David Smith (Rhodesian politician)

{{short description|Rhodesian/Zimbabwean politician (1922-1996)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = David Smith | honorific_suffix = {{Post nominals|country=ZAR|GLM|ICD}} | prime_minister4 = Ian Smith | successor5 = Himself (Zimbabwe Rhodesia) | successor4 = Silas Mundawarara (Zimbabwe Rhodesia) | prime_minister5 = Ian Smith | predecessor6 = George Rudland | successor6 = Rollo Hayman | term_start6 = September 1968 | term_end6 = January 1976 | prime_minister6 = Ian Smith | party = Rhodesian Front | term_start4 = 20 August 1976 | term_end5 = 1979 | term_end4 = 1979 | deputy1 = Moses Mvenge | spouse = {{marriage|Jean Graham|1948}} | children = 5 | image = File:Minister de Koning begroet op Schiphol minister van Handel en Industrie van Zimb, Bestanddeelnr 930-9121.jpg | alongside3 = Ernest Bulle | deputy2 = Dennis Nyamuswa | prime_minister2 = Abel Muzorewa | prime_minister3 = Ian Smith | predecessor4 = John Wrathall | term_start5 = 13 January 1976 | death_place = Harare, Zimbabwe | birth_date = 19 April 1922 | office1 = Minister of Trade and Commerce of Zimbabwe | term_start1 = 19 April 1980 | term_end1 = March 1981 | predecessor1 = Ernest Bulle (Zimbabwe Rhodesia) | prime_minister1 = Robert Mugabe | office2 = Minister of Finance of Zimbabwe Rhodesia | term_end2 = 12 December 1979 | term_start2 = 1 June 1979 | successor2 = Enos Nkala (Zimbabwe) | predecessor2 = Himself (Rhodesia) | death_date = {{death date and age|1996|07|09|1922|04|19|df=y}} | alongside5 = Ernest Bulle (1978−1979) | birth_place = Argyll, Scotland | office3 = Minister of Commerce and Industry of Rhodesia | office4 = Deputy Prime Minister of Rhodesia | office5 = Minister of Finance of Rhodesia | office6 = Minister of Agriculture of Rhodesia | term_start3 = April 1978 | term_end3 = 1979 | successor1 = Richard Hove | successor3 = Ernest Bulle (Zimbabwe Rhodesia) | predecessor5 = John Wrathall | resting_place = Kilkerran Cemetery, Campbeltown, Scotland | awards = {{MilAward Stack|GLM | ICD | size=x12px}} }}

'''David Colville Smith''' {{Post nominals|country=ZAR|GLM|ICD}} (19 April 1922{{snd}}9 July 1996) was a farmer and politician in Rhodesia and its successor states, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. He served in the cabinet of Rhodesia as Minister of Agriculture from 1968 to 1976, Minister of Finance from 1976 to 1979, and Minister of Commerce and Industry from 1978 to 1979. From 1976 to 1979, he also served Deputy Prime Minister of Rhodesia. He continued to serve as Minister of Finance in the government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed Minister of Trade and Commerce of the newly independent Zimbabwe, one of two whites included in the cabinet of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.

Born in Kintyre, Scotland, Smith emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1946 to take up farming. Initially a farm assistant, he rose to become a farm manager and later co-founded a farming enterprise of his own in Mazowe. He was elected to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly in 1965, the year of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, and was added to the cabinet three years later as agriculture minister. He later held the portfolios of finance and commerce, and served for three years as Ian Smith's deputy prime minister. Considered a moderate within the Rhodesian Front, he was one of a few white ministers included in the cabinets of premier Abel Muzorewa of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979, and by Robert Mugabe in 1980. He resigned from the cabinet and the Rhodesian Front in 1981, and remained in retirement in Harare until his death.

