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Sanctions and the Rhodesian Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Robert McKinnell
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Extract

On 11 November 1965 the Rhodesian Front Government of Mr Ian Smith unilaterally declared Rhodesia to be independent of the residual jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

The British Government understandably regarded U.D.I, as illegal and unacceptable, and sought ways to terminate the rule of Smith's party. In the absence of an internal uprising, the British Government, having eschewed the use of force, resorted to a policy of economic sanctions to effect the desired political and social changes. These were intended to affect incomes, employment, and economic activity generally, so as to generate dissent and disaffection among the white population, who, it was hoped, would either emigrate or force a return to legality, the negotiating table, and progress towards a mutually acceptable form of independence.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , December 1969 , pp. 559 - 581
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

Page 560 note 1 Cf. Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies (Leicester), VII, 2Google Scholar, special issue on Rhodesia.

Page 560 note 2 Cf. Higgins, Rosalyn, ‘International Law, Rhodesia and the U.N.’, in The World Today (London XXIII, 3, 1967, pp. 94–106.Google Scholar

Page 560 note 3 Rhodesia Herald (Salisbury), 27 11 1968.Google Scholar

Page 560 note 4 Cf. Harris, P. B., ‘Rhodesia: Sanctions, Economic and Political’, in The Rhodesian Journal of Economics (Salisbury II, 3, 1968.Google Scholar

Page 560 note 5 After the earlier NIBMAR pledge, ‘No independence before majority rule’, the weak ‘Fearless’ proposals have been described as ‘scarcely impeded progress to permanent minority rule’.

Page 561 note 1 Cf. United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 2379 (XXIII), 2425 (XXIII) and, in particular, 2383 (XXIII).

Page 562 note 1 Resolution no. 217 (1965) of the Security Council.

Page 562 note 2 Resolution no. 232 (1966) of the Security Council.

Page 563 note 1 Article 41 of the United Nations Charter, however, permits the complete or partial interruption of postal, telegraphic, and radio communication.

Page 565 note 1 Sources: Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1968 (Salisbury, 1969), and Monthly Digest of Statistics (Salisbury), 02 1968.Google Scholar

Page 565 note 2 Preliminary estimate.

Page 565 note 3 The total population includes Asian and Coloured peoples.

Page 566 note 1 The burden was of course unevenly shared, being shifted on to the rural sector and migratory African labour.

Page 567 note 1 There is no telling what the growth rate would otherwise have been. But 7 per cent is not unrealistic in the light of experience before the federal period, during that decade, and even in 1964–1965. See Table 4, p. 576, and I.M.F. Staff Papers (Washington), VII, 2, 10 1959, p. 304.Google Scholar

Page 567 note 2 Cf. McKinnell, R. T., ‘Assessing the Economic Impact of Sanctions against Rhodesia’, in African Affairs (London), 67, 1968, pp. 227–32.Google Scholar

Page 568 note 1 Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1967 and 1968 (Salisbury, 1968 and 1969).Google Scholar Only major items are shown separately. Totals may differ from sum of individual items, due to rounding.

Page 569 note 1 Cf. Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1968, Tables 13 and 14.

Page 569 note 2 Ibid. p. 7.

Page 569 note 3 Cf. Thompson, C. H. and Woodruff, H. W., Economic Development in Rhodesia and Nyasaland (London, 1954)Google Scholar; and Baldwin, R. E., Economic Development and Export Growth: a study of Northern Rhodesia, 1920–1960 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1966).Google Scholar

Page 570 note 1 Source: based on Table 4 of Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1968. The division into primary, secondary, and tertiary is not absolutely clear-cut, particularly in the case of transport and communications. The 1968 G.D.P. of 390.1 is obtained by addition; the published figure is 389–9.

Page 570 note 2 Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1966 (Salisbury, 1967), p. 16.Google Scholar

Page 571 note 1 A detailed statement on capital formation is no longer provided; this reduction of information is a definite and bothersome result of U.D.I. and sanctions.

Page 571 note 2 Cf. Hawkins, A. M., ‘The Rhodesian Economy under Sanctions’, in The Rhodesian Journal of Economics, v, I, 08 1967, p. 49.Google Scholar

Page 572 note 1 Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1966, p. 16.

