Whites in Zimbabwe

The first whites of Zimbabwe are thought to have visited the kingdom of the Shona Munhumutapa rulers in the 1700s, and were Portuguese traders and soldiers. Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia) was selected as a settlement colony by South African, British (largely Scottish) and Afrikaner colonists from the 1890s onwards, following the subjugation of the Matabele (Ndebele) and Shona nations by the British South Africa Company. The white soldiers who assisted in the subjugation were each given 3,000 acre (or more) land grants, and blacks living on this land became tenants. Later, Land Apportionment and Tenure acts reserved extensive areas for white ownership, which gave rise to cases of blacks being excluded from land that they had worked for generations. This resulted in a major feature of the Rhodesian economy - the "white farm". The white farm was typically a large mechanised estate, owned by a white family and employing hundreds of blacks. Many white farms provided housing, schools and clinics for black employees and their families. At the time of independence in 1980, over 40% of the country's farming land was contained within 5,000 white farms. It was claimed that these farms provided 40% of the country's GDP and up to 60% of its foreign earnings.

The Census of May 3, 1921 found that Southern Rhodesia had a total population of 899,187 of whom 33,620 were Europeans, 1,998 were Coloured (mixed races), 1,250 Asiatics, 761,790 Bantu natives of Southern Rhodesia and 100,529 Bantu aliens. Official Year Book of the Colony of Southern Rhodesia, No. 1, 1924 (Art Printing and Publishing Works, Salisbury, 1924) The following year, Southern Rhodesians rejected, in a referendum, the option of becoming a province of the Union of South Africa. Instead, the country became a self-governing British colony. It never gained full Dominion status, although unlike other colonies, it was treated as a de facto Dominion, with its Prime Minister attending the Commonwealth Prime Minister's Conference.

The growth of the white community

In 1891, before Southern Rhodesia was established as a territory, it was estimated that there were about 1,500 Europeans resident there. At the first Census in 1904, there were 12,596, growing to 14,007 three years later. The 1911 Census found 23,606 Europeans resident, and in 1921 the figure had grown to 33,620. Of these, 6,830 lived in Bulawayo, 5,134 in Salisbury, 1,634 in Umtali and 925 in Gwelo.

Large-scale white emigration to Rhodesia did not begin until after the Second World War, and at its peak in the late 1960s Rhodesia's white population consisted of as many as 270,000. There were influxes of white imigrants in the late 60s and early 70s, coming from former European colonies in Africa. At least 15,000 whites migrated from Zambia to Rhodesia in the period 1965 to 1968. For a time, Rhodesia provided something of a haven for whites who were retreating from black rule elsewhere in Africa. However, it should be noted that whites never amounted to more than 5% to 6% of the country's total population.

Various factors encouraged the growth of the white (or European) population of Southern Rhodesia. These included the prosperity of the economy in the post-War period and the fact that the National Party victory in the 1948 South African general election made that country less friendly to British settlement and investment than was previously the case. Also, as early as the 1950s it was apparent that white rule would continue for longer in Rhodesia than it would in other British colonies such as Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and Kenya.

Southern Rhodesia was run by a white minority government and in 1965 that government declared itself independent through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence ('UDI'). The UDI project eventually failed, after a period of UN economic sanctions and a civil war known as the Bush War. British colonial rule returned in December 1979 (as 'The British Dependency of Southern Rhodesia') and then the country became the independent state of Zimbabwe in April 1980.

One characteristic of white settlement in Rhodesia was that the white community kept itself largely separate from the Black and Asian communities in the country. Urban whites lived in separate areas of town, and whites had their own education, healthcare and recreational facilities. Up to the time of independence, sex between blacks and whites was illegal. A proposal by Garfield Todd (Prime Minister, 1953-1958) to legalise sexual relations between white men and black women was viewed as dangerously radical. The proposal was rejected and was one factor that lead to the political demise of Todd.Guardian: Obituaries: Sir Garfield Todd

Rhodesian whites had enjoyed a very high standard of living. The Land Tenure Act had reserved 50% of agricultural land for white ownership and black labour costs were low (around US$40 per month in 1975). In the context of an agricultural economy, the social significance of these factors cannot be overstated. Public spending on education, healthcare and other social services was heavily weighted towards provision for whites. Most of the better paid jobs in public service were reserved for whites. In 1975, the average annual income per head for Rhodesian whites was around US$8,000 (with income tax at a marginal rate of 5%) - making them one of the richest communities in the world.Propoganda: The Other Rhodesian War

At independence probably around 38% of white Zimbabweans were UK-born, with slightly fewer born in Rhodesia and around 20% from elsewhere in Africa. The majority of whites were relatively recent arrivals in the country and they showed little hesitation about moving on again when circumstances changed. The white Rhodesian/Zimbabwean accent has been heavily influenced by that of the white South Africans, although it is markedly less clipped, and the vocabulary is similar to that of South African English.

