Southern Rhodesia government referendum, 1922

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The Southern Rhodesia government referendum of October 27, 1922 saw the voters of the colony of Southern Rhodesia by a comfortable majority reject the chance to join the Union of South Africa in favour of establishing a responsible government within the colony. It prefaced the official granting of responsible government on October 1, 1923.

[edit] Background

The referendum arose after the Legislative Council election of 1920 resulted in a majority which favoured immediate moves towards establishing 'Responsible Government' within the colony. Immediately after the election the Legislative Council passed a resolution requesting the United Kingdom government to inaugurate responsible government, and the United Kingdom's response was establishing a Commission under Earl Buxton, a former Liberal minister.

The Commission reported in 1921 that the Colony was ready for responsible government and that a referendum should be held to confirm it. A delegation was sent from the Legislative Council to negotiate with the Colonial Office on the form of the constitution. The delegation comprised Sir Charles Coghlan, W. M. Leggate, J. McChlery, R. A. Fletcher, and Sir Francis Newton. At the 1920 election there had been three schools of opinion in Southern Rhodesia, one favouring responsible government inside Southern Rhodesia, one favouring a continuation of rule through the British South Africa Company, and the third believing that the best solution would be to seek membership of the Union of South Africa. The British South Africa Company option dropped out of consideration, but the Buxton Commission had said that its recommendations should not preclude consideration of joining South Africa if this was favoured by voters.

The Southern Rhodesians did petition the Colonial Office to inquiry what circumstances the Union of South Africa would admit them, as this option had received some support (especially in Matabeleland) at the election. Representatives of the Southern Rhodesian administration visited Cape Town to confer with Jan Smuts who after some delay was willing to offer terms he considered reasonable and which were also acceptable to the United Kingdom government. In accordance with the wishes of Winston Churchill (the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London), the Southern Rhodesians decided to invite the electorate to make the decision. Although they did not try to interfere in the referendum, opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option.

[edit] Arrangements

The election used the existing Legislative Council electoral roll and votes were counted in the electoral districts used for the Legislative Council elections. However, there was one minor change, with voters entitled to cast their votes in whichever district they wanted, regardless of where they were registered.

[edit] Results

With an electorate of 18,810, the total number of votes cast was 14,763, a turnout of 78.5%. All but one of the electoral districts supported Responsible government and rejected Union with South Africa.

Electoral district	Responsible government	%	Union with South Africa	%
Bulawayo District	551	65.0	297	35.0
Bulawayo North	826	67.9	390	32.1
Bulawayo South	955	64.0	538	36.0
Eastern	711	57.5	526	42.5
Gwelo	582	57.3	433	42.7
Hartley	449	66.5	226	33.5
Marandellas	433	49.4	443	50.6
Midlands	550	51.9	509	48.1
Northern	741	60.3	487	39.7
Salisbury District	845	57.3	629	42.7
Salisbury Town	894	63.8	507	36.2
Victoria	626	51.7	585	48.3
Western	611	59.3	419	40.7
Total	8,774	59.4	5,989	40.6

Elections in Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia and Zimbabwe
	Legislative Council of Southern Rhodesia 1899-1923	1899 | 1902 | 1905 | 1908 | 1911 | 1914 | 1920
	Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia 1924-1964	1924 | 1928 | 1933 | 1934 | 1939 | 1946 | 1948 | 1954 | 1958 | 1962
	Legislative Assembly of Rhodesia 1964-1970	1965
	House of Assembly of Rhodesia 1970-1979	1970 | 1974 | 1977
	Zimbabwe Rhodesia House of Assembly 1979-1980	1979
	Zimbabwe House of Assembly 1980-	1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005
	Senate of Zimbabwe 2005-	2005
	President of Zimbabwe 1987-	1990 | 1996 | 2002
	Referendums	1922 | 1934 | 1953 | 1961 | 1964 | 1969 | 1979 | 2000