Ian Smith, who died last week, maintained white rule but became an unlikely hero for the black Zimbabweans suffering under the Mugabe dictatorshipRW Johnson
Ian Smith, the former Rhodesian prime minister, who made his unilateral declaration of independence from Britain in 1965 and fought a bitter rearguard action to prevent black majority rule, never lost the ability to inspire strong emotion. When he died last week, aged 88, he was still hated by many for his unrepentant belief that white rule was better for all races in Rhodesia.
It is quite common to hear him blamed for having created Robert Mugabe and having thus helped to father the human catastrophe of present-day Zimbabwe. Yet the odd truth is that in retirement after 1980, when Mugabe took over, Smith not only did not fade away but grew both in stature and popularity.
As Mugabe’s regime became steeped in blood and violence, Africans of all persuasions flocked to Smith’s house to consult him. The (all black) student body of Zimbabwe University gave him a standing ovation for his ringing condemnation of “the gangsters”, as he always called Mugabe’s corrupt ruling mafia.