Ian Smith, last white leader of Rhodesia, dies at 88
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Ian Smith, the last white minority leader of Rhodesia, who vowed that blacks would not rule his country “in a thousand years,” died Tuesday in a clinic outside Cape Town, after recently suffering a stroke. He was 88.
To many white Rhodesians, Smith was a savior who vowed to preserve white minority rule and protect their interests against rising African nationalist sentiment. They saw as heroic his declaration of independence from Britain in 1965, when Britain was pulling out of African colonies.
But to the blacks who fought a bitter independence war, many of whom spent years in jail (including President Robert Mugabe), Smith was a ruthless despot who banned black nationalist parties, had leaders arrested and introduced laws curbing civil rights.
In his latter years, Smith believed he was more popular among black Zimbabweans than Mugabe, who has ruled since blacks won the right to vote in 1980.
With Zimbabwe now in severe economic decline, Smith liked to claim that his government had offered blacks better education, housing and health care than Mugabe’s.
“I was proud of Rhodesia. I have difficulty saying I’m proud of Zimbabwe,” Smith said in 2000.
Injuries sustained when he was shot down while serving as a World War II fighter pilot for the British left his face badly scarred. Surgery to repair the damage paralyzed the right side of his face, giving him a sinister, expressionless appearance.
Smith’s wife and son both have died. He is survived by two stepchildren.