on the 1977 Jubilee Medal and has become the standard depiction of the monarch on subsequent campaign medals, though its rather large and out-of-scale look has not made it very popular! The reverse is very simple, featuring the profile of a sable antelope, a familiar sight in the grasslands of east and southern Africa. It also carries the wording ‘THE RHODESIA MEDAL’ with the date ‘1980’.
The basic time requirement for the award was generally 14 days between 1 December 1979 and 20 March 1980, with the usual condition that this time element was waived in the case of those
killed, wounded, injured or honoured. Approximately 2,500 medals were awarded in total (with about 580 to British police), including those given by Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Kenya; South African forces which entered the country at this time were not given the medal nor were members of the standing forces of Rhodesia.
In general collectors' terms, given the relatively small number issued, the medal is not especially expensive, with single examples found at around £500. But it has never been an easy medal to find they do not often appear on the market, as singles or in groups.
Medals to British military personnel were named in the usual way around the rim (impressed with service number, rank, name, unit) and are found to a range of units, including the RAF and support services, like the RAMC, the REME, the Army Catering Corps, the Royal Corps of Transport and Royal Signals. Since there was no particular single British battalion deployed during the elections, from the regimental collector's point of view locating one to a particular unit can be difficult.
To give a few examples, medals are known to the Royal Artillery, the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (one officer and 13 other ranks), the 9th/12th Lancers, the Royal Anglian Regiment (three officers and 28 men), the Royal Green Jackets (approximately 25 awards), the King's Regiment, the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and the Royal Regiment of Wales. It should be noted that medals to police and civilian recipients were issued unnamed.
All recipients of the Rhodesia Medal were also given the official Zimbabwe Independence Medal in silver or bronze (an award usually found numbered to its recipient on the rim) but official permission to wear this alongside other British awards was not granted; it could be accepted as a token of service but not worn in uniform. Examples of these are not hard to find as singles, at around £20 for the bronze and £35-£45 for the silver types. ■