== Early life and family == Smith was born on 19 April 1922 on the Kintyre peninsula of Argyll, Scotland, either in Campbeltown<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=1978-06-04|title=Deputy Prime Minister to Remain in Politics|work=The Sunday Mail|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4llEAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA129|access-date=2020-06-02}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WX1mAAAAMAAJ|title=Who's who of Southern Africa|publisher=Ken Donaldson (Pty.) Limited|year=1976|pages=1096|language=en}}</ref> or at his family's Corran farm in Clachan.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PH4hAQAAIAAJ|title=Current World Leaders|date=1979|publisher=International Academy at Santa Barbara|pages=850|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=1968-10-03|title=Kintyre man in Rhodesian cabinet|work=Campbeltown Courier|url=https://www.campbeltowncourier.co.uk/2018/10/07/from-our-files-october-5-2018/|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|date=1996-07-17|title=David Smith|work=The Herald|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12030969.david-smith/|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGFEAQAAIAAJ|title=Sub-Saharan Africa Report|publisher=Foreign Broadcast Information Service|year=1979|pages=58|language=en}}</ref> He was the son of farmer William Reid Smith, a Newmains native, and Margaret Brown Mundell, who originated from Bellochantuy.<ref name=":3" /> He was educated at Campbeltown Grammar School.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" />

Smith emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1946, sailing from England on the ''Winchester Castle''{{'s}} first post-war voyage.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite news|date=1996-07-18|title=David Smith: Tireless worker for his country|work=The Farmer|url=http://www.rhodesia.com/oz_wa/bt4th_96.htm|access-date=2020-05-31|via=Bundu Times}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite news|date=1981-05-01|title=White Official Quits Mugabe Government|work=The Washington Star|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GAJJAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA18-PA22|access-date=2020-06-02}}</ref> His brother, Hamish Smith, also moved to the colony and farmed in Nyabira.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1969-11-19|title=New Board Member for Tribal Trust Land Development Corporation|publisher=Rhodesia Ministry of Information|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5QeQc2siN_AC|access-date=2020-05-31}}</ref> Prior to leaving, Smith became engaged to Jean Barclay Graham, whom he married in 1948.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" /> Together, they had five children, Catherine, Marge, Graham, Elizabeth, and William Lindsay—who died in 1952 at the age of two—and fourteen grandchildren.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" />

== Farming in Rhodesia == In Southern Rhodesia, Smith initially worked as a farm assistant, before becoming a farm manager.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tk5EAQAAIAAJ|title=Sub-Saharan Africa Report|publisher=Foreign Broadcast Information Service|year=1981|pages=96|language=en}}</ref> He later started his own farming enterprise, Smith and Wheeler (Pvt) Ltd., with a partner in Mazowe.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9" /> He joined the Grain Marketing Board in 1953, and served on several other agricultural committees.<ref name=":2" /> He became chairman of the national Farmers' Co-operative in 1966.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> In 1974, he purchased a farm in Banket worth several hundred thousand dollars.<ref name=":0" />

