1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana (a clear candidate for
The Name Game)
as the country’s first President and Robert Mugabe as (more powerful)
Prime Minister. Freed of the shackles imposed by the white European
interlopers, Zimbabwe soars to new heights of prosperity.
Posts
"One Man, One Vote, Once."
ReplyDeleteIt proved correct.
As long as it's for the correct person/only party.
ReplyDeleteTo the extent that having ever-greater denominations of cash in one's wallet is a measure of prosperity, Zimbabwe is an example of an economic miracle. Tragically, that miracle is the opposite of the Philosopher's Stone, in that it transformed gold to lead.
ReplyDeleteI remember how sarcastic my dad used to get about the people who were oh-so-horrified about Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence. One of the nicer things he said about them was that if this were the 1770s, they'd be raving Tories. To get rid of them, he said, he'd turn the poultry loose. "What? You never heard of chicken cacciatore?" *rimshot*
ReplyDeleteI sometimes theorize that if the Smith government had picked a different day to drop the UDI it would have gone better for them.
DeleteTo Rhodesians it was a perfectly symbolic date to underscore the sacrifices already made to the service of the Crown and Empire.
It carried a different symbolism to Jolly Ol'... and using that particular day was seen as unforgivably rude.