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A constitutional referendum was held in Southern Rhodesia, then a constituent territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, on 26 July 1961. The new constitution was approved by about 66% of those who voted; turnout was 77%.
The referendum was held using the same franchise as elections to the Legislative Assembly, which excluded most Africans. [1]
Following three years of negotiations with the Southern Rhodesian government and other parties, the British government put forward a draft constitution on 13 June 1961. It provided for a parliamentary system, with a 65-seat parliament; [2] the previously common voters' roll was divided into two rolls, the "A" roll and the "B" roll, the latter of which had lower qualifications intended to make it easier for prospective voters to enter the political system. There were 50 "A"-roll constituencies and 15 larger "B"-roll districts, with a complicated mechanism of "cross-voting" allowing "B"-roll voters to slightly influence "A"-roll elections and vice versa. This system was theoretically non-racial, but in practice the "A" roll was largely white and the "B" roll was almost all black. [3]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| For | 42,004 | 65.79 |
| Against | 21,846 | 34.21 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 558 | – |
| Total | 64,408 | 100 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 83,486 | 77.15 |
| Source: Willson [4] | ||
In protest against the official referendum, the black nationalist National Democratic Party (NDP) ran its own poll, professedly based on "one man, one vote", on 23 July. This was peacefully operated, but reportedly amateur and potentially biased in its execution, garnering criticism from British officials, rival nationalists and other observers amidst its virtually unanimous rejection of the constitution. The British High Commission commented that voters in the NDP referendum appeared to be subject to intimidation by the NDP officials running the exercise, and that the votes did not seem to be secret. The rival Zimbabwe National Party called the NDP poll "phoney" and said it was designed "to hoodwink the African people". [5] There were many cases of people posting multiple ballots: two whites told the press they had voted twice and one black man proudly announced that he had voted 11 times. [5] After the government released the results of the official referendum, the NDP announced that their poll had garnered 467,189 votes against the constitution, and only 584 in favour—a reported majority of about 99.9% against. [5] According to historian J. R. T. Wood, the NDP referendum "smacked of farce"; [5] he highlights the fact that the general strike of black workers called by the NDP for the next day was adhered to by less than 10% of the black workforce. [5]
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| For | 584 | 0.12 |
| Against | 467,189 | 99.88 |
| Total | 467,773 | 100 |
| Source: Wood [5] | ||
Rhodesia, officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, which had been self-governing since achieving responsible government in 1923. A landlocked nation, Rhodesia was bordered by South Africa to the south, Bechuanaland to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, and Mozambique to the east. From 1965 to 1979, Rhodesia was one of two independent states on the African continent governed by a white minority of European descent and culture, the other being Apartheid South Africa.
Ian Douglas Smith was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. He was the country's first premier born and raised in Rhodesia, and led the predominantly white government that declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 following a prolonged dispute with the British government, which demanded black majority rule as a condition for independence. Smith remained Prime Minister for almost all of the 14 years of international isolation that followed for the unrecognised state, and he oversaw Rhodesia's security forces during most of the Bush War, which pitted the government against communist-funded black nationalist fighters. Smith remains a highly controversial figure.
Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that Southern Rhodesia or simply Rhodesia, a British territory in southern Africa that had governed itself since 1923, now regarded itself as an independent sovereign state. The culmination of a protracted dispute between the British and Rhodesian governments regarding the terms under which the latter could become fully independent, it was the first unilateral break from the United Kingdom by one of its colonies since the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. The UK, the Commonwealth and the United Nations all deemed Rhodesia's UDI illegal, and economic sanctions, the first in the UN's history, were imposed on the breakaway colony. Amid near-complete international isolation, Rhodesia continued as an unrecognised state with the assistance of South Africa and Portugal.
Sir Roland "Roy" Welensky was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
Elections in Zambia take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. The President and National Assembly are simultaneously elected for five-year terms.
The Rhodesian Action Party (RAP) was a political party in Rhodesia formed in 1977 by a group of MPs from the Rhodesian Front (RF) who were dissatisfied by the leadership of Ian Smith and his attempts to negotiate an 'internal settlement' with African nationalists. Twelve members of the Rhodesia House of Assembly joined the party when it was launched in May 1977, including Ted Sutton-Pryce, Reg Cowper, Ian Sandeman and former Rhodesian Front chairman Des Frost.
Elections in Southern Rhodesia were used from 1899 to 1923 to elect part of the Legislative Council and from 1924 to elect the whole of the Legislative Assembly which governed the colony. Since the granting of self-government in 1923, Southern Rhodesia used the Westminster parliamentary system as its basis of government. The Political party that had most of the seats in the Legislative Assembly became the government. The person in charge of this bloc was the Premier, later renamed Prime Minister, who then chose his cabinet from his elected colleagues.
Rhodesia had limited democracy in the sense that it had the Westminster parliamentary system with multiple political parties contesting the seats in parliament, but as the voting was dominated by the White settler minority, and Black Africans only had a minority level of representation at that time, it was regarded internationally as a racist country.
