This article lists the heads of state of Zimbabwe from the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) of Rhodesia in 1965 to the present day.
From 1965 to 1970 the head of state under the UDI was the Monarch in person of Elizabeth II, who simultaneously reigned as the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms.
Ian Smith's government continued to affirm allegiance to Elizabeth II as Queen of Rhodesia from the UDI until 1970, but this was not acknowledged by the international community.
The 'Monarch' was represented in Rhodesia by the Officer Administrating of the Government, because Smith and his cabinet ignored Sir Humphrey Gibbs the Governor of Southern Rhodesia.
Rhodesia became a republic under the Constitution of 1969, adopted following the 1969 constitutional referendum, and the 'Monarch' and Officer Administrating of the Government were replaced by a ceremonial President of Rhodesia .
Initially, the territory was referred to as "South Zambezia", a reference to the River Zambezi, until the name "Rhodesia" came into use in 1895. This was in honour of Cecil Rhodes, the British empire-builder and key figure during the British expansion into southern Africa. The British government agreed that Rhodes' company, the British South Africa Company (BSAC), would administer the territory stretching from the Limpopo to Lake Tanganyika under charter as a protectorate. Queen Victoria signed the charter in 1889. The territory north of the Zambezi was the subject of separate treaties with African chiefs: today, it forms the country of Zambia. The designation "Southern Rhodesia" was first used officially in 1898 in the Southern Rhodesia Order in Council of 20 October 1898, which applied to the area south of the Zambezi, [1] and was more common after the BSAC merged the administration of the two northern territories as Northern Rhodesia in 1911.
On 7 October 1964 the Southern Rhodesian government announced that when Northern Rhodesia achieved independence as Zambia, the Southern Rhodesian government would officially become known as the Rhodesian Government and the colony would become known as Rhodesia. [2] On 23 October of that year, the Minister of Internal Affairs notified the Press that the Constitution would be amended to make this official. The Legislative Assembly then passed an Interpretation Bill to declare that the colony could be referred to as Rhodesia. The Bill received its third reading on 9 December 1964, and passed to the Governor for assent.
On 11 November 1965, following a brief but solemn consensus, Rhodesia's leading statesmen issued their country's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). [3] [4] This was immediately denounced as an "act of rebellion against the Crown" in the United Kingdom, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson promised that the illegal action would be short-lived. [5] [6] Initially, the state retained its pledged loyalty to Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, recognizing her as Queen of Rhodesia . However, few seemed to initially realize that Rhodesia was no longer within the Commonwealth's direct sphere of influence and British rule was now a constitutional fiction; Salisbury remained virtually immune to credible metropolitan leverage.
No. | Portrait | Monarch (Birth–Death) | Purported reign | Royal House | Prime Minister | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Duration | |||||
1 | Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) | 11 November 1965 | 2 March 1970 | 4 years, 111 days | Windsor | Smith |
The monarch's powers were the same as prior to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence. However they were de facto exercised by the Officer Administering the Government (Clifford Dupont) as the Queen's de jure representative.
During a two-proposition referendum held in 1969, the proposal for severing all remaining ties to the Crown passed by a majority of 61,130 votes to 14,327. Rhodesia declared itself a republic on 2 March 1970.
Under the 1969 Constitution, the first constitution of the Republic of Rhodesia, the President replaced the monarch as ceremonial head of state. The President was elected by Parliament. In the event of a vacancy the President of the Senate served as Acting President.
