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WE:
Peace at Last?
been lifted. The new leadership of
Zimbabwe will not have to resort to
the clandestine "sanctions-busting"
tactics that forced its predecessors to
pay a premium for imports and suf–
fer a punishing discount on exports.
The end of ugly war, conducted
mainly in the nation's outlying tribal
lands, will free up both manpower
and government revenues (the war
was costing the government
$850,000 a day). White businessmen
can go back to work instead of
serving up to eight months a year on
military call-up.
Appeal to Reconclllatlon
Perhaps the most encouraging factor
of all is the conciliatory approach to
all parties taken by Zimbabwe's new
May 1980
pr ime minister, former Patriotic
Front guerrilla co-leader, Robert
Gabriel Mugabe. lmmediately upon
his election Mr. Mugabe announced:
" l t is time to beat our swords into
plowshares." He promised there
would be no recriminations against
either his former enemies or his
defeated electoral foes.
Mr. Mugabe was swept into power
in an unprecedented 93 percent turn–
out among Zimbabwe's eligible black
voters. His party, with 57 delegates,
gained a clear majority of the parlia–
ment's 100 seats. The size of his
victory stunned everyone from insid–
ers to on-lookers such as the British
(who supervised the election) and the
anxious South Africans.
Up until the eve of the elections, a
THE CHANGE FROM RHODESIA
to
Zimbabwe began when former Prime
Minister Jan Smith accepted, in Sep–
tember, 1976, the principie of b/ack
majority rule (picture far Jeft). Mean·
while, the war against guerrillas inten·
sified; white farm families had to resort
lsrge/y to their own defense. An "inter·
nsl" e/ection In April, 1979 (picture /eft,
this page), fsiled to receive internstíon·
si recognition; winner of this yesr's first
fu/1-suffrsge vote, Robert Mugsbe (fop
right), emerges from polling station.
Future generation ofZímbabweans /ook
on during e/ection campaign as their
elders debate their nstion's future.
high-ranking poli in South Africa
predicted that Bishop Abel
T.
Mu–
zorewa, prime minister from April to
Decembel', 1979 under Rhodesia 's
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