General elections were held in Southern Rhodesia on 14 December 1962. Voters elected 65 members of the Legislative Assembly. The election was notable for bringing to power the Rhodesian Front, initially under Winston Field, which set the colony on the course for its eventual Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
Ahrn Palley was an independent politician in Rhodesia who criticised the Smith administration and the Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Ian Smith described him as "one of the most able politicians this country has produced, and although our political philosophies did not coincide, we always respected one another and maintained friendly relations."
A referendum on the status of Southern Rhodesia was held in the colony on 27 October 1922. Voters, almost all of them White, were given the options of establishing responsible government or joining the Union of South Africa. After 59% voted in favour of responsible government, it was officially granted on 1 October 1923 with the implementation of the First Cabinet of Southern Rhodesia.
The colonial history of Southern Rhodesia is considered to be a time period from the British government's establishment of the government of Southern Rhodesia on 1 October 1923, to Prime Minister Ian Smith's unilateral declaration of independence in 1965. The territory of 'Southern Rhodesia' was originally referred to as 'South Zambezia' but the name 'Rhodesia' came into use in 1895. The designation 'Southern' was adopted in 1901 and dropped from normal usage in 1964 on the break-up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and Rhodesia became the name of the country until the creation of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979. Legally, from the British perspective, the name Southern Rhodesia continued to be used until 18 April 1980, when the name Republic of Zimbabwe was formally proclaimed.
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation or CAF, was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the self-governing British colony of Southern Rhodesia and the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It existed between 1953 and 1963.
A referendum on independence was held in Rhodesia on 5 November 1964. The question put to voters was, "Are you in favour of or against Rhodesia obtaining independence on the basis of the 1961 Constitution of Rhodesia?" The result was a landslide for the "yes" vote, which was the choice of over 90% of voters, although less than 15% of the voter roll was black. Prime Minister Ian Smith called an indaba with tribal leaders to gauge support, resulting in universal support among the tribal leaders, but Britain did not consider this representative of the majority black population as the tribal leaders were in the pay of the government. The following year, Smith's government made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, making the country a de facto independent state until returning to British colonial rule in 1979 following the Lancaster House Agreement. The British Government did not accept Rhodesian independence as they did not view the referendum as representative of all of Rhodesia.
The modern political history of Zimbabwe starts with the arrival of white people to what was dubbed Southern Rhodesia in the 1890s. The country was initially run by an administrator appointed by the British South Africa Company. The prime ministerial role was first created in October 1923, when the country achieved responsible government, with Sir Charles Coghlan as its first Premier. The third Premier, George Mitchell, renamed the post Prime Minister in 1933.
William John Harper was a politician, general contractor and Royal Air Force fighter pilot who served as a Cabinet minister in Rhodesia from 1962 to 1968, and signed that country's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain in 1965. Born into a prominent Anglo-Indian merchant family in Calcutta, Harper was educated in India and England and joined the RAF in 1937. He served as an officer throughout the Second World War and saw action as one of "The Few" in the Battle of Britain, during which he was wounded in action. Appalled by Britain's granting of independence to India in 1947, he emigrated to Rhodesia on retiring from the Air Force two years later.
Sir Thomas Hugh William Beadle, was a Rhodesian lawyer, politician and judge who served as Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia from March 1961 to November 1965, and as Chief Justice of Rhodesia from November 1965 until April 1977. He came to international prominence against the backdrop of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain in November 1965, upon which he initially stood by the British Governor Sir Humphrey Gibbs as an adviser; he then provoked acrimony in British government circles by declaring Ian Smith's post-UDI administration legal in 1968.
The Centre Party (CP) was a centre-left political party in Rhodesia. Founded in 1968, it was a multiracial party opposed to the policies of the country's Rhodesian Front-dominated white minority government. It dissolved in 1977.
Rhodesia, was a self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa. Until 1964, the territory was known as Southern Rhodesia, and less than a year before the name change the colony formed a part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and hosted its capital city, Salisbury. On 1 January 1964, the three parts of the Federation became separate colonies as they had been before the founding of the Federation on 1 August 1953. The demise of the short-lived union was seen as stemming overwhelmingly from black nationalist movements in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and both colonies were fast-tracked towards independence - Nyasaland first, as Malawi, on 6 July 1964 and Northern Rhodesia second, as Zambia, on 24 October. Southern Rhodesia, by contrast, stood firmly under white government, and its white population, which was far larger than the white populations elsewhere in the erstwhile Federation, was, in general, strongly opposed to the introduction of black majority rule. The Southern Rhodesian prime minister, Winston Field, whose government had won most of the federation's military and other assets for Southern Rhodesia, began to seek independence from the United Kingdom without introducing majority rule. However, he was unsuccessful and his own party, the Rhodesian Front, forced him to resign. Days prior to his resignation, on Field's request, Southern Rhodesia had changed its flag to a sky blue ensign defaced with the Rhodesian coat of arms, becoming the first British colony to use a sky blue ensign instead of a dark blue one.
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