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Betrayal of a Nation After
the momentous address to the nation by Prime Minister Ian Smith on the 11th
of November 1965, wherein the unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) was
announced, events began to take shape very quickly. The
UK government immediately imposed sanctions upon Rhodesia, threw the country out
of the Sterling zone, and froze Rhodesian assets in the UK. The United Nations
followed suit and soon passed a resolution to impose sanctions upon Rhodesia.
However, the effect of these sanctions were minimal, sources of supply were
easily found. In fact, sanctions actually aided the Rhodesian economy, providing
the impetus needed for greater economic diversification. By 1979 the country
enjoyed an annual growth rate of 10%, inflation of 3% and a currency, the
Rhodesian Dollar, which was on a par with Sterling. The
OAU (Organization of African Unity) a collection of despotic Communist
dictatorships, following instructions from their Moscow and Peking paymasters,
demanded that the British Government immediately reverse the UDI by mounting an
armed invasion. This option was obviously a non-starter, not only did the
British public support the Rhodesian cause, but its armed forces had made it
plain in the highest circles, that they would refuse any invasion order. Back
home in Rhodesia, public reaction to the UDI was restrained and fully supportive
of its government. The business community were obviously concerned initially
about the impact on trade but as it turned out, Rhodesian business was to
benefit greatly from the fruitless imposition of sanctions. Rhodesia,
as previously mentioned, was thrown out of the Sterling area and lost her
Commonwealth trading preferences, but worst of all was the British Governments
seizing of Rhodesia's Sterling reserves in London. Although, this of course
meant that Rhodesia was unable to meet its obligations on loan repayments to the
UK, and the British Government lost more than it gained. Definately a case of
cutting off Ones nose to spite Ones face! Rhodesia
put the crowning touch to its independence when in July 1967 it introduced its
own currency to replace Sterling, the Rhodesian Dollar. The print quality was
top class and the currency itself was strong, reflecting the growing and
expanding Rhodesian economy.
The
effect of trade sanctions had a real impact in that the traditional British
sources of supply dried up. However, alternative sources of supply were easily
found, they even supplied superior products and with quicker delivery times to
boot! Exports
of Rhodesian goods did initially suffer, especially those of tobacco, but after
a short period of adjustment and diversification in agriculture, everything was
soon running smoothly again, in fact, better even than before the UDI. The
worst problem was the embargo on oil supplies to Rhodesia, British warships were
actually sent to the Mozambique coast to prevent tankers docking at the port of
Beira, Rhodesia's nearest port. This was a blatant infringement of Portugal's
sovereign rights, who were then the colonial power in Mozambique, and the
Portuguese were not impressed by this high-handed British interference in their
waters. However,
Rhodesia had more than one way of importing oil and most of it now came from the
huge Mozambique port of Lourenco Marques, rather than Beira. It also came from South
Africa, where there were great refineries. South Africa announced that it would
remain strictly neutral in the dispute and Portugal, still outraged by the
British actions at Beira, stated that it would not hinder Rhodesian imports. The
British blockade of Beira had greatly offended Portugal and relations between
the two countries were at an extremely low ebb. Strict
petrol rationing had initially been introduced in Rhodesia when the oil embargo
had been announced. This soon became a mere formality, as the embargo had no real
effect on the economy of Rhodesia, much to the disappointment of the appeasing
powers and the OAU. By
1966 the die had been truly cast. Despite the treachery and betrayal of the
British and other Western governments, Rhodesia did not slacken its efforts to
reach a just settlement to the independence crisis. A
meeting was held on the warship HMS Tiger, which was moored in Gibraltar harbour
at the tail end of 1966. The ship sailed around the Mediterranean, whilst
talks took place between the British and Rhodesian Governments. The
British Government, under pressure from the dictators club of the OAU,
were pushing for a swift settlement on their terms, regardless of whether it was
the right choice for Rhodesia or not. No discussion or
amendments were allowed and the Rhodesian delegation were expected to sign on the spot,
without even consulting with parliament back in Salisbury. Of course, the answer
had to be a firm NO.
Another
meeting between the British and Rhodesian governments took place during 1968 on
board HMS Fearless, again in Gibraltar, with much the same results. The British
government still desperately wanted to push through a deal which was acceptable
to the OAU, not a deal which was in the long
term best interests of Rhodesia. Again, the Rhodesian response had to be another
firm NO.