Post Independence

The country gained its independence as Zimbabwe in April 1980, under a ZANU-PF government lead by Robert Mugabe.

Following the country's independence, the country's whites lost their former privileged position. A generous social welfare net (including both education and healthcare) that had supported whites in Rhodesia disappeared almost in an instant. Blacks started to replace whites in many public sector jobs and some international companies operating in Zimbabwe started to appoint blacks to supervisory and management positions for the first time. The result was that white emigration gathered pace in the immediate post-independence period. About 49 per cent of emigrants left to settle in South Africa, many of whom were Afrikaans speakers, 29 per cent in the United Kingdom and most of the remainder going to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.W.G. Eaton, A Chronicle of Modern Sunlight, published by Innovision, Rohnert Park, California, 1996 Many of these emigrants identify themselves as Rhodesian.

The lifting of UN imposed economic sanctions and the end of the Bush War at the time of independence produced an immediate 'peace dividend'. Renewed access to world capital markets made it possible to finance major new infrastructure developments in transport and schools. One area of economic growth was tourism, catering in particular to visitors from Europe and North America. Many whites found work in this sector. Another area of growth was horticulture, involving the cultivation of flowers, fruits and vegetables which were air-freighted to market in Europe. Many white farmers were involved in this and in 2002 it was claimed that 8% of horticultural imports into Europe were sourced in Zimbabwe. SADC newsletter : Eddie Cross interview The economic-migrant element among the white population had departed quickly after independence, leaving behind those whites with deeper roots in the country. The country settled and the white population stabilised.

It should be noted that the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement, which was the basis for independence, had precluded any meaningful form of compulsory land redistribution for a period of at least 10 years. The pattern of land ownership established during the Rhodesian state therefore survived for some time after independence. Those whites who were prepared to adapt to the situation they found themselves in were therefore able to continue enjoying a very comfortable existence.

By the mid-1990s it is thought that around 70,000 whites remained in Zimbabwe. In spite of this small number, the white Zimbabwean minority maintained control of much of the economy through its investment in commercial farms, industry and tourism. However, an on-going programme of land reforms dislodged many white farmers. The level of violence associated with these reforms in some rural areas made the position of the wider white community uncomfortable. 20 years after independence, there were 21,000 commercial farmers in the country of whom 4,000 were white and 17,000 were black. Natural market processes had diminished the importance of white farmers to a point where the government was no longer afraid to confront them.

The "Land Issue" is a problem that came to assume a very high profile in Zimbabwe's political life. ZANU politicians pressed for land to be transferred from white to black ownership regardless of the resultant disruption to agricultural output, in order to correct the injustice of the Rhodesian land apportionment. White farmers argued that this served little purpose since Zimbabwe has ample agricultural land much of which was either vacant or only lightly cultivated. On this last basis, the problem was really a lack of development rather than one of land tenure. White farmers would respond to claims that they owned "70% of the best arable land" by stating that what they actually owned was "70% of the best developed arable land" - and the two are entirely different things. Whatever the merits of the arguments, in the post-Independence period the Land Issue assumed enormous symbolic importance to all concerned. The Land Issue As the euphoria of independence subsided and as a variety of economic and social problems became evident in the late 1990s, the Land Issue became a focus for trouble.

By 2006, only 500 of the original 5,000 white farms were still operational. Some of the land lost to white ownership had been redistributed to black peasant farmers and smallholders. Some had been acquired by commercial land companies. And some had been transferred to the ownership of individuals with political connections - although an appreciation of this last point requires an understanding of the links between politics and business in some African countries.

But many native whites have flourished in the new Zimbabwe. 66 year old John Bredenkamp started his trading business during the UDI era when he developed expertise in “sanctions busting”. He is reported to have arranged the export of Rhodesian tobacco and the import of components (including parts and munitions for the UDI regime’s force of Hunter jets) in the face of UN trade sanctions. Bredenkamp was able to continue and expand his business after independence, making himself a personal fortune estimated at around US$1,000m.The Guardian, 9 June 2006: Tycoon flees Zimbabwe in private jet

A number of foreign white entrepreneurs have been attracted to Zimbabwe in recent years. Nicholas van Hoogstraten (British) has built up a 420,000 hectare land holding in central Zimbabwe through his corporate interests (mainly Messina Investments). Far from losing land to resettlement, van Hoogstraten has actually been able to purchase new property since 2000. Van Hoogstraten has described President Mugabe as “100 percent decent and incorruptible” and “a true English gentleman”. Zimdaily: British Multimillionaire Lends President Mugabe US$10 million Several white Zimbabwean businessmen, such as Billy Rautenbach, have returned to their native country after working abroad for some years. Rautenbach has succeeded in extending Zimbabawean minerals sector activity into neighbouring countries such as the DRC.Zimnews :report on Billy Rautenbach

