Undoing the united front?: Coloured soldiers in Rhodesia1

It would be more accurate to talk about Southern Rhodesia (1890s–1969), Rhodesia (1970–1978) and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979). My use of Rhodesia is a stylistic short‐hand rather than a plot to erase Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) or deny the existence of Muzorewa's short‐lived compromise government.

1939–1980

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Notes

It would be more accurate to talk about Southern Rhodesia (1890s–1969), Rhodesia (1970–1978) and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979). My use of Rhodesia is a stylistic short‐hand rather than a plot to erase Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) or deny the existence of Muzorewa's short‐lived compromise government.

A note on racial terminology in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. In Rhodesia, until 1960, “Native” was the most common official term for “pure‐blooded Bantu aboriginals”. From 1960 “African” replaced “Native” — both were interchangeable with “black”. From the earliest Rhodesian census in 1901, “European” and “white” were synonymous. Until 1921 Coloureds and Asians were sub‐categories of an umbrella term “Asiatics”. Since independence in 1980 “African”, “European”, “Coloured” and “Asian” have continued as demographic categories (cf. 1992 census report). Most importantly, in post‐independence government policy and every‐day usage, “black” and its synonyms “indigenous” and “African” do not include Asians and Coloureds (cf. Seirlis 1999; Muzondidya 2001).

At the same time, because all identity is constructed and Coloured has lived meaning, I shall limit the use of quotation marks to these opening paragraphs.

See Robert Young's powerful study of colonial discourses around hybridity (1995) and Miles's history of racism (1989).

To date, the only novel to focus on Coloureds in the Liberation War (1966–1980) — and which has a young Coloured man as its first‐person narrator — is Paul Hotz's Muzukuru: A Guerrilla's Story (1990).

Both Ian Smith, the Prime Minister who unilaterally declared Rhodesia's independence from Britain in November 1965, and Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader since independence in 1980, have used their military experience to prove their credentials as national leaders. Smith was a Second World War veteran, Mugabe a leader in the liberation struggle or Chimurenga.

See for example Graham Dawson's multi‐layered anaylsis of narration, nationalism and masculinity (1994).

In stark contrast to the nationalist movements, women in the Rhodesian State forces were limited to auxiliary positions such as office personnel and nurses, and did not participate in direct combat as soldiers (cf. Godwin & Hancock 1993).

In October 1940 the Salisbury (Harare) municipality approved government requests for separate sites in the army cemetery for Coloured and Native soldiers (municipal minutes: 15.10.40: LG 93/ 45: 260).

See Ellert (1989) for extreme cases of segregated amenities during the Liberation War.

See her emphasis on motifs of rebirth (Rambo rising from the water) and men as appropriating and usurping women's role in reproduction (her analysis of Oliver Stone's Platoon).

Note virtue's etymology from vir, the Latin for man. For the relationship between class and citizenship, virtus and potestas in Ancient Rome, see Richard Alston (1998).

Cited in Dawson 1994: 11–2 from Parliamentary Debates: House of Commons Official Report: Standing Committee F, the British Nationality Bill, 3^rd Sitting (17.2.1981).

See DeGroot and Peniston‐Bird's anthology (2000), particularly their introduction on women's integral role in army logistics and Laurie Stoff's chapter on the Soviet erasure of Russian women soldiers in the First World War.

In South Africa, blacks, Coloureds and Asians were non‐combatants under the 1912 and 1922 Defence Acts (cf. Gleeson 1994).

The 1969 Constitution replaced the common roll with a two‐tier system: Europeans, Coloureds and Asians in the one, and Africans in the other (to use the classifications of the time).

There is of course other evidence beyond the army. Under the RF, Coloureds and Asians were also included in white income tax bands — despite continued racial grading in wages.

Much as the Great War strengthened the early women's movement in Europe and North America, so the Second World War fuelled the fires of nationalism in Rhodesia.

It is important to note that the colonial and rebel white State played a numbers game depending on whether they wished to frighten whites about the rising numbers of “half‐castes” and “miscegenation”, or whether they wished to withhold funds for basic Coloured amenities and services. (cf. Mandaza 1997)

Ellert (1989) attributes the label to white soldiers' frustration with Coloured laziness.

Her maternal grandfather, Mr May, was Rhodes's driver. Ramona's brother‐in‐law, Frank Abrahams Jnr, served as chauffeur to several Rhodesian Prime Ministers, including Ian Smith.

The snobbery of the airforce dates back to its beginnings during the First World War when flying was the preserve of the British upper classes (cf. Mosse 1995; Johnston 1994). Colonialism conflated race and class. Note that black Second World War veterans were recruited into the Royal Rhodesian Air Force in 1960 — as security guards and drivers (Cowderoy and Nesbit 1987).

The Herald “Final Parade before Discharge of Cloured Personnel of 55^th General Transport Company” 3.11.1945.

Culverwell was Minister of Education in Mugabe's post‐independence government. He is the only Coloured buried at Heroes' Acre in Harare.

The Zimbabwe Independent: “Coloured ex‐combatants demand compensation”. 8.7.1997.

Interview, Arthur Mutsondziwa February 1999; see also the run‐in between King Rat and an RLI unit (Cocks 1988).

It appears in Hotz's novel and was told to me by two white ex‐soldiers.

“Racial mixing” is of course older than the British occupation of Rhodesia. There are Shona with a Protuguese mutapa (totem). In the 15^th century, however, the descendants of Portuguese and Sena/Manyika parents were treated very differently to their 19^th century equivalents.

In Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia, there were tensions between Anglo‐ and Indo‐Africans (Mandaza 1997). In Southern Rhodesia, Afro‐Asians (or Indo‐Africans) were very much side‐lined from competing self‐identifications

“Cape Boys” included black and Coloured soldiers. See Muzondidya (2001: 27‐30).

The Second World War is, however, sometimes cast as a “colonial” or “imperialist” war.

Muzondidya offers a very valuable overview of the social and economic impact of the war on Coloureds, from increased unemployment and the withdrawal of already limited government services, to the ramifications for women and the stresses placed on families (2001: 255).

The RF's infamous Property Owners' Protection Bill. See Seirlis (1999) and Muzondidya (2001) for a more detailed discussion of the prolonged battle over this bill.

In other words, “kabid” was a form of “backwards” language. The name itself is a “reversal” of the word backwards: /kæbwIdz/. See Seirlis (1999) for further details.