“But we're all Rhodesians
And we'll fight through thick and thin
We'll keep our land a free land
Stop the enemy coming in!"
"We'll keep them north of the Zambezi
Till that river's running dry
This mighty land will prosper
For Rhodesians never die!”
Rhodesia, the Jewel of Africa, is home to the hardiest group of bastards you’ll ever meet. It is also home to one of the world’s last white supremacist states. Unlike its neighbor South Africa, however, Rhodesia is engulfed in chaos and violent misery. So what caused this state to devolve into this brutality, this desperation? Well, that’s a story of misfortune, misery, and how a people pushed around for too long finally said ‘no’.
Let’s start with how this mess was caused in the first place.
1973. The Estado Novo Regime was beginning to show cracks in its veneer. People wanted something different than what they’re given by the regime. Some wanted the ability to express their god-given freedoms, while others wanted something more...authoritarian. Enter General Kaúlza de Arriaga, the military commander for the then-Portuguese Mozambique Province. He was a man disgruntled by the current state of affairs in the metropole, seeing the current prime minister Marcelo Caetano as nothing more than a weak willed, centrist technocrat. To remedy this malignancy, Arriaga decided to try something bold; he would attempt a coup to purge the technocrats, restore dignity to the regime, and to bring back glory for the Republic. Yet he needed someone to serve as his puppet. He knew he couldn’t form a legitimate government by force, so he needed to show to the public that he nominally respected state functions. What he formulated was simple; install Adriano Moreira as PM after removing Caetano, and eventually wait for the Council of Ministers/Corporate Chamber to appoint him as President..
January 12, 1974. The stage was set. The coup commenced...Caetano was forced to resign in a rather timely way, and with President Tomás planning to resign on his 80th birthday, the country felt barely any disturbance. Soon afterwards, Arrianga began to take military action. The Alcora Exercise was strengthened, mainly in the form of shared military operations and technology-sharing agreements. Next was the reprioritization of the military. As of 1974, the Guinean Front was consuming 50% of the defense budget, not to mention troops that could be redirected towards Angola or Mozambique. Almost immediately, the situation in Guinea was rectified- in exchange for independence, the Guinean PAIGC would cease hostilities with the Portuguese regime. With the regime freed from the Guinean quagmire, Portugal was free to concentrate offensives against FRELIMO, MPLA, and the rest. By the time Arriaga was appointed as President, the conflict in the Overseas Provinces has died down. Although the multiple revolutionary fronts would continue fighting, they had effectively lost their ability to wage major offensives against the Portugese government.
1981. Although FRELIMO and MPLA could no longer wage active war against Portugal, the Soviet Union was still all too happy to funnel weapons to the two organizations through Congo-Brazzaville and Tanzania. Back in the metropole, things were starting to unravel. The Arriaga Presidency was starting to decompose. The Ultras and corporatists deadlocked the government between them. People began to starve, supported only by a meager social security net. And so began the People’s Movement began. Fueled by their anger at being starved, they began to initiate mass protests throughout the metropole, and even in Northern Angola/Southern Mozambique. Suffice to say, the Ultras were not going to deal with threats to their order. The protests were brutally crushed, with explicit orders to shoot anyone) who threatened the regime.
Yet oddly enough, this didn’t stop the protests. If anything, this made the protests even worse. Peaceful protests became violent. Violent protests became riots, and soon, riots became a full on revolution. Soon after the news spread, the government could no longer handle the constant stream of protests, riots, and guerilla wars in the overseas provinces and the metropole. Eventually, theUltras were overthrown by another Army faction. A more progressive faction, the MFA, would seize power. And when they did, did things go downhill fast. Soon after the formal declaration of independence of Angola and Mozambique in 1981, and the acceptance of said declaration of independence by the People’s Salvational Council, did the Ultras declare a separate government, the National Council for Restoration. Neither side recognized each other, and soon a full on civil war broke out in the metropole, tearing it apart.
Why is it important to divulge information about the Portuguese colonial debacle? Well, it is simple, the Portuguese were a major contributor to the Rhodesian military, providing weapons and assistance to the fledgling republic. It also explains the events that preceded the Portuguese Civil War.
