The elderly Ian Smith lived in an unassuming house in Harare where, according to David Blair, "the front gate always stood open and virtually anyone who walked up the drive would be invited in for tea".
He still owned Gwenoro, but employed a manager to run it after Janet's death in 1994.
He insisted that he would never leave Zimbabwe. "
Don't get fazed by the riots, hold your head high, do not be afraid," a friend reported him saying. "
Show you are not budging and the government will leave you alone."
He dedicated much of his 1997 autobiography, The Great Betrayal, to criticising the Mugabe administration and a long succession of British figures he considered to have let him and Rhodesia down; he also defended and attempted to justify his actions as Prime Minister, and praised Nelson Mandela, calling him Africa's "first black statesman".
Smith's enduring popularity among white Zimbabweans was evidenced by the long queues they formed to have him sign copies of the book on its release in Harare in December 1997. "
They were captured, hiding their faces and turning to the wall, as television cameras recorded their 'betrayal' for the evening news," Josephine Fisher records.
Not all of the country's whites admired Smith; some felt that his obstinate refusal to acknowledge what they saw as past errors caused the whole white community to be resented and viewed with suspicion.
The elderly Ian Smith lived in an unassuming house in Harare where, according to David Blair, "the front gate always stood open and virtually anyone who walked up the drive would be invited in for tea". He still owned Gwenoro, but employed a manager to run it after Janet's death in 1994. He insisted that he would never leave Zimbabwe. "Don't get fazed by the riots, hold your head high, do not be afraid," a friend reported him saying. "Show you are not budging and the government will leave you alone." He dedicated much of his 1997 autobiography, The Great Betrayal, to criticising the Mugabe administration and a long succession of British figures he considered to have let him and Rhodesia down; he also defended and attempted to justify his actions as Prime Minister, and praised Nelson Mandela, calling him Africa's "first black statesman". Smith's enduring popularity among white Zimbabweans was evidenced by the long queues they formed to have him sign copies of the book on its release in Harare in December 1997. "They were captured, hiding their faces and turning to the wall, as television cameras recorded their 'betrayal' for the evening news," Josephine Fisher records. Not all of the country's whites admired Smith; some felt that his obstinate refusal to acknowledge what they saw as past errors caused the whole white community to be resented and viewed with suspicion.
Ian Smith