Interview with Ian Smith

The following is a translation from Afrikaans, of an interview with Ian Douglas Smith, former Prime Minister of Rhodesia, which appeared in the South African publication 'DIE BEELD' on 28th March 2000.

Ian Smith's farm is South of Gwelo in the Midlands of Zimbabwe. Due to advancing years, he only gets to the farm one weekend a month. A farm manager keeps an eye on his his Brahman cattle, which Smith is very proud of, the rest of the time.The farm has not been invaded by the veterans as yet although there have been some threats that they will. Smith apparently looks forward to them trying this. "I will immediately fly out there (to the farm) to go and meet the terrorists there," he says in a style which is reminiscent of the days when Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia.

"I want to say to them (the veterans) that they must go and askpresident Robert Mugabe why he hasn't distributed the 2 million hectares of state owned land to them. He (Mugabe) must explain to them why the government doesn't want to buy a further 2 million hectares from the Commercial Farmers Union."The farm invasions have nothing to do with land hunger according to Smith. It is merely a move whereby Mugabe hopes to remain in power a bit longer. "He (Mugabe) uses dishonesty to whisk up racial hatred. And this is an odious/evil thing to do." Smith believes there has always been a good relationship between blacks and whites in Zimbabwe - even when his former Rhodesian Front was was in power. He loves to quote an observer who said that the black faces in Rhodesia were the happiest he had seen in the whole of Africa.

He (Smith) adds that the black people, at that time, had the same voting rights as whites, that there was very little crime in Rhodesia, that inflation and interest rates were less than 3% and that the country, regardless of sanctions, had an economic growth of 10%.

But what then of the bitter and bloody liberation war that marked his period in government. Smith's simple/singular answer to this is that it was due to "Communistic indoctrination".Freedom fighters of those days and todays farm invaders, are in his (Smith's) books "Terrorists". "They came to this land and commenced killing black people. They didn't come here to free anybody. They just wanted to grab power".  "That is my definition of terrorism. I don't know what your's is.""Rhodesia's 'white pioneers' were, on the contrary, the only people who did not fight and murder to obtain land. We paid 2 million pounds for our land." "The black people obtained their's for nothing.  Land was at a later stage allotted on race principles/basis, but this was a remnant/vestige of the British colonial time period.""The Communists irreversibly changed Rhodesia". "In addition to indoctrination, they also put firearms into the hands of the people with the friendliest faces in Africa.

This led to the 'one-party Marxist State' of Mugabe's Zanu-PF"."Mugabe and his government, but Mugabe in particular, must carry the blame for the current situation in Zimbabwe. It is chaotic, terrible and disgraceful". "Mugabe is now like a cornered, wounded animal. It is not easy to predict what a wounded animal will do next. Particularly in Africa where logic definitely does not dominate thinking." "Everywhere I go - and I talk with a lot more black people than whites - I hear from Zimbabweans that they want to get rid of Mugabe. I think this will happen in the next elections, unless Mugabe cooks the books."

Smith is also going to make his contribution in the campaign against Mugabe and Zanu-PF. He has tried for the past eight years to unify the opposition parties. Seven smaller opposition parties have recently, with his assistance, come together under the umbrella of the United Democratic Front.

Smith says he does not want to play in a prominent leader's role. He would rather give advice from a back-seat because, according to him, he believes that today's politicians can learn a lot from his political experiences.He doesn't get excited about the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) or the president of the movement, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai (48).  He is not against the MDC and believes in 'intelligent cooperation', such as agreements that the opposition parties don't oppose one another in certain constituencies.Smith claims that he still has quite a lot of support. "People, particularly black people, greet me where ever I go to wish me luck". War veterans and farm invaders just laugh when they hear about his (Smith's) support.The Worker, mouthpiece of the Union Movement in Zimbabwe also wants to know why Smith is returning to politics. 

The newspapers propagate that 'the majority of people in Zimbabwe are absolutely disgruntled and sick of Mugabe's government. But not disgruntled and sick enough to return to the 'dark days' of the Rhodesian Front'. According to The Worker, 'it is an historial fact that Smith and his party, just like Mugabe and Zanu-PF, obtained considerable wealth for themselves at the cost of the majority of Zimbabwe's people. To ask them to now vote for Smith and company, will be just as good as introducing Hendrik Verwoerd as a parliamentary candidate in South Africa'.  This criticism roles off him Ian Smith like water from a duck's back, says Smith. "This is one of the reasons why I don't want to become active in politics again"."I just want peace and reason in my land. I would rather spend more time on my farm. The cattle there at least don't ask simple questions".