Rhodesia unready for majority government

Press, 4 March 1978, Page 8

Rhodesia unready for majority government

By RODNEY PINDER, NZPA-Reuter correspondent Salisbury Rhodesia appears ill-pre-pared for black-majority rule. “I don’t know of any real preparation for black rule,” said Dr Gordon Chavunduka, former research secretary for the United African National Council of Bishop Abel Muzorewa and now a lecturer at the University of ! Rhodesia’s department of sociology. [ “I can see 10 years of ’fumbling around to get back Ito the level at which we are now.”

An official of Women for Peace, a radical group of whites and blacks, commented: “The attitude of whites is that they don’t mind majority rule as long as it doen’t change their way of life. “Racially mixed schools and medical facilities are just too ghastly to be contemplated by many whites. There have been no real moves to prepare the people, certainly not by the Government.” The civil service seems to have done remarkably little preparation. In a country where blacks outnumber whites by 24 to one, only about half of the 42,242 civil servants are black. And most of these are in the “employee” rather than the “officer” grades. Employees are mainly messengers, tea boys, or general hands. There are no African secI retaries, deputy secretaries, : or administrative secretaries. ,Only a handful of blacks I hold senior jobs in areas

such as education and health. The Rhodesian civil service has been officially nonsegregated since 1961. “But,” a spokesman said, “this service is like any other in that you must work through grades to get into the top positions. It can take up to 30 years to reach the top rank.” A big question is whether, when black government does arrive, blacks will be content to settle for an orderly progress through the ranks to the important jobs. Dr Chavunduka thinks not. “Come independence” he said, “Blacks will expect to see black faces in education and the civil service quickly. If they don’t there will be pressure on the black government to get Africans into the top of the professions. Then the politicians will run around and pick men up from the streets and put them at the top. It’s going to be chaos here.”

But Mr Etherton Mpisaunga, one of the few Rho- , desian blacks holding a re- ■ sponsible position in a white-dominated company, > sees one ray of hope. “There are estimated to be between 4000 and 5000 Rho- ' desian blacks abroad being trained in business, publishi ing, administration, computer science, and the like,” ; he says. “If they could be persuaded to return, then, . with a little bit of on-job training, they could show the masses that the politicians are doing something. “What we need are loyal Zimbabweans — but quickly.” But many concerned people here question how

many Zimbabweans abroad, having found secure and well-paid jobs, would be willing to return to Zimbabwe and what could be an uncertain political climate. But the Rev Ndabaningi Sithole, president of the African National Council and a potential leader of Zimbabwe, feels the Government should have done more through radio. television, and newspapers to prepare whites for majority rule. “They should be helping to orientate people to the reality of majority rule.” he said. “Change is fearful if people don’t know what it holds for them.”

Nick McNally, a leading member of the liberal National Unifying Force, said: “The R.B.C. (Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation) should give greater exposure to nationalist thinking. Most whites still have this belief that blacks are inherently inferior and that nothing but disaster can follow black rule.”

Rhodesian radio has separate services throughout the week for Europeans and Africans. Television is aimed almost entirely at whites except on Sundays when three hours of African-orientated programmes are run. Asked how much R.B.C. had done to prepare for majority rule, the R.B.C. director-general (Mr Jimmy O’Neil) said: “We have not yet consciously done anything.” The R.B.C. was training black technicians and clerical staff, he said, but added: “We will not lower our standards because of racialism. We have European standards.”