The Press SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1968. Rhodesia: A Problem Of Survival

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31736, 20 July 1968, Page 12

The Press SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1968. Rhodesia: A Problem Of Survival

The report that Mr Smith’s Rhodesian Front is preparing to declare Rhodesia a republic and repudiate the Queen's status has yet to be confirmed. Mr Smith may be moving, with characteristic hesitancy, towards a showdown between the moderate and extremist elements in his party, through a test of public opinion. Mr William Harper and Mr Winston Field, two Right-wing intransigents, have left the party and may be expected to marshal strength to oppose even the limited concession to African aspirations contemplated in the new proposals. The Whaley Commission in April recommended eventual parity of white and black in government. The first British requirement, emphasised in the talks between Mr Wilson and Mr Smith in 1966, was that any new constitution must guarantee unimpeded African progress to majority rule. Mr Harper would concede some African representation, but insists that a preponderance of African influence would make Rhodesia a one-party dictatorship. Many in the Rhodesian Front would deny Africans any representation and introduce something like the South African system of apartheid.

The new plan reported to have been prepared by the Rhodesian Front allows the Africans a share in government but rules out any prospect of eventual parity between the races. Its endorsement by referendum would, of course, end all hopes for renewed negotiations with Britain—at any rate while a Labour Government is in power. In the belief that he might be able to come to terms with a Conservative Government, Mr Smith might still play for time; but he and the powerful men behind him will want independence more or less on their own terms. Approval of the present proposals would not change the legal position; Rhodesia would remain a British colony. The real question is: how long can Rhodesia survive stalemate? Without a settlement with Britain, sanctions and insurgency between them might yet destroy the country.