Page 572 note 2 A fuller discussion of this and related issues is provided in an unpublished paper by Holger L. Engberg, ‘Financial Aspects of Sanctions against Rhodesia’.

Page 572 note 3 Cf. Economist Intelligence Unit, Quarterly Economic Review (London), 2, 1968.Google Scholar

Page 572 note 4 Net immigration of non-Africans was approximately the same in 1967 as in 1965; but, whereas one-quarter was from Zambia and Malawi in 1965, four-fifths was the proportion in 1967. See Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1967, p. 19.

Page 573 note 1 For a more complete discussion, see Irvine, A. G., The Balance of Payments of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, 1945–1954 (London, 1959), pp. 309–17.Google Scholar

Page 573 note 2 See, for example, Haziewood, A. and Henderson, P. D., ‘Nyasaland: the economics of Federation’, in Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Economics and Statistics (Oxford), XXIII, 1961, pp. 67–81.Google Scholar

Page 574 note 1 See Taylor, W. L., ‘Problems of Economic Development of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland,’ in Robinson, E. A. G. (ed.), Economic Development of Africa South of the Sahara (London, 1964).Google Scholar

Page 574 note 2 Curtin, Timothy, ‘Rhodesian Economy under Sanctions’, in Venture (London), 17, 9.Google Scholar

Page 574 note 3 See National Development Plan, 1965 (Salisbury, 1965).Google Scholar

Page 575 note 1 Uncertainty surrounds the estimates for the African sector, and it is rather surprising that African agriculture should have increased its output by nearly 15 per cent per annum, 1965–1967, compared with the average increase, 1958–1965, of less than 3 per cent per annum. Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1967, p. 7.

Page 576 note 1 Sources, : National Accounts and Balance of Payments of Rhodesia, 1954–1964 (Salisbury, 1965), Table IGoogle Scholar; Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1965, Table 3; and Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1966, Tables 3 and 5.

Page 577 note 1 Fuller details and sources are given in Table 7, p. 581, below.

Page 577 note 2 Cf. Curtin, T. R. C., ‘Rhodesian Economic Development Under Sanctions and “The Long Haul”’, in African Affairs, 67, 1968, pp. 100–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 578 note 1 Source, : based on Report of the Committee Established in Pursuance of Resolution 253 (1968) of 29 May 1968 (New York), U.N. publication S/8954, dated 30 December 1968Google Scholar. The figures for 1968 are based on partial data—usually January to June, assuming annual figure in proportion. A notable omission is:the:data for the Republic:of South Africa.

Page 578 note 2 Refers to trade with the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

Page 579 note 1 Monthly Abstract of Trade Statistics (Pretoria), Tables 2 and 3.

Page 579 note 2 Sutcliffe, R. B., ‘The Political Economy of Rhodesian Sanctions’, in Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies, VII, 2.Google Scholar

Page 579 note 3 U.N. Document A/AC. 109/L445, 21 February 1968.

Page 580 note 1 See Economic Bulletin for Latin America (Santiago), x, I, 1964, pp. 1–59.Google Scholar

Page 581 note 1 Sources, : Economic Survey of Rhodesia for 1967 and 1968, National Accounts and Balance of Payments of Rhodesia, 1954–1964 (Salisbury, 1965)Google Scholar; Statistical Yearbook, 1967 (Lusaka, 1968)Google Scholar, Economic Report, 1967 (Lusaka, 1968)Google Scholar, Monthly Digest of Statistics (Lusaka); Compendium of Statistics for Malawi, 1966 (Zomba, 1967)Google Scholar, Economic Report, 1967 (Zomba, 1968)Google Scholar, Monthly Bulletin of Economic Indicators (Zomba), 25 02 1969Google Scholar, Standard Bank Review (London), 04 1969Google Scholar; Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Reserve Bank (Pretoria), Bulletin of Statistics (Pretoria) Monthly Abstract of Trade Statistics (Pretoria).

Page 581 note 2 Mining, manufacturing, construction, transport, communications, and public authorities—no data for agriculture provided.

Page 581 note 3 Denotes estimated or preliminary values.