Final Break

After nearly four years of uncertain status as a rebel colony, Rhodesia last week voted to make its break with Britain final, formally ending any search for constitutional accommodation or legality. In a referendum, white voters decided to declare Rhodesia a republic, with a new constitution that ensures white rule and gives the government police-state powers on the model of South Africa. Since only 6,600 of Rhodesia's 4,818,000 blacks had any say in the matter, the decision on the constitution was made by a minuscule minority of the country: 55,000 votes to 21,000.

The document they approved is a model for law students everywhere on "just how bad a constitution can be," said Richard Christie, head of the law department of the University College of Rhodesia. In a bit of constitutional sleight-of-hand, it provides for a largely ceremonial head of state who is chosen by the Executive Council, or cabinet. But his duties include appointing the Executive Council, which conceivably will create a minor problem of who appoints whom first. The constitution also provides for a Senate with black representation but a permanent white majority, and a House of Assembly of 66 members to start. Of those, 50 will be elected by Rhodesia's 264,700 whites, eight by the dominant Matabele and Mashona tribes. The remaining eight will be elected by chiefs and headmen, who are in the government's pay. Africans are eventually to be given up to 50 seats as their income tax contributions rise. That will be a long time coming, since the Africans, with an average annual income of $403 (compared with $3,959 for the whites), at present provide only 10% of Rhodesia's income tax revenues.

Unfettered Powers. Should anyone disagree with the arrangement, the constitution provides unfettered powers for the government to deal with dissent. Its new "Declaration of Rights" includes provisions for preventive detention and restriction, search and deprivation of property, and laws regulating the press. Though it also promises freedom of expression, assembly and association, as well as protection from slavery and inhuman treatment, the declaration leaves the government an all-inclusive out. No court will have the right "to inquire into or pronounce upon the validity of any law on the ground that it is inconsistent with the Declaration of Rights."

Campaigning for his creation, Prime Minister Ian Smith declared that "it virtually enshrines white supremacy, but it does it on merit, which no one can undermine." That view was disputed by a former Prime Minister, Sir Roy Welensky. He worried that "it will lead to eventual confrontation. It is a departure from representation based on merit to straight racial representation."

White Rhodesians have demonstrated at every step on their road to independence their readiness to go to any lengths to assure their position. They have accepted some hardships resulting from international trade sanctions, though many of the sanctions have been bypassed through devious third-party transactions. Internally, unemployment among Africans has risen, but Smith has maintained employment for whites through government aid. For instance, he reactivated Rhodesia's Ford and British Motor Corp. assembly plants to produce new 1966 cars from a three-year-old supply of parts.

Smith has also received generous aid from South Africa, even though his regime's blatant march toward apartheid is something of an embarrassment to Pretoria and its "outward-looking" foreign policy of making friends with its African neighbors. The embarrassment is likely to increase as Rhodesia makes use of the constitution's possibilities for repressive laws. Sooner or later, those laws are likely to be needed. South Africans are outnumbered by Africans only 4 to 1. White Rhodesians have set themselves the task of staying on top in a country where they are a minority by a ratio of 18 to 1.

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