Charles Davy is one of the largest private landowners in Zimbabwe. 53 year old Davy is reported to own 120,000 hectares of land including farms at Ripple Creek, Driehoek, Dyer's Ranch and Mlelesi. His property has been almost unaffected by any form of land redistribution - and he denies that this fact has any link to his business relationship with MP and Minister Webster Shamu. Says Davy about Minister Shamu "I am in partnership with a person who I personally like and get along with". Daily Telegraph Court report :Charles Davy defends business interests Other views on Shamu are less kind.The Zimbabwean 2005 :see para 5

Davy is married to Beverley, a former model and "Miss Rhodesia" of 1973. Their daughter Chelsy (born and raised in Bulawayo) is the long-standing girlfriend of Prince Harry. Press reports Mail on Sunday, 19 December 2004 quote Chelsy's Uncle Paul as saying that although Harry and Chelsy wished to marry, the British Royal Family would not allow this because of Chelsy's Zimbabwean nationality. Chelsy may not have helped her own case by participating a little too enthusiastically in Prince Harry's celebration of his graduation from the Sandhurst military academy in 2006. White Zimbabweans do not enjoy the best of images in the outside world, partly because of events going back to the UDI era.

White Zimbabweans have brought a pioneering spirit to the nation and have contributed to economic life at several levels.UN report :- Zimbabwe involvement in DRC minerals House of Commons, 18 November 2002 :debate on Zimbabwe When Zimbabwe was subject to EU sanctions arising from its involvement in the DRC from 1998, the government was able to call on sanctions busting expertise and personnel from the UDI era to provide parts and munitions for its force of Hawk jets. It has been suggested that, in spite of 25 years of ZANU-PF government, Zimbabwe has become a congenial place for white millionaires to live and do business in. The Zimbabwean, 2005 :business backers of ZANU-PF

The involvement of whites in Zimbabwean politics

During the UDI era, Rhodesia developed a siege economy as the means of withstanding UN sanctions. The country operated a strict system of exchange and import controls, while major export items were channelled through state trade agencies (such as ‘the Grain Marketing Board’). This approach was continued until around 1990, at which time IMF and World Bank development funding was made conditional upon the adoption of economic liberalisation. In 1991 Zimbabwe adopted ESAP (Economic Structural Adjustment Programme) which required privatisation, the removal of exchange and import controls, trade deregulation and the phasing out of export subsidies.PRF paper :Moses Tekere ESAP and its successor ZIMPREST caused considerable economic turbulence. Some sectors of the economy did benefit. But the immediate results included job losses, a rise in poverty and a series of exchange rate crises. The associated economic downturn caused the budget deficit to rise which put pressure on public services. The means used to finance the budget deficit have caused hyperinflation. These factors created a situation in which many bright and qualified Zimbabweans (both black and white) had to look abroad for work opportunities.Report on brain drain from Zimbabwe Zimbabwean politics since 1990 have therefore been conducted against a background of economic difficulty with the manufacturing sector (in particular) being 'hollowed out'. Although, some parts of the economy continue to perform well. The Zimbabwe stock exchange and the property market have experienced minor booms, while outsiders are coming to invest in both mining and land operations. Where some see crisis, others see opportunity.Guardian April 2006 :report on Zimbabwe stock exchange

In the period immediately after independence, white political leaders (such as Ian Smith) sought to maintain the identity of Zimbabwe whites as a separate or apartheid group. In particular, they sought to maintain a separate "white roll" for the election of 20 seats in parliament reserved for whites (abolished in 1987). Although, not all whites went along with this and many actually joined ZANU-PF. For example, Timothy Stamps served as Minister of Health in the Zimbabwe government from 1986 to 2002. Even his critics accept that Stamps was motivated by a desire to improve the lot of poorer people.

More recently, an elite network of white businessmen and senior military officers has been associated with a faction of ZANU-PF identified with Emmerson Mnangagwa, formerly Security Minister and later Speaker of Parliament. Mnangagwa has been described as "the richest politician in Zimbabwe".AIM article :January 2005 He is believed to have favoured the early retirement of President Mugabe and a conciliatory approach towards the regime's domestic opponents. This line has displeased other elements in ZANU-PF. In June 2006 John Bredenkamp (a prominent Mnangagwa associate) was forced to flee Zimbabwe in his private jet after government investigations into the affairs of his Breco trading company were started.

