John Bernard Pittman was a South African-born judge Rhodesian and Zimbabwean lawyer, politician, and judge.
The son of William Pittman, a South African legal academic and judge, John Pittman was born in Pretoria, Union of South Africa. [1] He was educated at St. Andrew's Preparatory School and Rhodes University. [1] During the Second World War, he served with the Union Defence Force as an artillery officer, losing a leg at the Battle of El Alamein.
He was called to the bar in 1947 and practiced in Johannesburg and Grahamstown until 1955, when he moved to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. He briefly went into politics, and acted as deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly for a time. A member of the United Federal Party, Pittman was on its left, and introduced a motion in 1959 to allow the admission of non-whites to the Southern Rhodesia public service.
He became a QC in 1969 and was appointed to the Water Court, eventually becoming the court's senior judge, as well as serving on numerous courts and boards. [1]
Pittman was promoted to the High Court of Rhodesia in 1976, the only judge to be promoted from the Water Court bench. He remained in office after Rhodesia's transition to majority rule. In 1980, he tried the ZANU-PF minister Edgar Tekere and his bodyguards for murder: Pittman voted to convict, but he was overruled by his two assessors. [2]
Rhodesia, officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979. During this fourteen-year period, Rhodesia served as the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia, and in 1980 it became modern day Zimbabwe.
Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia. It was initially administered, as were the two earlier protectorates, by the British South Africa Company (BSAC), a chartered company, on behalf of the British Government. From 1924, it was administered by the British Government as a protectorate, under similar conditions to other British-administered protectorates, and the special provisions required when it was administered by BSAC were terminated.
Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that 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.
The flag of Rhodesia changed with political developments in the country. At independence in 1965 the recently adopted flag of Southern Rhodesia was used, until a new flag was adopted in 1968. The 1968 flag remained in use following the declaration of the republic in 1970 and thus is associated with the end of the crown in Rhodesia. It was also initially the flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia until a new flag was adopted in September 1979.
The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Second Chimurenga, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia.
White Zimbabweans are a Southern African people of European descent. In linguistic, cultural, and historical terms, these people of European ethnic origin are mostly English-speaking descendants of British settlers. A small minority are either Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Afrikaners from South Africa or those descended from Greek, Portuguese, Italian, and Jewish immigrants.
Pieter Kenyon Fleming-Voltelyn van der Byl was a Rhodesian politician who served as his country's Foreign Minister from 1974 to 1979 as a member of the Rhodesian Front (RF). A close associate of Prime Minister Ian Smith, Van der Byl opposed attempts to compromise with the British government and domestic black nationalist opposition on the issue of majority rule throughout most of his time in government. However, in the late 1970s he supported the moves which led to majority rule and internationally recognised independence for Zimbabwe.
Sir Robert Clarkson Tredgold, KCMG, PC, was a Rhodesian barrister, judge and politician.
Lieutenant General George Peter Walls was a Rhodesian soldier. He served as the Head of the Armed Forces of Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War from 1977 until his exile from the country in 1980.
Godfrey Guwa Chidyausiku was a Zimbabwean judge and politician. He was involved in politics during Rhodesia's unilaterally declared independence, being a member of the Rhodesian House of Assembly.
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (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.
Sir Ernest Lucas Guest was a Rhodesian politician, lawyer and soldier. He held senior ministerial positions in the government, most notably as Minister for Air during the Second World War.
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.
Desmond Charles van Jaarsveldt is a Rhodesian-born South African retired rugby union player and former captain of the Springboks. He was nicknamed the "Bald Eagle" due to his pace on the wing and bald head. He became the first Rhodesian to captain South Africa. Upon retiring from playing, he acted as a coach and administrator for Rhodesian rugby during the transition of the country into Zimbabwe.
Rowan Cronjé was a Rhodesian politician who served in the cabinet under prime ministers Ian Smith and Abel Muzorewa, and was later a Zimbabwean MP. He emigrated to South Africa in 1985 and served in the government of Bophuthatswana.
Bennie GoldinQC was a Byelorussian-born, Zimbabwean lawyer and judge. He was a justice of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1981. Previously, he served on the High Court of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1980. Born in Nesvizh, Byelorussia, he grew up in Cape Town, immigrated to Salisbury after World War II, and later returned in 1981 to Cape Town where he served as a judge in Transkei.
Harry Elinder Davies, QC was a Rhodesian and Zimbabwean lawyer and judge.
John Richard Dendy Young, QC, SC was a Cape Colony-born lawyer, politician, and judge. Born in Cape Colony, Young joined the Public Service of Southern Rhodesia, before practising at the South Rhodesian Bar. He was a member of the legislatures of Southern Rhodesia and of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1948 until 1956, when he was appointed to the High Court of Southern Rhodesia.
Reginald Knight was a Southern Rhodesian politician and judge.