Trusting Smith
Sir: The proposed Rhodesia settlement is said to depend on trusting Mr Smith. His previous record does not encourage this. Immediately before declaring UDI, he deliberately tricked the then Governor, Sir Humphrey Gibbs, into granting him emergency powers by expressly denying that n,e was contemplating inclePendence.
Neither can any objective per:ion ,have faith in the present Rhodesian bench who are prcoosed as the custodians of the Declaration of Bights. The honourable Rhodesian Judges like the former Chief Justice Sir Robert Tredgold having resigned, the ones who remain are those who have connived at illegality as well as racialism Packed out with South Africans Selected by Mr Smith.
The proposed settlement is stich transparent farrago that the Rhodesia Front ministers do not even need to dissimulate. Asked by an African MP a few days ago in the Rhodesian Parliament whether the previous proposed apartheidstyle legislation would be dropped, the minister candidly replied: "No, sir."
The wording of the proposed settlement permits the Rhodesia Front to veto any progress at all in removing racial discrimination. So much for the fourth of the five principles. There is not even a pretence at the second principle's guarantee against retrogression. The fifth principle's test of acceptability is a charade unless the Rhodesian African leaders, including Mr Nkomo, are released to present their views equally with the freedom Mr Smith has. And majority rule (the crux of the first
pt inciple) can in fact be indefinitely postponed not only by white immigration, but also because African education is in the hands of the Rhodesia Front government, which can ensure that the necessary qualifications are never obtained.
Can we not at least be honest about this?
Ben Whitaker Travellers Club, Pall Mall, London SW1
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