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VARIED FACES OF RHODESIA
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Nationa/ist /eader, Joshua Nkomo, left, ponders his role in
a
future "Zimbabwe."
What role is left for country's 270,000 whites. outnumbered by 6,000,000 blacks, is biggest question of al/.
ing people and who leans over far to
the other side. The division and
strife between them strongly remind
one of the situation in Angola at the
time of independence in that coun–
try. lt i among other things to
counteract a developmenl simi lar to
1ha1 in Angola 1ha1 it is considered
so vitally important to keep as many
whites as possible in Rhodesia. As
things stand at present. a stabilizing
intluence can come only from
them."
Unpalatable Truth
Thal last phrase - thal only the
whites can ac1 as a s1abilizing in–
ftuence - is an extremely hard one
for many people to face today. Nev–
ertheless. il is a fac1 lhat in Rho–
desia, as elsewhere in Africa, it was
the white Europeans who not only
introduced progressive civilization
but eliminaled two scourges which
had ravaged the native African
peoples: disease and tribal war–
fare.
in
1890
when Rhodes' pioneer
columns first arrived in what is now
Rhodesia. the region was inhabited
by no more than ooe million people.
Today. according 10 Lewis H. Gano
of Slanford Universily's Hoover ln–
slilute: " Rhodesia's African popu–
lalion amounls to 6 million and
keeps expanding ata rapid rate lhat
hardly bespeaks grinding oppres–
sion. much less genocide. Within the
lifetime of a single grandmother, the
country was propelled from the
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1977
early Iron Age 10 the age of modern
indus1ry. In terms of health service,
life expectancy. educalion. use of
consumer goods, and agricultural
production. the condition of the in–
digenous people has improved in a
manner that would have been in–
conceivable to an ancient Shona
king.
" By African standards." continues
Gano in the summer
1976
issue of
Orbis,
"the Rhodesian economy is
reasonably balanced. The country's
farmers, especially the white entre–
preneurs, are reasonably efficient.
Rhodesia, a country as large as Cali–
fornia, can feed herself and even
produces a food surplus for expon.
How many 'progressive' nations can
make that claim? lts mining sector
has grown. Manufacturing, too, has
made much progress and now ac–
counts for a somewhal larger share
of the
GNP
than farming and min–
ing 1ogether."
Adds lhe
Natal Witness
of Dur–
ban:
"lt
is a simple, irrefutable his–
torical fact thal
80
years of white
rule in Rhodesia have been. on the
whole and in any measurable terms.
beneficial to the whole population.
On one hand, as black leaders are
quick lo observe. the white popu–
lation has enjoyed an enviably high
standard of living. bul. on 1he other
hand, there can be little doubt that
the black, miserably poor though he
may be in far too many cases, is
substantially better off in health, in
security. and even in numbers lhan
he would have been without lhe
ü
l!!
white man's presence."
~
Far from being oppressed. sorne
1
of the Zimbabwean nalionaljst lead-
:1
l!rs, during periods of incarceration
~
for iUegal political activities. have
!
~
actually been able 10 obtain ad-
<
vanced university degrees by corre-
~
spondence! (One of the degrees was
g
granted by the University of South
e:
Africa. in thal supposed citadel of
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oppression.) Such treatment is in
i
marked contrast 10 the deliberate
~
disfigurement of victims meted out
~
by sorne of the guerrillas loday -
~
the lopping off of ears, lips, noses,
~
and other much marks of incivility.
"'
(The victims are almost all black.)
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The Bfrthrfght Blessfng
The truth is, the prosperity enjoyed
by Rhodesia's whites has not been
gained at the expense of. or through
the "oppression" of their far more
numerous black countrymen. Hard
work. the entrepreneurial spirit. the
ability of the European mentaUy to
ada pt to the modero industrial
world as opposed to the approach of
the average African still attuned to
traditional tribal customs and ways
of doing things is in large part re–
sponsible for the large white-black
prosperity gap. But there is another,
even more important reason for the
prosperity Rhodesians have here–
tofore enjoyed.
Rhodesia 's whiles, like English–
speaking Anglo-Saxons everywhere
else. have beco the beneficiaries of a
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