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Racial Ducrimination and Repression in Southern Rl Racial Discrimination and Repression in Southern Rhodesia A Legal Study by the International Commission of Jurists Published by the Catholic Institute for International Relations, London and International Commission of Jurists. Geneva TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE PART I—HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ......................................... 1 PART II—CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE ILLEGALITY OF THE PRESENT REGIME ... 4 Constitutional H istory.......................................................................... 4 The British Reaction to UDI ......................................................... 7 Attitude of the Rhodesian Courts ................................................. 7 Reaction of the International Community .................................... 8 PART III—DISCRIMINATION ......................................................... 10 Introduction ....................................................................................... 10 Land Allocation/Housing .................................................................. 11 —Land Apportionment Act, 1930 ........................................ 12 —Land Tenure Act, 1969 ......................................................... 13 Education ............................................................................................... 19 Labour ................................................................................................... 25 Trade Union Activities ........ *............................................................ 27 Political Participation: Voting Rights ......................................... 32 PART IV—REPRESSION ...................................................................... 34 Introduction .......................................................................................... 34 Freedom of Expression ...................................................................... 35 Freedom of Assembly ...................................................................... 36 Freedom of the Press and Publications ......................................... 38 Subversive Statements ...................................................................... 40 False Statements ................................................................................... 44 Detention Orders .............................................................................. 45 —30 day and 60 day orders ..................................................... 45 —Indefinite Detention ............................................................. 46 —Review Tribunals .................................................................. 48 Restriction Orders .............................................................................. 51 Deprivation of Citizenship and Deportation ................................ 53 Anti-terrorist Measures ...................................................................... 54 —Failing to Report T errorists................................................. 54 —Assisting Terrorists and Possessing Arms ........................ 56 —Recruiting for or Undergoing Terrorist Training ........... 59 —Curfews ................................................................................... 59 —Collective Fines ..................................................................... 59 —Other measures ...................................................................... 60 Whipping ............................................................................................... 61 PART V—TREATMENT OF AFRICANS BY POLICE AND SECURITY FORCES ......................................................... 62 Ill-Treatment in Detention Centres ................................................. 62 “Anti-Terrorist” Measures in the Tribal Trust Lands ................. 65 —Introduction .............................................................................. 65 —Curfew breakers ...................................................................... 67 —Recruiting guerrilla fighters ................................................. 69 —“Protected Villages” .............................................................. 70 —Consolidated Villages .............................................................. 78 —Brutality by the Security Forces .................................... 78 “An Appeal to Conscience” .............................................................. 80 Indemnity and Compensation Act, 1975 ......................................... 83 Karima Kraal ....................................................................................... 86 APPENDIX A—Constitutions and Electoral Laws, 1961-1975 ........... 89 APPENDIX B—Cold Comfort Farm ..................................................... 100 APPENDIX C—The Tangwena Tribe ................................................. 103 APPENDIX D—Summary of Cases relating to “Terrorists” .......... 107 PREFACE When the April 1974 revolution in Portugal brought about the downfall of the Portuguese African empire, the situation in Southern Africa was transformed. In particular, new possibilities opened up for the liberation of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), either by negotiation if the white ruling minority could be induced to see reason, or by armed struggle if no other way was open. In 1971, when the Pearce Commission was preparing to visit Southern Rhodesia, a number of pamphlets and articles were published in Great Britain outlining the system of radical discrimination and repression in Southern Rhodesia, which served to alert public opinion about the issues at stake and the changes which would have to be made to enable a settle­ ment to be reached on the basis of the “six principles”.1 Since then, relatively little has been published on the further developments within Southern Rhodesia, attention having focussed primarily upon the liberation of the Portuguese occupied territories. In particular, the intensification of the repression and the growing adoption by Southern Rhodesia of the laws and values of the apartheid system in South Africa has largely passed unnoticed. This led the International Commission of Jurists to decide at the end of 1974 to undertake an up-to-date and comprehensive study of the relevant laws in Southern Rhodesia and their application in practice, with particular reference to the developments -since the illegal Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. This study has taken longer than usual to complete, in part due to the difficulty in obtaining reliable recent information. This difficulty was largely overcome when the Secretary-General paid a visit to Southern Rhodesia at the invitation of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in October, 1975. The International Commission of Jurists wishes to thank all those who have assisted in the preparation of this study. Most of the research and preparation were undertaken by four research students from the University of California, Berkeley, working at the headquarters of the Commission in Geneva: Kathryn Burke, Gail Cardenas, Frank Russo and Howard Vogel. A number of statements have been supplied by Africans either in Rhodesia or in exile abroad with relatives in Rhodesia, who for obvious 1 For example, E. E. M. Mlambo, Rhodesia: The British Dilemma, International Defence and Aid Fund, London, 1971; G. C. Grant, The Africans’ Predicament in Rhodesia, Minority Rights Group Report, No. 8, London, January 1972. For the “six principles” see p. 6 below. reasons wish to remain anonymous. Where quoted, these are referred to in the text as statements by “an African witness”. At the time of going to press the much-delayed and long drawn out talks between the Rhodesian Front regime and some African leaders led by Joshua Nkomo have just been broken off. It is to be hoped that this study will help lawyers and others outside Southern Rhodesia to under­ stand the complex system of discrimination and repression imposed by the white minority, and why it is that no settlement can be acceptable to the Africans which denies them majority rule. Geneva NIALL MacDERMOT, March, 1976 Secretary-General. PART I — HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Rhodesia first aroused the interest of European explorers during the latter half of the 19th century when reports circulated of fabulous mineral wealth in Mashona land and Matabele land. Gold had been worked and exported by the Africans from this area since early times and, even though the ancient mines had been abandoned, the fact of their existence was taken by the European explorers as evidence of extensive mineral deposits which could not have been exhausted by the primitive methods of the ancient prospectors and miners.1 In 1884, Bechuanaland (Botswana) was annexed by a British expedi­ tionary force and put under the control of Sir Sidney Shippard who was also impressed with the reports of mineral wealth. He wrote to the British High Commissioner in the Cape saying that Mashonaland contained “some of the richest deposits of alluvial gold in the world”, and suggested the annexation of both Matabeleland and Mashonaland.2 The principal authority in the land at this time was Lobengula, who ruled Matabeleland and who held much of the Mashona territory. When Sir Sidney Shippard arrived in his official capacity as Deputy Commissioner of the Bechuanaland Protectorate to establish friendly relations with Lobengula, the agents of Cecil Rhodes, Messrs Rudd, Maguire and Thompson had already begun to negotiate with Lobengula. Shippard assured Lobengula as to the standing and

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