Another page turns.

Ian Smith a former Prime Minister of Rhodesia has died in Cape Town, South Africa. The Zimbabwe government has announced there will be no public mourning.

Ian Smith was an outrageous, unrepentant, racist but the strange fact is, unlike those few other white Zimbabweans who couldn’t wait to leave in 1980 at the time of Zimbabwean independence, he remained living and farming in the country, he even played a role in government in the transition period. Mugabe the latest dictator to rule Zimbabwe is the perfect match to Ian Smith, Mugabe is himself a racist, his rule is brutal, there are many in Zimbabwe who regard Mugabe’s rule as worse than the time when the Rhodesian Front was in charge, this view used to shock me but quite often Black Zimbabwean friends would quietly, themselves, tell me this.

The fact that Mugabe has already announced there would be no public mourning is part of the problem. Zanu PF is a party riddled with hate, just like the old Rhodesian Front so one cannot be surprised but Mugabe’s announcement is indicative of the failure of real reconciliation since 1980. This bitterness is at the heart of Zimbabwe politics, Zimbabwean whites are mistrusted, hounded and made to feel unwelcome. This is a tragedy, the failure to build a genuine multi racial society in Zimbabwe has its cost. It has to be said though, that by and large, despite the hate generated by Zanu PF and the government run mass media, most Zimbabweans consider white Zimbabweans as a natural part of society despite the hate manufactured by the Mugabe regime.