Basic HTML Version
September 1971
beginning of this century there was no
civilization, so to speak, here amongst
the black people. It was just before the
turn of tl1e century that the first Euro–
peans carne here. The history of the
country is young and we have made a
tremendous amount of progress in this
time. But we realize that the Africans
are behínd the Europeaos; and accord–
ingly, their qualifications for the fran–
chise are far lower than those that we
impose on our white people.
Q.
Is your statement that they are
"behind the Europeans" based on
thei r color and ethnic origin, or on
other causes?
A.
It's because of the fact that they
had no contact with civilization, as I
said, until about the turn of the cen–
tury; so you can't expect a nation or a
people to automatically become civil–
ized in a matter of about
70
years.
The civilizing process,
I
think, takes
centuries - that's the main reason.
J can assure you that we have enough
sense to realize that the sooner we
can raise the standard of these peo–
ple, the better they are educated, the
more civiljzed they are, the better it is
for all of us. We have no wish to go
on carrying people who are not up to
the same standard as the rest of the
people, the whites. Under these circum–
stances they are a liability.
I
don't want
to be unkind, but this is a fact.
We realize that the sooner we can
turn these people into being an asset
in our country the better it is for all,
and this is our
aim.
Q .
lt's commonly charged that you
spend up to ten times more for the
education of each white child than is
expended on the education of a black
child. What is you.r comment on this ?
A.
I believe this is an exaggeration,
but I don't deny that there are better
educational facilities for whítes in Rho–
desia than blacks. But there's a very
good reason for this. You see, up untíl
the time of the last war, World War Il,
the black people in Rhodesia were not
interested in education. They would not
go to school; they would not send their
children to school. They were a pastoral
people and had very big families. But
they wanted the chíldren to stay around
The
PLAJN TRUTH
looking after the cattle, herding the
cattle, doing odd jobs such as that. They
would not send them to school. The
post-war era brought a revolution and
they then all wanted to go to school.
The same was true concerning health
facilities. Prior to the war you couldn't
get these people to go to hospitals even
if they were íll. They were suspicious.
After the war they al! wanted to go to
hospitals. Well, this produced a tre–
mendous practica! problem. We, as you
know, are a very small country with a
small white population, and the white
population contributes almost the total
100
percent of the taxes - which
the government has to use to provide
amenities for people. So the burden is
borne by a small segment of the white
population.
It
was impossible to immediately
raise the standards for education and
for health services from a position
where these people didn't wish to have
them, up to a position which was equiv–
alent to the serviccs given to the white
man who has always wanted them and
always has had them. So thís is the gap
which exists, you see, and this isn't the
sort of thing that can be bridged in
a
short period. We've made tremendous
strídes; and
I
can tell you this with com–
plete coniidence, that our black people
have better education and health facili–
ties than do the blacks in any country
to the north of us in the African con–
tinen t.
1
think that is
a
measure of what
we have done, but we don't deny that
we've still got a lot to do. lt's just a
question of what is practica! in the time
that's available.
Q.
Would you say that there is a
black middle class or a growing black
middle class in Rhodesia?
A.
Very definitely so. In fact
I
be–
lieve we have gotten to a stage where
one could almost say there is a black
upper class. There are many black peo–
ple in this country, I can assure you,
who've got more money than I have
and better bornes than
1
had before
1
was in my present position. We can
show these to you or any other visitor
who comes to this country.
Q .
Let's turn for a moment to your
international trade. I noticed many
7
J apanese Toyotas and much Japanese
equipment and machinery in the
country. Obviously then, by sorne
route, perbaps with the help of South
Africa, there are certain methods by
which you are circumventing the
sanctions and trading with Japan. Is
this a sort of a semi-official or clan–
destine operatíon of sorne sort ?
A.
Well, we are not only trading
with Japan, but with many countries in
the world. I think the two main excep–
tions are Britain and America. They
seem to be missing out in a little game
that's goíng on, but we trade well with
most countríes in the world. We've got
al! our requirements, as you have no
doubt noticed, and we are in the for–
tunate position that we have many rich
raw materials in Rhodesia which are
sought by other countries. In return for
this, we obviously do trade. Just how
we do it, of course, I am not going to
discuss with you at the moment. You'll
understand that.
Q .
Mr.
Smith, how would you
describe the attitude of the black
population of Rhodesia toward your
Government.
A.
At the moment l'm happy to say
that the black population has a very
friendly attitude towards us. We have
sorne dissidents, of course. There are cer–
tain groups here who are antagonistic
towards us. We are satisfied, and we
have conclusive evidence, that these
people are stimulated by forces outside
our country, Communist forces. Their
wish is simply to take over the govern–
ment and to push all the white people
out of Africa. This is basícally their
belief - that Africa should only be for
black Africans, not for white Africans.
Q.
l s this a Communist belief? Or
is
it an ethnic and a racial, or a tribal
belíef?
A.
l 'm satisfied that it is a Communist
belief, that it's stimulated by the Com–
munists. The broad masses of the black
people here are very happy to have
white people. They know that it is the
white man who has brought know-how
and capital to this part of the world to
develop the country, and that without
that they would indeed be in a sad posi–
tion today.
Q .
It is obvious, as
1
travel about in