1982. With the Mozambican and Angolan states beginning to rear their ugly head towards the Rhodesian state (never mind their own shaky internal politics), the Rhodesians found themselves quagmired in a renewed Bush War. With ZANU/ZAPU now receiving funding from the then-tumultuous Angola and Mozambique, the amount of activities these two groups could do into the country only began to increase as the months went by. Incursions intensified, each more brutal than the last. The nationalists had the conviction that the Rhodesians could not last more than five years, given how they had the backing of two communist behemoths (that being China and the USSR), and how Portugal, Rhodesia’s ally, fell into civil strife. Ian Smith, Rhodesia’s Prime Minister, saw the writing on the wall, and began casting about desperately to save his nation.
January 1984. Salisbury. Ian Smith, with the approval of his cabinet, began to draft an agreement, which would keep the Rhodesian nation alive. Fear drove them to proclaim independence, and fear drove them to the negotiating table.
But first, they needed to meet the enemy.
July 24th, 1984. Salisbury. Smith received a phone call from a high ranking official from the American CIA, going under the codename Rho. Rho proposed a deal- in exchange for negotiating with Joshua Nkomo, head of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union, they would negotiate for financial assistance against ZANU, as well as for their deteriorating economy. This was a godsend for the economic advisors of the regime. The economy was suffering from increasingly arbitrary sanctions, not to mention the surrounding states blocking off all trade save for South Africa. But this was also a risky move. Negotiating with a force that wanted nothing more than majority rule could spell a ‘white flight’. Yet the allure for a future for their embattled nation was very enticing.
So, with no other options left, Nkomo (who was informed of the proposed agreement) and Smith agreed to convene at a neutral spot. They met near the outskirts of Kariba, near the artificial lake. With them together, unarmed, they began to negotiate the future of the country of Rhodesia. To start off, would the country still be called Rhodesia? Despite certain objections by the white delegates, who suggested Rhodesia be the official name of the country, the Africans were adamant that a different name would be used. After all, why should they be proud to call themselves the name of an infamous colonial explorer? Ultimately, a compromise was made; the country was to be called Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, and the delegations awkwardly moved on.
Next came the agreement that everyone knew would either make or break the negotiations; representation. The main concern brought up was the issue of the majority exerting control over the minority, and ultimately kicking out said minority from their homes, their jobs, and ultimately their country. What the blacks feared was their voice not being heard well enough, and the white’s fear was not being heard at all. What to do? The answer as simple, but it draw some controversy among the black delegates-a white roll. A white roll designed to give 15 of the 100 seats in the House to the white minority, while the rest would be decided through democratic vote. To account for an eventual demographic shift, the proportion would be taken into account every 10 years after the agreement. Land reform was itself was another major issue. Land reform was itself was another major issue. Since the majority-Ndebele ZAPU were the first group willing to compromise with the Rhodesian government, they get to have their voice heard in the process. The Matabeleland provinces, the Ndebele homeland, would experience the bulk of the land reforms. The policy was simple; a 'willing seller, willing buyer' program, where the government would purchase the land, and sell it back to the Ndebele peoples at a fixed rate, thus ensuring a fairer deal as well as equitable land plots. Another thing that came to the table was segregation. This was a no brainer, even to the whites. Rho expressly informed them that any form of segregation was off the table, and that anything short of economic and legal desegregation would result in the US rescinding its agreements with the Rhodesian government. Eventually, the economic and social segregation policies implemented in the 60’s and 70’s would be abolished, allowing for greater economic and general mobility within the countr
While there were smaller details, such as integration of ZAPU into the armed forces, there was a general consensus that the now christened Kariba Accords would settle the tumultuous era that Zimbabwe was going through for the past 19 years. Elections were held, and Nkomo became the first president of the Republic.
At least, that’s what everyone thought. In reality, things were about to get worse.
Much, much worse.
