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The Rhodesian Front and the African National Council

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2017

Tony Kirk
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Extract

In most countries ordinary people do not appreciate the sheer guile of their political leaders. Rhodesia is no exception. The dealings between the government and the African National Council confirm it. The government interrupted its dialogue with the ANC by detaining thirtythree senior ANC officials without trial, effectively destroying the cohesion of the only black political organization in the country. To the white voter, who sees no further than the surface of events, the detentions represented a simple exercise of executive power. In fact the government could not act in as sudden and arbitrary a fashion as that. It had to choose the time for its action with care, and to some extent it had to prepare the white electorate to accept what happened without question.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , Spring 1974 , pp. 14 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1974 

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References

1 Rhodesian Front Principles and Policies (Salisbury, 1962).

2 W.H.H. Nicolle, “The Development of the Tribal Trust Land of Rhodesia.“ Paper delivered at the Natural Resources Board Conference on the Tribal Trust Land, at the University College in Salisbury, 2 and 3 February 1966.

3 For example, some early “Native Policy” was based on the Cape Colony's Glen Grey Act of 1894. See Chief Native Commissioner to Superintendent of Natives, Bulawayo, 6 May 1920 (Salisbury Archives, Native Department File N 3/10/6). There are, however, important differences between South African and Rhodesian “Native Policy.“

4 British White Paper Cmnd. 4835, “Rhodesia— Proposals for a Settlement“ (HMSO London, November 1971): 4-5.

5 British Parliamentary Paper Cmnd. 4964, “Rhodesia— Report of the Commission on Rhodesian Opinion under the Chairmanship of … Lord Pearce“ (HMSO London, May 1972): 157-9.

6 Ibid., 51, 187 and 192.

7 The Pearce Commission: Broadcast Statement by the Prime Minister … and a Statement by the Rhodesian Government (Government Printer, Salisbury, 23 May 1972) 4:12-16.

8 Address to National Affairs Association, Salisbury, by Bishop Muzorewa, 9 June 1972. Transcript issued by the Association.

9 T. Kirk, “Rhodesia's ‘Pro-Settlement Groups’ and the Anglo-Rhodesian Constitutional Dispute”, Issue, A Quarterly Journal of Atricanist Opinion (African Studies Association, Brandeis University, Massachusetts, 1973) III, 1.

10 Business and Financial Review , Salisbury, 26 April and 14 June 1973. Rhodesia Herald , 3 May 1973.

11 Address by Rev. F. Rea to Rotary Club of Salisbury, quoted in Rhodesia Herald , 9 March 1973.

12 See the judgement of Mr. Justice Beck in tetrial of a freedom fighter, quoted in Rhodesia Herald , 15 September 1973.

13 Evidence given by Bishop Muzorewa to the Pearce Commission, 28 January 1972. See Pearce Commission Report , p. 121.

14 Rhodesia Herald , 23 March 1973.

15 Parliamentary Debates , vol. 83, no. 19, col. 1340, 5 April 1973 (Salisbury).

16 Rhodesia Herald , 6 April 1973.

17 Rhodesian Financial Gazette , 18 May 1973. Sunday Mail , 27 May 1973.

18 Speech to ACCOR Congress at Victoria Falls, 3 May 1973, Commerce Rhodesia , (Salisbury, May 1973): 9-11. Cf. Rhodesia Herald , 4 May 1973.

