The Dilemma of the Patriotic Front and the Influence of the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Government on the Final 1979 Lancaster House Constitution

Abstract

The Lancaster House Conference was a landmark achievement in the decolonization process of Rhodesia. The Patriotic Front made up of ZAPU and ZANU attended the conference alongside the Smith-Muzorewa delegation (Zimbabwe-Rhodesia) government. Hopes that the values and cause for which their parties stood, and for which so many young men and women had sacrificed their lives in the revolutionary struggle would be addressed fully were sky high.  This paper takes us through the negotiation process at Lancaster in 1979. It interrogates the politics of compromise at work and concludes by asserting that the outcome was pre-meditated and that the Patriotic Front was diplomatically out-classed and lost. The article also analyses the constitutional conference and critiques British mediation endeavours. It highlights the challenges that confronted the Patriotic Front in articulating their concerns and proceeds to suggest that although Britain is to be credited for breaking the deadlock over Rhodesia, the hasty decisions made at the conference were the precursor of the socioeconomic and political challenges that continue to bedevil Zimbabwe to date. It concludes by recommending strategies that give credence to any transitional process.