== Political career == In 1965, the year of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, Smith was elected to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for the Marandellas constituency.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lEOAQAAMAAJ|title=Africa Confidential|date=1968|publisher=Miramoor Publications Limited|pages=140|language=en}}</ref> On 28 September 1968, he was named to Prime Minister Ian Smith's cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, succeeding George Rudland.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SHYEAQAAIAAJ|title=Africa Research Bulletin|date=1976|publisher=Blackwell|pages=4136|language=en|chapter=New Deputy Premier}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3k5AAAAMAAJ|title=Africa Digest|date=1968|publisher=Africa Bureau|pages=106|language=en}}</ref> At that time, Smith was described as the Rhodesian Front's "most liberal MP" and a moderate within the party who opposed press censorship and favoured a settlement with Britain.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Good|first=Robert C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3R9BgAAQBAJ|title=U.D.I: The International Politics of the Rhodesian Rebellion|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1973|isbn=978-1-4008-6917-6|location=Princeton|pages=265|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAsNAQAAMAAJ|title=The Round Table|year=1969|publisher=Round Table Limited|pages=72|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hudson|first=Miles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4iMaAAAAMAAJ|title=Triumph Or Tragedy?: Rhodesia to Zimbabwe|date=1981|publisher=H. Hamilton|isbn=978-0-241-10571-9|pages=123–124|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=White|first=Matthew C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZqpBAAAAYAAJ|title=Smith of Rhodesia|publisher=Don Nelson|year=1978|isbn=978-0-909238-36-0|location=Cape Town|pages=92|language=en}}</ref> He was reelected to Parliament in the 1970 election with 72.5 percent of the vote against independent candidate Thomas Edridge, a Wedza farmer and member of the Rhodesia Tobacco Association's governing council.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Rowe|first=David M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4suvHRPFULQC|title=Manipulating the Market: Understanding Economic Sanctions, Institutional Change, and the Political Unity of White Rhodesia|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-472-11187-9|location=Ann Arbor|pages=87–88|language=en}}</ref> Edridge and the RTA took issue with price controls put in place by Smith in his capacity as agriculture minister.<ref name=":12" /> In April 1970, the month of the election, Smith criticized the RTA and other commodities boards for their political involvement, and accused them of lobbying against him in other government ministries.<ref name=":12" /> In 1972, he was elected vice-president of the Rhodesian Front, succeeding Lord Angus Graham.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Dorothy Keyworth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4YUhAAAAMAAJ|title=Race Relations in Rhodesia: A Survey for 1972-73|date=1975|publisher=R. Collings|pages=109|isbn=9780901720566|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite news|last=Ross|first=Jay|date=1980-03-12|title=Mugabe Appoints Cabinet Designed To Placate Whites|language=en-US|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/03/12/mugabe-appoints-cabinet-designed-to-placate-whites/8b03f5f3-0bb7-4368-834e-29382342af9d/|access-date=2020-06-02|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Smith was reelected in 1974 with 79 percent of the vote against Alfred John Harrison, the Rhodesia Party candidate. [[File:Internal Settlement.jpg|left|thumb|Smith (center) at the signing of the Internal Settlement on 3 March 1978.]] On 13 January 1976, Smith was made Minister of Finance after the incumbent minister, John Wrathall, became President of Rhodesia.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":11" /> He became Deputy Prime Minister on 20 August 1976, retaining his finance portfolio.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":11" /> He was returned to Parliament in the 1977 election with 86 percent of the vote against William John Raymond Pratt of the right-wing Rhodesian Action Party. In April 1978, he was appointed joint Minister of Commerce and Industry, serving alongside Ernest Bulle, one of the black co-ministers appointed as a result of the Internal Settlement.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eVaAAAAIAAJ|title=The International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's who|publisher=Burke's Peerage Limited|year=1979|pages=520|language=en}}</ref> That year, he was the first Rhodesian minister to say he would run for Parliament under the Internal Settlement constitution, which would ensure a multiracial government.<ref name=":0" />

On 30 May 1979, Smith was appointed Minister of Finance in the government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, the successor state to Rhodesia.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Burns|first=John F.|date=1979-05-31|title=Muzorewa Names a Cabinet, Reserving Key Roles for Himself and Smith|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/31/archives/muzorewa-names-a-cabinet-reserving-key-roles-for-himself-and-smith.html|access-date=2020-06-02|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In a by-election held on 24 July 1979 to replace Hilary Squires, Smith was elected unopposed to Parliament for the Borrowdale constituency. In the fall of 1979, he attended the Lancaster House Conference as part of Zimbabwe Rhodesia premier Abel Muzorewa's delegation.<ref name=":7" /> He refused to go unless Ian Smith was also allowed to attend, a demand to which Muzorewa acquiesced.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stedman|first=Stephen John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAIxAQAAIAAJ|title=The Lancaster House constitutional conference on Rhodesia|date=1988|publisher=Pew Charitable Trusts|pages=9|language=en}}</ref> After the conference, which ended the Rhodesian Bush War and led to the creation of the independent Zimbabwe, he kept in personal touch with nationalist leaders Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo.<ref name=":4" />

