Southern Rhodesia: New Range Boss

SOUTHERN RHODESIA

Southern Rhodesia achieved "responsible self-government" more than 40 years ago as a territorial member of the British Commonwealth. But since then, with the emergence of black-ruled independent states throughout Africa, the definition of responsibility has changed. Under Southern Rhodesia's constitution, only 60,000 of the na tion's 3,600,000 blacks qualify to vote, and the government remains under the control of a white minority numbering 224,000.

Britain refuses to grant Southern Rhodesia full independence until this inequity is remedied, while Southern Rhodesia's "cowboy government" — so named because its ruling, white-supremacist Rhodesian Front Party consists mostly of ranchers — threatens to...

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