Southern Rhodesia: How Far We’ve Come

It was a nippy day for swimming but even less auspicious for the cause of white supremacy in Southern Rhodesia. Into Salisbury’s Central Baths marched a group of whites, blacks and Asians, deliberately stripped down to bathing attire, and eased themselves into the chilly waters of the traditionally all-white pool. Indignant apartheiders jeered, brandished placards and taunted them (“You’re dirtying the water”). One white youth capped it all by shoving the fully clothed white leader of the swim-ins, University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland Lecturer Dr. Terence Ranger, into the water. Nonetheless, Ranger and his followers had made their protest against segregated pools.

The incident led to court, where anti-apartheid forces pushed a test case to see whether non-whites could be legally barred from pools. The High Court in Salisbury found against such segregation, and white-wigged Chief Justice Sir Hugh Beadle cited U.S. Supreme Court desegregation rulings. “These decisions are not binding on me,” he said. “But they are of persuasive force.”

White supremacists last week announced intent to appeal to the Federal Supreme Court, but the jolt of the lower court’s ruling was scarcely softened. The Bulawayo Chronicle recalled bygone days when blacks in the territory were not even permitted to use the sidewalks and commented, “How far we’ve come in Southern Rhodesia.” In fact, some progress, though halting, has been made. Among the more notable milestones:

Black participation (15 seats) for the first time in Southern Rhodesia’s history, in an enlarged (65-member) parliament under the new proposed constitution.

Removal last month of racial bars in movie houses.

Abolition last year of laws obliging blacks to carry special passes without which they could not travel or apply for jobs.

Above all, Southern Rhodesia’s government is showing signs of bending before the suasion of a largely antiracist world. Rising at the annual conference of his powerful United Federal Party, Prime Minister Sir Edgar Whitehead announced that if his party wins the election next year, his government will ban racial discrimination in most areas of life, a shift that would change the face of the nation. The local black African nationalists are unimpressed, insist on the grant of immediate universal suffrage, which Whitehead has not promised. Said one of their leaders: “We are not interested in the elimination of the color bar in hotels, residential areas, industry and public swimming pools. Africans want the vote.”