Rhodesia: End of a Dream

By Cedric Phillips

Although the idea of a continuous British dominion from the Cape Colony to Cairo in Egypt was first formulated by William Gladstone and Sir Rutherford Alcock and summed up by Sir Edwin Arnold in the phrase From Cape to Cairo, it was Cecil Rhodes who finally embraced this dream as a viable project. This book outlines how close the dream came to reality as far as Central Africa was concerned and why, in the end, it was the impossible dream.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524662240

Cedric Phillips

The author was born in Yorkshire and educated at Keighley Grammar School and Manchester University, immigrating to Rhodesia in 1952 as a civil servant. He was involved in the federalization process from 1954 to 1955, joined the Federal Intelligence and Security Bureau in 1961, and served as Regional Liaison Officer in Ndola during the Katanga crisis, returning to England in 1962. Since then, he has maintained an active interest and contacts in the situation in Rhodesia and, later, Zimbabwe.

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2016 Cedric Phillips. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 08/102016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6225-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6224-0 (e)

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CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 Winds Of Change

Chapter 2 Katanga

Chapter 3 End Of The Federation

Chapter 4 Udi

Chapter 5 Independence

Chapter 6 Revolution In Portugal – The Game Changes

Chapter 7 Independence

Chapter 8 Emergence Of Zimbabwe

PREFACE

Although the idea of a continuous British dominion from the Cape colony to Cairo in Egypt was first formulated by William Gladstone and Sir Rutherford Alcock and summed up by Sir Edwin Arnold in the phrase From Cape to Cairo it was Cecil Rhodes who finally embraced this dream as a viable project. This book outlines how close the dream came to reality as far as Central Africa was concerned and why in the end it was the Impossible Dream.

The author was born in Yorkshire and educated at Keighley Grammar School and Manchester University, emigrating to Rhodesia in 1952 as a civil servant. He was involved in the Federalisation process from 1954 to1955, joined the Federal Intelligence and Security Bureau in 1961 and served as Regional Liaison Officer in Ndola during the Katanga crisis, returning to England in 1962.Since then he has maintained an active interest and contacts in the situation in Rhodesia and later Zimbabwe.

CHAPTER 1

WINDS OF CHANGE

EARLY HISTORY

The opening up of Central Africa can be said to start with the discovery of the Victoria Falls by David Livingstone in 1855 and the founding of the Inyati Mission by Dr. Robert Moffat in 1859.The discovery of the Great Zimbabwe ruins in 1871 by Carl Mauch led to a host of speculation about its builders ranging from the inhabitants of the Biblical land of Ophir with its connections to the Queen of Sheba to Arab slave traders and early Portuguese explorers. Cecil Rhodes believed that it was part of a Phoenician fort. The question was resolved by the work of archaeologists Keith Robinson and Peter Garlake who used carbon dating to establish its origins in the 13th to15th centuries by an early Bantu empire.

This empire of Mwene Mutapa or Monomotapa was established by Shona migrants from the north who gradually built up an empire that stretched at its greatest extent from the Zambezi to the Limpopo river and from the Kalahari Desert to the Indian Ocean. Primarily an agricultural and pastoral people the Shona mined copper and gold and were mainly self supporting although an active trade was conducted with both Swahili and Portuguese traders. By the start of the 19th century the empire had declined and there was little centralised power and the Shona were ill-equipped to cope with the arrival of two important groups of invaders.

The first to arrive were the Matabele in the 1830s. Led by Mzilikazi, a Kumala chief, part of the Zulu empire of Shaka, they were forced to flee when failing to give him the proceeds of a cattle raid. For nearly 30 years they roamed the area north of the Transvaal before a major defeat at the hands of the Boers obliged them to cross the Limpopo and settle in the west around a capital they called Bulawayo.In 1868 Mzilikazi died and was succeeded by his son Lobengula. For a while they coexisted relatively peacefully with the Shona although they still conducted frequent raids to build up their cattle herds,

The second wave of invaders came in the second half of the 19th century with the arrival of the Pioneers in 1890.Although European traders and missionaries had generally peaceful contact with both Shona and Matabele the idea of permanent settlement did not arise until Cecil Rhodes sought to extend his influence into the African hinterland. The immediate stimulus was the Scramble for Africa which took place between 1877 and 1902 when the major European states dashed to carve out colonies and protectorates with little regard for cultural or even geographical boundaries.

