Word: muzorewa
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...Muzorewa's new regime raises doubts at home and abroad...
Sporting a tribal headdress and wearing a leopard-skin cloak over a rainbow-hued tunic, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia moved into his official residence two weeks ago. Accompanied by a ululating crowd of followers, Bishop Abel Muzorewa rode in an ox-drawn cart to the stately white mansion -renamed from Independence House to Dzimbahwe (House of Chiefs)-that for 15 years was occupied by Ian Douglas Smith. The scene raised unsettling questions about Muzorewa's month-old multiracial government: Is it really more than an African show masking the continuation of effective white power? Is there...
Within Zimbabwe Rhodesia, the answers have not been encouraging. This week Muzorewa embarks on a trip to Washington and London to seek international recognition for his regime. He is unlikely to get it, since he has so far failed to push for badly needed internal reforms for the country's 6 million blacks or to reduce the disproportionate share of power retained by the white minority under the new constitution. And although he offered the "hand of fellowship" to the Patriotic Front upon taking office last month, he seems as determined as Ian Smith ever was to crush...
...Muzorewa's failure to develop a reform program has diminished support among his black countrymen. Said a disgruntled black in Salisbury last week: "The bishop is consistently honest in one respect. He hasn't promised anything because he can't deliver anything." The restiveness was reflected in the recent defection from Muzorewa's parliamentary party of seven M.P.s, led by Joseph Chikerema, who are seeking to form a rival bloc. The defections potentially reduce Muzorewa's parliamentary support to a minority of 44 seats in the 100-member assembly, meaning that the bishop...
There was little celebration, though, even among blacks. In his first official act, Muzorewa swore in his 16-member Cabinet, composed of eleven black and five white ministers, and offered the "hand of fellowship" to the guerrillas of the Patriotic Front, led by Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, asking them to lay down their arms under a government amnesty. It was an invitation not likely to be accepted...