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Zimbabwe Rhodesia

Zimbabwe Rhodesia was a state that existed from June 1 to December 12, 1979, preceded by Rhodesia and followed by Southern Rhodesia briefly, and then Zimbabwe. An Internal Settlement between the Ian Smith|Smith administration of Rhodesia and moderate African nationalist parties not involved in the Rhodesian Bush War led to the end of white minority government and the birth of biracial rule.

Naming

As early as 1960, African nationalist political organizations in Rhodesia agreed that the country's name should be "Zimbabwe" and used that name as part of the titles of their organizations. The internal settlement government was intended to be a partnership between the existing Rhodesian government and the black African population, and that government therefore adopted a combined name.

Constitution

Adapting the constitution of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Unilateral Declaration of Independence (Rhodesia)|UDI), the Republic of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia was governed by a Prime Minister and Cabinet chosen from the majority party in a 100 member House of Assembly. A 40 member Senate acted as the upper House, and both together chose a figurehead President in whose name the government was conducted.

Legislative branch

House of Assembly

Of the 100 members of the House of Assembly, 72 were 'common roll' members for whom the electorate was every adult citizen. All of these members were Africans. 20 seats were elected by mostly white constituencies using the previous electoral roll of Rhodesia; although this did not actually exclude non-whites, it was very rare for black Africans to meet the qualification requirements. A delimitation commission sat in 1978 to determine how to reduce the previous fifty constituencies to 20. The remaining eight seats were for white non-constituency members, and were elected by the other 92 members of the House of Assembly once their election was complete. In the Zimbabwe Rhodesia general election, 1979|only election, the United African National Council won a majority in the common roll while the Rhodesian Front won all the white seats.

Senate

The Senate of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia had 40 members. Ten members each were returned by the white members of the House of Assembly and the common roll members, and five members each by the council of Chiefs of Mashonaland and Matabeleland. The remaining members were directly appointed by the President under the advice of the Prime Minister.

Executive branch

President

The President of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia was elected by the members of the Parliament, sitting together. At the election on May 28, 1979, Josiah Zion Gumede of the UANCLibrary of Congress Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division, United States Congress. ''Chronologies of Major Developments in Selected Areas of Foreign Affairs.'' and Timothy Ngundu Bateson Ndlovu of the United National Federal Party were nominated. Gumede won by 80 votes to 33, as reported in the ''Daily Telegraph'' of May 29, 1979.

Prime Minister

Starting with 51 seats out of 100, Abel Muzorewa of the United African National Council (UANC) was appointed as Prime Minister. He formed a joint government with Ian Smith, the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia, who was a Minister without Portfolio, and also attempted to include the other African parties who had lost the election. Rhodesian Front members served as Muzorewa's Ministers of Justice, Agriculture, and Finance. White control over the country's civil service, judiciary, police and armed forces continued. However, once in office, Muzorewa sought to drop 'Rhodesia' from the country's name, and in fact adopted a new national flag that featured the Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Bird|soapstone bird. The national airline, Air Rhodesia, was also renamed Air Zimbabwe. The name did manage to appear on some issues of Rhodesia stamps overprinted with "ZimbabweRhodesia" postage stamps; issues of 1978 still used "Rhodesia," and the next stamp issues were in 1980, after the change to just "Zimbabwe," and were inscribed accordingly.

End

The Lancaster House Agreement stipulated that control over the country be returned to the United Kingdom in preparation for elections to be held in the spring of 1980. On December 11, 1979, the Constitution of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (Amendment) (No. 4) Act received Presidential Assent and Christopher Soames, Baron Soames|Lord Soames arrived the next day to take control. The name of the country formally reverted to Southern Rhodesia at this time, although the name Zimbabwe Rhodesia remained in many of the country's institutions.

References

Related Images

- UANC campaign T-shirt, 1979.

Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL

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