Ian Smith Apologises
"But Mugabe must do the same"

MEDIA REPORT NOV 2000

Former Rhodesian leader, Ian Douglas Smith, has apologised for the massacre of civilians during the country’s war of liberation, and has challenged President Robert Mugabe to follow suit.  In an exclusive interview with The Standard on Wednesday last week, Smith dismissed outright claims that he was not remorseful about the killings of civilians during the war. "Of course as a human being I am sorry for the people who were killed. I do not deny that innocent civilians were caught up in the cross-fire, and I apologise. I now challenge Mugabe to be man enough to apologise too. But I don’t think Mugabe would apologise for the war deaths nor the Matabeleland massacres where skeletons are still being dug up from mine shafts up to today," said Smith.

The former prime minister had come under fire over the last weeks for statements attributed to him during his tour of Britain early this month, when he was quoted as saying he did not regret the war time killings. The 82-year-old former prime minister, known for his Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain in 1965, said the statements attributed to him were a gross exaggeration of what he had said and accused the "State propaganda machinery" of twisting facts. "I was asked about a report emanating from Zimbabwe which claimed that I had said that I had no regrets over the murder of thousands of citizens by the Rhodesian security forces. I replied that it was a sad fact of life that in war people are killed. The objective of the Rhodesian security forces was to eliminate the enemy. Likewise, the objective of the ZIPRA and ZANLA forces, I believe, was to eliminate the enemy. The more successful we were the greater the satisfaction. Logical, straightforward and honest."

Smith brushed aside threats of arrest by President Mugabe for alleged war crimes. President Mugabe early this month said he would revoke the general amnesty of the Lancaster House Conference that ushered in the country’s independence in 1980. "He can’t touch me because he would be a fool to do so. He knows that he would have more to answer for than me, if the amnesty is revoked. A lot of people, even my contacts within ZANU PF, tell me that he (Mugabe) will be gone by December. But I tell them I can’t wait that long. Everyday that the man rules, he is dragging the country down and denying people their right to freedom and justice.

He (Mugabe) is in a state of panic, he’s like a wounded lion in a corner.......everyone is telling him to go." On the state of the country’s economy, the former prime minister had no kind words for the way the current government had managed the economy. "The economy is in a dreadful state, it’s absolute chaos. We can’t pay for fuel, we have power cuts because we can’t pay our suppliers. We can’t afford so many basics and even if one goes to a hospital, doctors will tell him that they do not even have aspirin. We have schools without teachers or books." Smith boasted that when he ran Rhodesia, he managed the economy much better than it is being run today despite the sanctions he faced then. "Rhodesia, it must be noted, was one of the most successful economies in the whole world even under sanctions when we had to export at a discount and import at a premium." He said for many years, the Rhodesian economy recorded growth rates of 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He accused government officials of corruption and added that as long as the current leadership remained in power the economy would not recover. "We’ve got to get rid of the gangsters who are bleeding the country. It’s not going to be easy. We’ve been sucked into a dreadful quagmire but we’ve got to start somewhere. We now live in a country where the richer are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer." On the land issue, Smith said farmers had been "stupid" to withdraw their initial case filed with the courts on the basis that government had shown a willingness to discuss with them.

He said the current farm invasions by war veterans and ZANU PF supporters were not in any way related to the need to redistribute land. "Mugabe will never remove invaders from the farms as this would destroy his base for intimidating voters." The former Spitfire pilot boasted about staying at his Belgravia home without any security, in contrast to Mugabe’s tight security – a sign of his unpopularity.