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The Herald, 11 September 1979
IAN SMITH on Sunday set foot on British soil for the first time in 14 years under a special immunity against treason charges.
The former wartime Royal Air Force fighter pilot was cheered by workers at London’s Heathrow Airport.
But Mr Smith also faced a hostile reception from about 70 left-wing demonstrators who shouted “murderer” and “racist” at him as he arrived at the hotel.
His return to Britain after 14 years grabbed the front page headlines in several of the major dailies in London, our bureau reports.
“Return of the outlaw”, stated the bold headlines across the front page of the London Daily Mail.
“Last stand of Ian Smith”, said the Daily Express’ lead story.
Mr Smith told reporters he felt the British-sponsored peace talks had a good chance of success. “I, like the rest of our team, have come here in a very constructive frame of mind with one objective – to try and make it succeed. I think there is a good chance of success.”
However, a source within the Zimbabwe Rhodesian Government delegation made it clear that his side would quit the conference if Britain did not stick to the conference’s terms of reference, which are to hammer out a new constitution.
The source said the Zimbabwe Rhodesian Government would pull out if Britain allowed the terrorist leaders to pursue their demands for a handover to their insurgent armies.
“We had that at the Geneva Conference in 1976 and we’re not letting it happen again,” he said.
A group of left-wing demonstrators re-appeared outside Mr Smith’s hotel on Sunday night chanting slogans in an attempt to keep him awake.
But an official with the Zimbabwe Rhodesian delegation said: “We haven’t even heard them and Mr Smith is sleeping like a log after his long flight.”
LESSONS FOR TODAY
- Every generation must know that the consequences of Smith’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence was a crime against the crown, therefore treasonous. Each colony belonged to the monarchy.
- The renegade Rhodesian leader had to be granted special immunity to go to London, 14 years after UDI.
- The war weary parties had no option but to come out of the Lancaster House Conference with an agreement that led to the first democratic elections in early 1980.
- The so-called terrorist leaders became Zimbabwe’s democratically elected leaders who ushered in Uhuru.
- Forty-years on, the nation counts the achievements and challenges, and remains astonished that for daring to reclaim that which belongs to it – LAND –Western governments would transfer the sanctions regime from Smith to the country’s liberators. Illegal sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe 21 years ago.
- International jurisprudence should adjudicate on this issue of property rights, and do so fairly and justly, because Africa continues to suffer from former colonisers, who claim property ownership to Africa’s land and rich mineral resources.
Online Reporter