Alerted to the danger of the Germans and Portuguese linking territories across the centre of Africa Rhodes proceeded to expedite his plans for moving into territory north of the Limpopo. At the court of King Lobengula were already a number of traders, adventurers and explorers amongst whom had been Frank Oates, close relative of the future Polar explorer. In 1888 Rhodes obtained the Rudd concession from Lobengula for mining rights in Mashonaland and then obtained a 25-year Royal Charter entitling the British South Africa Company to govern, legislate and administer the territory under the protection of the Crown.

In 1890 a pioneer column set off for Mount Hampden in Mashonaland and in September reached a nearby Kopjie which was called Fort Salisbury, Fort Victoria having already been named on the way. Further settlers followed, mainly British and South African, and there were nearly 10,000 Europeans in the area when, in 1898, a Legislative Council was established with four elected members and five members nominated by the Company. By 1902 there were equal numbers of elected and nominated members with the Administrator having the casting vote. In 1908 the elected members obtained a majority and by 1920 there were 13 elected members.

Meanwhile the fledgling territory faced a number of hardships. In 1893 came the Matabele war when the settlers responded to an incursion of raiding warriors by attacking Lobengula, forcing him to flee with his treasure. His capital was occupied by the settlers who started to build their own township nearby. Lobengula died shortly afterwards but his treasure was never recovered. Shortly after the ill-fated Jameson Raid in 1896 came two uprisings in Matabeleland and Mashonaland when the settlers were forced to take refuge in the main townships and many lives were lost in outlying areas.

Reinforcements from the south and superior firepower prevailed and peace was finally achieved when Rhodes obtained a final settlement with the Matabele leaders in the Matopo hills. This peace was to last for around 60 years before there was any further bloodshed between the races.

In 1914 the British South Africa Company charter was renewed for a further 10 years and in 1923, following a referendum when nearly 60% of the settlers chose responsible government rather than join the Union of South Africa, the British Government granted responsible self-government to the settlers, reserving legislation affecting Africans for the Secretary of State. At this time the estimated settler population was around 35,000.

From 1923 to 1953 the self governing colony developed steadily throughout the Depression when the famous strip roads were built to combat unemployment and the Second World War when Rhodesians served with distinction in both Africa and Europe.

By this time the settler population had risen to over 80,000. In 1930 the Land Apportionment Act had allocated land to the settler and African populations in roughly equal proportions in spite of the discrepancy in numbers. An attempt to segregate the country into two areas, East and West, was unsuccessful.

Southern Rhodesia remained a self-governing colony with a Legislative Assembly elected on a non-racial but property- weighted franchise until the emergence of the Central African Federation in 1953.Cabinet ministers were formally appointed by a British Governor. In 1925 the Dominions Office was set up to deal specifically with the Dominions, Southern Rhodesia and the Irish Free State.

FEDERATION

Post-war Europe, whilst concentrating mainly on reconstruction, was also obliged to reconsider its relationships with its colonies. Some countries, such as France and Portugal, sought to assimilate them closer to the home country; others, such as Belgium, adopted a far more paternalistic approach. To its credit Britain tried to seek solutions most appropriate to each of its separate colonies in 1948 the British government held a conference in London to discuss the future of British Africa.to which representatives from both Rhodesias and Nyasaland were invited. Both Roy Welensky from Northern Rhodesia and Godfrey Huggins from Southern Rhodesia were in favour of an amalgamation of their two countries whilst the British Government favoured a federation of these two countries with Nyasaland.

In 1949 a conference was held at the Victoria Falls to consider the constitutional aspects and how such an arrangement could be brought about. Delegates were present from each territory although the British Government was not represented as such. A Federal solution was proposed and it was recommended that a committee of technical experts should draw up the constitution and work out the financial arrangements. After this the proposals would be discussed at a further meeting and the final recommendation submitted to a referendum in each territory.

This committee met in London in March 1951 but did not report until June when its report was published recommending a true federal system. After another conference at the Victoria Falls and a general election victory for the Conservatives it was agreed to hold another conference in London to draw up a draft constitution for presentation to the three territories for their acceptance. African delegates from Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland attended but only for informal talks. Decisions were set out in a White Paper for presentation to the territories concerned

Despite opposition from the Labour and Liberal parties the House of Commons approved the federal proposals in April 1953 and they were accepted by the Southern Rhodesia