19 Rhodesia Herald , 10 and 11 May 1973.

20 Ibid., 17 May 1973.

21 Parliamentary Debates , 2 May 1973, cols. 1469-70.

22 Sunday Mail , 6 May 1973. Bulawayo Chronicle, 7 May 1973.

23 Rhodesian Financial Gazette , 25 May 1973. Rhodesia Herald , 1 June 1973.

24 Rhodesia Herald , 15 June 1973.

25 Umbowo , May 1973.

26 Rhodisia Herald , 11 July 1973.

27 Moto , 9 June 1973. The hostility to the ANC of civil servants in Ministries charged with security matters is palpable. The Report of the Secretary for Internal Affairs for the year 1971 (Government Printer, Salisbury, 1972) contains an attack on African nationalism which is so intemperate as to lose all credibility. For example, the Secretary implies that the ANC alone created a situation at the time of the Pearce visit “in which rabble-rousing techniques, intimidation, and mob irresponsibility could be exploited by elements imbued with chaos ideology.” “As we know, ” he continues, “many sociologists support this ideology because they see it as a vehicle through which a political structure can be changed and communistic doctrines fulfilled.” (p. 2). A similar report by the Commissioner of the British South Africa Police is referred to later in this paper.

28 Speech to the Congress of the Association of Rural Councils, Salisbury, Rhodesia Herald , 14 June 1973.

29 Rhodesia Herald , 28 June 1973.

30 Parliamentary Debates , 29 June 1973, col. 644.

31 Ibid., 29 June 1973, cols. 640-2.

32 Sunday Mail , 1 July 1973.

33 Interview in BBC Focus on Africa broadcast, relayed by Radio Gaborones, Botswana, on 5 September 1973.

34 Rhodesian Financial Gazette , 5 July 1973. Business and Financial Review , 5 July 1973.

35 Speech at ceremonial opening of Jack Quinton bridge, Lower Sabi, Rhodesia Herald , 21 July 1973.

36 E.g. the speeches by S. Harris of ARnl and G.P.S. Lowe of ACCOR, printed in Business and Financial Review , 27 July 1973.

37 Rhodesia Party Introductory Manifesto (Bulawayo, n.d.): 3.

38 Rhodesia Herald , 19 July 1973.

39 Elements inside and outside the ANC strongly condemned this opportunism: e.g. Moto, 29 September 1973.

40 Surveys mounted by the Roman Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice indicated support for the ANC among the rural and urban population as a whole.

41 Sunday Mail , 8 July 1973. For a strongly-worded but judicious criticism of the editorial, see the analysis of it in Grope , the official newspaper of the Students Union at the University of Rhodesia, August 1973. The Sunday Mail has the biggist readership in the country.

42 African Times , 25 July and 15 August 1973.

43 Citizen , 6 July 1973. Sunday Mail , 29 July 1973.

44 Rhodesia Herald , 23 July 1973. Moto , 28 July 1973.

45 Rhodesia Herald , 28 September 1973.

46 Rhodesia Herald , 11 August 1973. Moto , 25 August 1973. Weekly Express , 25 August 1973.

47 Rhodesia Herald , 10 August 1973

48 Ibid., 15 August 1973.

49 Financial Mail (South Africa), 15 June 1973.

50 Parliamentary Debates , 1 August 1973.

51 Rhodesian Financial Gazette , 3 August 1973.

52 Speech to the first international dental congress at Victoria Falls: Rhodesia Herald , 1 August 1973.

53 Parliamentary Debates , 23 August 1973, col. 209.

54 Speech on opening the annual fete of the Matabeleland Division of the RF: Rhodesia Herald , 1 September 1973. An informed report on the RF Party Congress in September spoke of the delegates’ awareness that “here again was a Cabinet and Prime Minister fully in tune with the Party's thinking.“ Rhodesian Financial Gazette , 28 September 1973.

55 Rhodesia Herald , 8 October 1973. Compare the remarks in the article by J.Z. Maposa in Moto , 29 September 1973.

56 Rhodesia Herald , 2 August 1973.

57 Moto , 13 October 1973. The ANC Congress in March 1974 rejected voter registration.

58 Rhodesian Financial Gazette , 12 October 1973. It carried the same false reports earlier in 1973, see ibid., 6 April 1973. Citizen , 6 April 1973. The Sunday Mail , 14 October 1973, contains an emphatic denial of a split in the ANC.