September 1984. News of the Kariba Accords reached Robert Mugabe, head of the Zimbabwe African National Union. Suffice to say, he was enraged over ‘our comrades betrayal to the Rhodesian pigs’. The only thing that enraged Mugabe even more was the apparent favoritism of the Ndebele over the Shona, who constituted a majority of the population. Mugabe, an ethnic Shona, would not tolerate this obvious favoritism. Reports came in from the Shona within ZAPU that the Republic would not try to include ZANU in the negotiations, furthering Mugabe’s radicalism. He declared the Patriotic Front dead, and vowed to continue the armed struggle, ‘even if it meant killing every last white pig’. Yet he wasn’t the only one. Throughout the northern and eastern regions of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, news of the Kariba Accords sparked mass unrest throughout the Shona villages and border towns. They were being sidelined in favor of another minority, and they weren’t going to have any of it.
October 1984. Sanyatwe. Protests sparked across the city, demanding that they have their voice heard. Suffice to say, the local police were worried. They had to deal with constant attacks by ZANU over the years, and they were not going to deal with what appeared to be a ZANU front. Yet they knew damn well that if they fired, the city would burn. All it took for it to get violent was one officer, and an easy trigger finger...
Bang.
And just like that, the city erupted in an orgy of violence.
It was only the first to fall. All across Manicaland and Mashonaland, local forces began to protest the conditions, and taking hints from Sanyatwe, they quickly began to shed blood. Raids, riots, and clashes were all too common within the north and east. The Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government feared this spreading throughout the country, creating a vacuum to be filled by insurgents and foreign fighters.
Yet that is exactly what happened.
Fast forward a couple of months, and ZANU, a previously hated organization by the majority of the population, became a movement; one which has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers in the span of a year. Soon ZANU became a movement not just for the liberation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, but for the advancement of the Shona peoples over every other group, be they black, white, etc. Their gains increased. First it was Marandellas, which was human-waved into surrendering, then Rusape. Soon afterwards, they began to seize major military installations in the east, by 1986, they controlle a third of the country. This was compounded by the FRELIMO-ruled Mozambique, who supplied them more directly. Given how Zimbabwe-Rhodesia was now in a full-on civil war, one could argue that covering up their activities didn’t matter, and now they could freely send in advisors, troops, and weapons into a war-torn country. ZANU’s momentum was on the rise.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe-Rhodesian government, which, despite holding onto a good chunk of the infrastructure, was slowly being whittled away on all fronts. With President Nkomo directing the war effort, more and more executive actions were taken in order to secure the country. After the Salisbury bombings of ‘88, martial law was declared through the lands that the Salisbury government held While this was to ‘ensure safety’, all it did was rile up the remaining Shona to join ZANU and conduct guerrilla tactics within Zimbabwe-Rhodesia’s territory. Perhaps the last blow was the ever increasing “Flight of the Rhodesians”. That is to say, the fleeing of whites from the country at a rate of 2000 per year. This was worrying to the Nkomo government, who feared a flight of intellectuals and technical workers from the country, thus hindering the war effort. In response to this, he issued restrictions on travel within the territory that was not related to the military. Yet people still found a way to leave the country, desperate to leave the hell that had become of their jewel.
A third player was the Zimbabwe African National Front for Unity, or ZANFU. Supplied by the Zambian government, ZANFU is effectively a front for Zambia to control Lake Kariba and, as a side goal, to establish their own government in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. A government that is beholden to their own interests. ZANFU initially started as a fringe faction within ZANU, disgruntled at Mugabe’s absolutism and apparent cronyism. However, Zambia, eager for any chance to remove the Nkomo regime, began to arm this fringe faction. With Zambian support they began a march to Kariba, one of the largest cities in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia. After a long slog, they managed to conquer the city, expel the whites, and proclaimed ZANFU, angering Mugabe in the process. Soon after that, they began to march southwest, surrounding the artificial lake, and pushing towards the city of Wankie, a strategic Zimbabwe-Rhodesian stronghold. Despite these stunning military victories, it would be wise to remember that ZANFU is nothing more than a puppet for the Zambians, who want to profit from the mess that is Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and gain power and influence among the destruction.
Meanwhile, the rest of the country is nothing more than a hodgepodge of breakaway factions, militias, and rogue squads. This isn’t even taking into account the mass exodus of supremacist militias into the country, white or black. With the war entering its 4th year, one can see it as the reversal of everything the Rhodesians had worked to build. The breadbasket of Africa was now engulfed in civil war and famine. It seems as if Ian Smith’s greatest success…
Turned out to be his greatest folly.