No. | President | Term of office Duration in years and days | Party | Previous office | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Clifford Dupont GCLM ID (1905–1978) | 2 March 1970 | 31 December 1975 | Rhodesian Front (RF) | Administrator of the Government (1965–1970) | — | |
5 years and 305 days | |||||||
– | Henry Everard GCLM ICD DSO TD (1897–1980) | 31 December 1975 | 14 January 1976 | Rhodesian Front (RF) | General Manager of Rhodesia Railways (1953–1958) | [7] | |
15 days | |||||||
2 | John Wrathall GCLM ID (1913–1978) | 14 January 1976 | 31 August 1978 † | Rhodesian Front (RF) | Minister of Finance (1964–1976) | — | |
2 years and 230 days | |||||||
– | Henry Everard GCLM ICD DSO TD (1897–1980) | 31 August 1978 | 1 November 1978 | Rhodesian Front (RF) | General Manager of Rhodesia Railways (1953–1958) | [7] | |
63 days | |||||||
– | Jack Pithey GOLM ICD CBE (1903–1984) | 1 November 1978 | 5 March 1979 | Rhodesian Front (RF) | President of the Rhodesian Senate (1970–1979) | — | |
125 days | |||||||
– | Henry Everard GCLM ICD DSO TD (1897–1980) | 5 March 1979 | 1 June 1979 | Rhodesian Front (RF) | General Manager of Rhodesia Railways (1953–1958) | [7] | |
89 days |
Under pressure from the international community to satisfy the civil rights movement by Blacks in Rhodesia, an "Internal Settlement" was drawn up between the Ian Smith administration of Rhodesia and moderate African nationalist parties not involved in armed resistance. Meanwhile, the government continued to battle armed resistance from both Soviet and Chinese backed Marxist liberation movements it referred to as "terrorists"- the Rhodesian Bush War was an extension of the Cold War, being a proxy conflict between the West and East, similar to those in Vietnam and Korea.
The "Internal Settlement" agreement led to relaxation of education, property and income qualifications for voter rolls, resulting in the first ever Black majority electorate. The country's civil service, judiciary, police and armed forces continued to be administered by the same officials as before, of whom most were Whites, due to the composition of the upper-middle class of the period. [8]
No. | President | Term of office Duration in years and days | Party | Previous office | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Josiah Zion Gumede OLG (1919–1989) | 1 June 1979 | 12 December 1979 | United African National Council (UANC) | None | |
195 days |
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. From 12 December 1979 to 17 April 1980, Zimbabwe Rhodesia was again the British colony of Southern Rhodesia. On 18 April 1980, Southern Rhodesia became the independent Republic of Zimbabwe.
No. | Portrait | President | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Party | Election |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Canaan Banana (1936–2003) | 18 April 1980 | 31 December 1987 | 7 years, 257 days | ZANU | 1980 1986 | |
2 | Robert Mugabe (1924–2019) | 31 December 1987 | 21 November 2017 [a] | 29 years, 325 days | ZANU–PF | 1990 1996 2002 2008 2013 | |
– | Phelekezela Mphoko (born 1940) Acting | 21 November 2017 | 24 November 2017 | 3 days | ZANU–PF | – | |
3 | Emmerson Mnangagwa (born 1942) | 24 November 2017 | Incumbent | 7 years, 13 days | ZANU–PF | 2018 2023 |
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.
An administrator in the constitutional practice of some countries in the Commonwealth is a person who fulfils a role similar to that of a governor or a governor-general.
Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked, self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South Zambesia until annexation by Britain, at the behest of Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company. The bounding territories were Bechuanaland (Botswana), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Portuguese Mozambique (Mozambique) and the Transvaal Republic.
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. With the help of the Commonwealth Secretariat, members of the Commonwealth were able to cooperate and advise Rhodesian Africans on policy. Amid near-complete international isolation, Rhodesia continued as an unrecognised state with the assistance of South Africa and Portugal.
Clifford Walter Dupont was a British-born Rhodesian politician who served in the internationally unrecognised positions of officer administrating the government and president. Born in London and qualifying as a solicitor, Dupont served during the Second World War as an officer of the British Royal Artillery in North Africa before first visiting Southern Rhodesia in 1947. He returned a year later, started a ranch and emigrated full-time during the early 1950s, by which time the country had become a territory of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
The British South Africa Company was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expected mineral wealth of Mashonaland but united because of common economic interests and to secure British government backing. The company received a Royal Charter modelled on that of the British East India Company. Its first directors included The 2nd Duke of Abercorn, Rhodes himself, and the South African financier Alfred Beit. Rhodes hoped BSAC would promote colonisation and economic exploitation across much of south-central Africa, as part of the "Scramble for Africa". However, his main focus was south of the Zambezi, in Mashonaland and the coastal areas to its east, from which he believed the Portuguese could be removed by payment or force, and in the Transvaal, which he hoped would return to British control.