In the country's first multiracial elections in 1980, Smith was reelected unopposed as MP for Borrowdale, one of the twenty seats reserved for whites.<ref name=":7" /> After the election, he was named Minister of Commerce and Industry in Prime Minister Robert Mugabe's cabinet.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14">{{Cite news|date=1980-03-12|title=Mugabe Cabinet list seeks unity|work=The Christian Science Monitor|editor-last=Walker|editor-first=Ruth|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0312/031236.html|access-date=2020-06-02|issn=0882-7729}}</ref> He was one of two whites in the cabinet, along with agriculture minister Denis Norman, and was the only minister belonging to the Rhodesian Front.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DzgOAQAAMAAJ|title=Facts & Reports|date=1981|publisher=Holland Committee on Southern Africa|pages=50|language=en}}</ref> He said he would remain in the party, and Ian Smith played a role in his selection for the cabinet.<ref name=":13" /> He was sworn in with the other cabinet ministers on 19 April 1980.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j5x25J7vXjoC|title=A Concise Guide to the Second Parliament of Zimbabwe|publisher=Ministry of Information|year=1985|location=Harare|pages=4|language=en}}</ref> Later that year, his title was changed to Minister of Trade and Commerce, with the industry portfolio going to Simba Makoni.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5wPAQAAMAAJ|title=Zimbabwe Information Group|date=1981|publisher=Zimbabwe Information Group|pages=3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfrFDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1634|title=The Statesman's Year-Book 1981-82|publisher=Macmillan Press|year=1981|isbn=978-0-230-27110-4|editor-last=Paxton|editor-first=John|location=London|pages=1634|language=en}}</ref> In early March 1981, Smith resigned from the cabinet, citing ill health.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":15" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75tmAAAAMAAJ|title=The Annual Register|date=1981|publisher=Longmans|isbn=978-0-582-50303-8|pages=256|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1981-03-20|title=Appointment of Acting Minister of Trade and Commerce|url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/zw/1981/zw-government-gazette-dated-1981-03-06-no-19.pdf|journal=Zimbabwean Government Gazette|volume=59|pages=295|via=Gazettes.Africa}}</ref> He resigned from Parliament and the Rhodesian Front on 30 April, saying in a statement that he had decided to retire from politics but would be "an interested onlooker".<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fu4zAAAAIAAJ|title=Summary of World Broadcasts: Non-Arab Africa|date=1981|publisher=BBC|language=en|chapter=Resignation of Rhodesian Front member}}</ref>

== Later life and death == After leaving politics, Smith remained in Zimbabwe in retirement.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /> He enjoyed riding and shooting, and was a member of the Harare Club and Dining Club.<ref name=":2" /> He died at his home in Harare on 9 July 1996 at age 74, several years after being diagnosed with heart disease.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1996-12-20|title=Notices to Creditors and Debtors|url=https://gazettes.africa/archive/zw/1996/zw-government-gazette-dated-1996-12-20-no-63.pdf|journal=Zimbabwean Government Gazette|volume=74|pages=1154|via=Gazettes.Africa}}</ref> He was buried at Kilkerran Cemetery in Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute, with his parents and son, William.

== Awards == * {{MilAward Desc|GLM|country=yes}} * {{MilAward Desc|ICD|country=yes}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{Zimbabwe-Ministers of Finance}} {{Members of the 1st Parliament of Zimbabwe}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David Colville}} Category:1922 births Category:1996 deaths Category:20th-century Zimbabwean politicians Category:Agriculture ministers Category:British emigrants to Southern Rhodesia Category:Deputy prime ministers of Rhodesia Category:Finance ministers of Zimbabwe Category:Industry ministers Category:Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe Category:Members of the Parliament of Rhodesia Category:Politicians from Harare Category:People from Kintyre Category:People from Marondera Category:Finance ministers of Rhodesia Category:Rhodesian farmers Category:Rhodesian Front politicians Category:Scottish emigrants Category:Trade ministers Category:White Rhodesian people Category:20th-century Zimbabwean businesspeople Category:White Zimbabwean politicians Category:Zimbabwean farmers