From around 1990, mainstream white opinion favoured opposition politics as whites sought to maintain their position in the country through support for liberal economics, democracy and the rule of law. Whites played a leading role in the funding and management of the opposition MDC party after 1999. Roy Bennett, a white farmer forced off his coffee plantation after it was overrun by radical militants and then expropriated, won a strong victory in the Chimanimani constituency (adjoining the Mozambican border) in the 2000 general election. Bennett (a former Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe member) won his seat for the Movement for Democratic Change, and was one of four white MDC constituency MPs elected in 2000.BBC: Winners and losers Sokwanele: Roy Bennett released Bennett was excluded from Parliament and imprisoned after he physically assaulted the Attorney General on the floor of the House.

Other white MPs elected in 2000 included David Coltart (a former Rhodesian police officer) and Michael Auret (a civil rights activist of long standing who had opposed white minority rule in the 1970s). Trudy Stevenson was a Ugandan white who had come to Rhodesia in 1972. Stevenson served as the MDC's Secretary for Policy and Research before being elected to Parliament. In July 2006, after attending a political meeting in the Harare suburb of Mabvuku, Mrs Stevenson was attacked and suffered panga wounds to the back of her neck and head. The MDC leadership immediately claimed that the attack was carried out by ZANU militants. But, while recovering in hospital, the MP for Harare North positively identified her assailants as members of a rival faction of the MDC. This serves to illustrate the violent and faction ridden nature of Zimbabwean politics. Guardian, 5 July 2006 :MDC faction attack politicians Zimbabwean politicians (black and white) routinely accuse each other of murder, theft, electoral fraud, conspiracy and treason. It is often difficult to know the truth of these matters. All Africa.com :MDC supporters attack Mrs Stevenson

One of the most prominent MDC spokesmen is Eddie Cross Africanbios : Eddie Cross biography. Cross is a leading Zimbabwean business figure and serves as the MDC's Economic Secretary and shadow finance minister. Although critical of the ZANU-PF government, Cross has always been an advocate of the economic liberalisation that the government has introduced.

The 2000 general election was arguably the most significant event in post-independence Zimbabwean politics. It was the first seriously contested election in the country since 1962 and was fought out against a background of intractable economic, social and political problems. The ZANU ruling party had been in power for 20 years and was widely considered to have run out of ideas. Whites played a leading role in the campaign of the opposition MDC which almost won the election. Radical elements in the country perceived the MDC project to have been an attempt to restore a limited form of white minority rule and this produced a violent backlash.

Aftermath

White emigration (particularly from among the farming community) picked up speed again after 2000. There is a link between the recent economic decline in Zimbabwe and white emigration, although which is cause and which is effect is open to debate. There has been an enormous black emigration in the same period. By 2006, conservative estimates were that the white population of Zimbabwe could have fallen to little more than 30,000. AR report :caution, partisan comment However, the figure may be misleading since there is a large community of white Zimbabweans who work abroad on a contract basis or have moved their businesses abroad - while retaining a home in the country. One view is that the white population of Zimbabwe has been surprisingly resilient, and any improvement in the economic and political climate would bring many expatriates home again.

The Independence constitution contained a provision requiring the Zimbabwean government to honour pension obligations due to former servants of the Rhodesian state. This obligation included payment in foreign currency to pensioners living outside Zimbabwe (almost all white). Pension payments were made until the 1990s, but they then became erratic and stopped altogether in 2003.UK Parliament: Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from Mr Barry Lennox, 15 July 2004

White communities in African countries suffered a variety of fates in the post-colonial period. In many countries (eg Kenya and Namibia) the white communities survived and actually grew in number. In two particular cases, Algeria and Zimbabwe, the previously large white communities have shrunk. In both these last cases, the white communities had put up a fight against decolonisation and many whites found it difficult to adjust to the realities of the world they found themselves in after independence. Many neutral observers feel that the failure of some newly independent African countries and their white minorities to come to terms with one another was to the mutual disadvantage of both parties. On the positive side, refugee white farmers from Zimbabwe have done much to turn about the Zambian economy The Guardian, 27 February 2006 :Zimbabwean farmers in Zambia Although much depleted in numbers, white Zimbabweans continue to play a leading role in the country's economic and political life.

White Zimbabweans/Rhodesians are now scattered around the world, with concentrations in the UK, Australia, South Africa and Canada. They maintain contact with each other through associations and websites. On 11 November 1990, expatriate Rhodesians around the world met at parties to celebrate the 25th anniversary of UDI. Similar parties were held in 2005 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of UDI - but these were far less well attended and less exuberant in mood.

References

External links

British Empire | Ethnic groups in Zimbabwe | History of Zimbabwe