Rhodesia, known initially as Zambesia, is a historical region in southern Africa whose formal boundaries evolved between the 1890s and 1980. Demarcated and named by the British South Africa Company (BSAC), which governed it until the 1920s, it thereafter saw administration by various authorities. It was bisected by a natural border, the Zambezi. The territory to the north of the Zambezi was officially designated Northern Rhodesia by the company, and has been Zambia since 1964; that to the south, which the company dubbed Southern Rhodesia, became Zimbabwe in 1980. Northern and Southern Rhodesia were sometimes informally called "the Rhodesias".
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 governor of Southern Rhodesia was the representative of the British monarch in the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia from 1923 to 1980. The governor was appointed by the Crown and acted as the local head of state, receiving instructions from the British Government.
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. It is thus an example of a state which practiced herrenvolk democracy.
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.
A double referendum was held in Rhodesia on 20 June 1969, in which voters were asked whether they were in favour of or against a) the adoption of a republican form of government, and b) the proposals for a new Constitution, as set out in a white paper and published in a Gazette Extraordinary on 21 May 1969. Both proposals were approved. The country was subsequently declared a republic on 2 March 1970.
Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth of Nations have had a controversial and stormy diplomatic relationship. Zimbabwe is a former member of the Commonwealth, having withdrawn in 2003, and the issue of Zimbabwe has repeatedly taken centre stage in the Commonwealth, both since Zimbabwe's independence and as part of the British Empire.
The president of Rhodesia was the head of state of Rhodesia from 1970 to 1979. As Rhodesia reckoned itself a parliamentary republic rather than a presidential republic at the time, the president's post was almost entirely ceremonial, and the real power continued to be vested in Rhodesia's prime minister, Ian Smith. Two individuals held the office of president, while two others served as acting presidents. Most were of British descent, but Clifford Dupont, the longest-serving, was of Huguenot stock.
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.
Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke and another [1969] 1 AC 645 is a decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on United Kingdom constitutional law and the constitutional law of Rhodesia. The case was brought by Stella Madzimbamuto, to challenge the detention of her husband, Daniel Madzimbamuto, by the government of Rhodesia. The case raised the issue of the legality of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence made by Rhodesia in 1965. The case is often cited in relation to the legal status of constitutional conventions in United Kingdom constitutional law.
Sir John Charles Rowell Fieldsend, QC was a judge who served as the first Chief Justice of Zimbabwe. He also served as a judge in several British overseas territories.
Queen of Rhodesia was the title asserted for Elizabeth II as Rhodesia's constitutional head of state following the country's Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom. However, the position only existed under the Rhodesian constitution of 1965 and remained unrecognised elsewhere in the world. The British government, along with the United Nations and almost all governments, regarded the declaration of independence as an illegal act and nowhere else was the existence of the British monarch having separate status in Rhodesia accepted. With Rhodesia becoming a republic in 1970, the status or existence of the office ceased to be contestable.
The Southern Rhodesia Act 1965 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was designed to reaffirm British legal rule in Southern Rhodesia after Rhodesia had unilaterally declared independence. In practice, it only enforced the status of Southern Rhodesia as a British colony in British constitutional theory as the Rhodesian government did not recognise it.
The Lion and Tusk was the main logo of the British South Africa Company (BSAC) and later as a state symbol of Rhodesia. The logo was used following the Company being set up during the scramble for Africa and was used as they governed Rhodesia. Following the company relinquishing control of Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the symbol fell out of favour with the Rhodesian public. However, following the Rhodesian republic being declared in 1970, the Lion and Tusk symbol was adopted as a state symbol to replace the British Empire's Royal crown until the establishment of Zimbabwe in 1980.