Prime Minister of Rhodesia
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This article refers to the Prime Minister of the area originally known as Southern Rhodesia. For the Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia, see Prime Minister of Zambia.
The Prime Minister of Rhodesia was the head of government of Rhodesia. Essentially the same post was first established on October 1, 1923 as the Premier of Southern Rhodesia and known by this title until July 5, 1933 when it was renamed Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia. The name of the colony was changed unofficially from Southern Rhodesia to Rhodesia on December 9, 1964 (a change not acknowledged by the United Kingdom government). The post then adopted the revised name and retained it in the U.D.I. government until the internal settlement with some African nationalists led to the establishment of Zimbabwe Rhodesia on June 1, 1979.
Rhodesia's political system was modelled on Westminster and the Prime Minister's role was similar to that of the same position in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and at that time, South Africa.
The British colony of Southern Rhodesia was created on October 1, 1923. From 1953 to 1963, Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (later Rhodesia and then Zimbabwe) and Nyasaland (later Malawi) were joined in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which was also known as the Central African Federation, with Godfrey Martin Huggins as prime minister from 1953 to 1956 followed by Sir Roy Welensky from 1956 to the federation's dissolution on December 31, 1963. When Northern Rhodesia gained independence as Zambia on October 24, 1964, Southern Rhodesia moved to change its name to Rhodesia, but the Governor of Southern Rhodesia did not give assent to the Bill to do so.
Prime Minister Ian Smith's government issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1965, and he remained Prime Minister when the country was declared a republic in 1970. Under the Internal Settlement in 1979, after a long period of conflict, the country became known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, with Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa as its first black Prime Minister.
None of these acts were recognised internationally, and under the Lancaster House Agreement the country's government agreed to revert to colonial status in 1979 in order to facilitate the introduction of majority rule and the creation of the independent state of Zimbabwe in 1980.
The office of Prime Minister of Zimbabwe was finally abolished in 1987, when Robert Mugabe became executive President.
