adminThe Herald, October 27, 1979
LONDON/SALISBURY. – Bishop Muzorewa yesterday said Mr Ian Smith was a bitter and troubled man. He was commenting on remarks attributed to Mr Smith in the British weekly Spectator magazine, reports Iana-Reuter.
The magazine editor, Alexander Chancellor, quoted Mr Smith as telling him at a party that Bishop Muzorewa was like “wet putty” and did what the British told him at the peace talks.
The Patriotic Front leaders were cleverer than “our blacks,” he was reported as saying.
Mr Smith has so far declined to comment.
But yesterday Bishop Muzorewa told a British television news programme: “I feel sorry for the gentleman. He just sees . . . his rebellion crumbling . . . he is so bitter . . . a man who is so troubled about his own position. This is why he is saying all these unfortunate things”.
Our London Bureau reports that Mr Smith predicted the Patriotic Front would win an election now held in Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
Mr Chancellor says in his “Notebook” column that the former Rhodesian Prime Minister told him: “The Patriotic Front would walk it”.
He described Lord Carrington as a racialist and said the Foreign Secretary had prevented him from seeing Mrs Thatcher.
General Walls, said Mr Smith, was “his creation” . . . not a politician but a soldier.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
Truth always hurts. Bishop Abel Muzorewa was stung by the true assessment done by Ian Smith to the extent of attacking and even hurling insults at him.
People need to tolerate other people’s views and, in some instances, opinions shared about them can be beneficial especially if they introspect and take them in the spirit in which they were shared.
Smith was actually sharing an honest opinion and Bishop Muzorewa would have done well to analyse why Smith had shared such views.
People who do not have a firm leg to stand on are easy to manipulate. Bishop Muzorewa was willing to bend over backwards to accommodate the British because he wanted to remain in power at all costs to the extent that Smith equated him to “wet putty” which can be easily kneaded and moulded into any shape.
The same can be equated to the current opposition leader such as the leader of Citizens Coalition for Change Nelson Chamisa, which has been working with the country’s detractors for political expediency.
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