The
next really significant events occurred during the course of 1974, when a
left-wing military coup occured on 25th April in Portugal. This
event opened up the serious possibility of a Communist take-over in Mozambique,
which would obviously not be in the interests of Rhodesia. The controlling
authorities in Mozambique were against any form of surrender to Communism by the
new regime in Lisbon, and wanted to set up a new state south of the Zambezi, in
federation with Rhodesia and South Africa. Unfortunately
at this time, the Prime Minister of South Africa had decided to embark on a
strange policy of détente with the black African states. They of course
were interested in playing the game, if South Africa would turn the screws on
Rhodesia. They could then finish off South Africa once Rhodesia had succumbed to
Communism, and South Africa itself had been isolated in Africa. This
misguided South African policy of detente meant that a federation with the
authorities in Mozambique was out of the question, and without South African
participation the idea was dead in the water. By 1975, Mozambique and its people
had been thrown to the ravenous dogs of Communism. Portugal washed its hands
of its overseas possessions, and abandoned its colonies to their grim fates. The
Communist countries of the OAU, and their paymasters in Moscow and Peking, were
overjoyed with the latest developments. Communism continued its southward march
down the African continent, with the Portuguese abandonment of both Angola and
Mozambique. The South Africans were busily deluding themselves into thinking
that black Africa would accept its apartheid policies, in return for
forcing Rhodesia to accept settlement terms. At
this time, the bush war in Rhodesia had been gathering momentum. The
terrorists were doing their best to force the local population into supporting
their cause, using torture, rape and murder as persuasion. However, their brutal
campaign was making little headway. The Rhodesian army, recognized as the best
in Africa, were fully on top of any terrorist activity, up to and including
raiding training bases in neighbouring states. The communist take-over of
Rhodesia would certainly not occur by force of arms, but rather by a stab in the
back by an erstwhile friend. Over
the next four years the screws were gradually turned on Rhodesia, with the
scheming South African Government busily polishing a treacherous blade, which in
the near future was to sink deep into the back of Rhodesia. The
Government of Rhodesia continually searched for a lasting formula which would be
acceptable to its people, and protect the democratic future and civil rights of
all its citizens. It bent over backwards to accommodate the demands of the
outside world, demands which were passed on directly from the OAU and their Communist paymasters. An
agreement was reached in 1976, brokered by Henry Kissinger. However, this was
destroyed by the terrorists who had an eye to the main aim of their
exercise, which was not democracy, something Rhodesia already had, but a
one-party Communist state. Fed
up with the continual treachery and intrigue from the South African politicians
and the British and American Governments, the Rhodesian government sat down with
its internal moderate black nationalist leaders to thrash out an agreement. This
agreement led directly to the election of 1979, which brought to power Bishop
Abel Muzorewa and his party, the UANC. The election had been witnessed by
international observers, who were all in complete agreement that everything had
been free and fair. Muzorewa was set to take over the premiership from the then
Prime Minister, Ian Douglas Smith, on the 1st June 1979.
Once
Muzorewa had taken over the new government of national unity it was expected
that all sanctions would be lifted, now that the country was under democratically elected
black majority rule. This whole state of affairs did not of course sit well with the external terrorist leaders who had been left out in the cold, and thwarted the Communist plan for a one-party state. The OAU were displeased for the same reasons and as the British Government was still playing lap-dog to the tyrants of the OAU, they refused to lift sanctions. The terrorists were further greatly aided on
7th June, when the American President also refused to lift sanctions. This was a blatant
and sickening betrayal of democracy by a floundering American President,
cynically fishing for black African - American votes in the forthcoming
presidential election. The
British Government were not pleased with events in Rhodesia. The country had solved its problems
internally without the help of whitehall, and they did not like that one bit.
The British government were determined to appease the African dictators of the OAU, and assist in
installing the terrorists into power. It was a weird and perverse
retribution upon a civilized democratic country and its people. The
situation of course could not continue like this, black majority rule had been achieved
and yet sanctions were still in place. The British Government pressurized the
weak willed Muzorewa to take part in the Lancaster House Conference in 1979,
which they said would lead directly to international recognition for the country,
and the lifting of sanctions.
The
abysmal leadership of Muzorewa, his continual collapses in position and his
ignoring of advice from Ian Smith, led to an extremely loose and dangerous
agreement being signed on 23rd December 1979. This agreement entailed
a new election at which the external terrorist leaders, whose forces were still
murdering and torturing innocent people in Rhodesia, would take a full part.
This, despite
all the consequent intimidation, threats and vote rigging that would entail. The
elections began in February 1980 and as expected, there was massive
intimidation of voters by the terrorists. The British Government refused to heed
the evidence of this, despite concrete proof and a thousand signed affidavits.
The election was a tragic farce, a cynical betrayal of democracy and of the people of
Rhodesia. As a direct consequence of this corrupt election, the ZANU (PF) party of Robert Mugabe came to power. This was the darkest day in the history of Rhodesia, a tragedy for democracy and the beginning of the end for Rhodesia as a democratic first world country. The candle of freedom and democracy had been extinguished, and Rhodesia gradually slipped into the darkness of dictatorship and economic decline. Once Rhodesia became the new nation of Zimbabwe, it began its inexerable twenty year fall into corruption and total ruination. |
