Viscount ? How old is this ?
You might want to warn the readers that they can look all day long for the date and not find when it happened.
1978!
Others beat me to it...
Joshua Nkomo, who helped found the ZIPRA marxist guerrilla group which shot down the plane, was later exiled (to London, of course) by Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) faction.
When Mugabe took full control of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Mugabe also conducted a massacre of Nkomo’s Ndebele tribe political base, more than 40K killed.
So what goes around, comes around
Also, never trust a Marxist.
The 1st comment at the story:
“Funny how Africans fear white reprisals after they commit atrocities.”
Ain’t it the truth.....in this country as well for that matter
It is indeed.
L
Excellent article. Read the entire thing and was impressed by the Zoomer who wrote it.
Especially this part, as to where the Tigercat missile came from that shot down the civilian airliner, 10 of the survivors then killed by terrorists:
“The British Government hadn’t said a word to Rhodesia. Instead, Prime Minister Callaghan went and met with President Kaunda and promised him the world. The Zambian President was terrified of Rhodesian retaliation and so, at the cost of ten million pounds, Callaghan sent him a modern air defence system and Tigercat missiles. The idea that these systems could be used against Rhodesian civilian airliners from across the Zambezi didn’t particularly seem to trouble the PM.”
And, there was retaliation by White Rhodesians.
Chatgpt:
Rhodesia was a short-lived, internationally unrecognized country in southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. It eventually became modern-day Zimbabwe.
Background
Rhodesia was a British colony (Southern Rhodesia) governed by a white minority. In 1965, its government—led by Ian Smith—made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom to avoid moving toward majority (Black African) rule.
What happened next
The move was rejected by Britain and most of the world.
Rhodesia faced international sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
A long guerrilla war broke out, known as the Rhodesian Bush War, fought between the white-led government and African nationalist groups like:
Robert Mugabe (ZANU)
Joshua Nkomo (ZAPU)
The end of Rhodesia
By the late 1970s, the war, economic pressure, and international isolation forced negotiations. In 1979, the Lancaster House Agreement was signed in London:
Rhodesia briefly returned to British control.
Elections were held with universal suffrage.
Transition to Zimbabwe
In 1980:
The country officially became Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe became its first prime minister.
In short
Rhodesia didn’t “disappear” overnight—it transformed after a prolonged conflict and international pressure into a majority-ruled independent state: Zimbabwe.
Bkmk
Rhodesia???? Isn’t it Zimbabwa NOW?
.