Ian Smith, who defied the world in 1965 when he led 270,000 white Rhodesians in a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain rather than accept moves to black-majority rule, died yesterday in South Africa aged 88.
Ironically, like Mugabe now, Smith routinely berated Britain for what he branded interference in Rhodesia's domestic affairs and dwelled on this subject at length in his autobiography, "The Great Betrayal."
As a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War Two, he was shot down twice and underwent plastic surgery after his first crash left him with a permanently lop-sided face which made it almost impossible for him to smile. Unfortunately his face personified white intransigence.
Officials in Mugabe's government said on Tuesday that Smith -- who in 1976 declared he didn't believe in black majority rule, "not in a thousand years" -- would not be missed.
"Smith will not be mourned or missed here by any decent person because he was an unrepentant racist whose racist stance and opposition to our independence caused a war, and he was responsible for a lot of deaths and suffering," Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Reuters.
State-owned radio ZBC, reporting his death, said "Smith will be remembered for his racism and for the deaths of many Zimbabweans."
However when I skimmed through the life of Mr Smith, I noted several similarities with Mr Mugabe!! Anyway the death of any person saddens my heart.
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