Posted on 10/27/2003 4:58:49 AM PST by Clive
IAN Douglas Smith, the last Prime Minister of colonial Rhodesia, says he feels vindicated that President Robert Mugabe - the man who upstaged him over 23 years ago - has shown the world what he predicted he would do: running down the country once touted as the 'jewel of the Commonwealth'.
In an interview with The Standard yesterday, Smith, 84, whose once clean shaven cheeks are now sporting a 'Robinson Cruisoe beard', made it clear that he felt vindicated by the way Mugabe had destroyed the country's economy.
"Even ordinary people now see that they were wrong, through hindsight, to allow him (Mugabe) into power. I get so many people calling to say how much the country has gone down the drain and how they want to restore Rhodesia to what it was," he says.
Smith - who is best remembered in history for his Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain in 1965 to prevent the black majority from taking power - said it was imperative that the Zanu PF regime is removed from power as a matter of urgency.
"Mugabe and Zanu PF only appeared to be good during the early years (of their rule) because they were feeding off the fat of Rhodesia," he told The Standard at his Harare home.
Smith, a pale shadow of the strongman who was determined to stop a liberation wave that was sweeping across Southern Africa, still considers himself a Rhodesian.
"The country's economy has collapsed and the leaders are corrupt and desperate to cling onto power at any cost. They make repressive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act to stay in power, while our own were justified because we were at war with the whole world on our backs," he said.
"At least now all the people see that the difference between me and Mugabe is that I was right and he is wrong," he added.
The Brezhnev doctrine and Jimmy Carter are still with us.
Liberation Wave?
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