Background
Desmond was born on October 17, 1908, at Kimberley, South Africa.
(Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dw. Particularly and s...)
Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dw. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. ; 101 pages; Map illustrated. Subjects: Zimbabwe--Politics and government.
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Desmond was born on October 17, 1908, at Kimberley, South Africa.
Desmond educated at St Andrew’s College, Grahamstown.
He emigrated to Rhodesia in 1933, settling at Gwelo and starting a legal practice. After entering Parliament alongside lan Smith in 1948 he waited 16 years for promotion from the back benches. One of his first acts as minister was to declare a state of emergency on August 26, 1964, in the African township of Highfield. He banned the People’s Caretaker Council and the Zimbabwe African National Union for alleged intimidation and violence. He closed down the “Daily News" owned by British newspaper proprietor Lord Thomson on the grounds that it promoted African nationalist propaganda. He banned Rhodesia branches of Zambia’s United National Independence Party on July 14, 1965.
To pave the way for UDI he proclaimed a state of emergency on November 5, 1965, and then a month later introduced extra regulations with a fine of £500 or two years’ imprisonment for any broadcast of “a speech, statement, utterance, poem or song which is likely to endanger public safety”.
On February 2, 1966, he warned “fifth columnists” they would face death sentences if they tried to form a cabinet to take over from the Smith government. His ruthless hardline policies led British Prime Minister Harold Wilson to rule out Lardner-Burke from any interim administration under British proposals for an independence settlement made at the negotiations aboard HMS Tiger in December 1966.
(Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dw. Particularly and s...)
On his recommendation the Smith government defied all international pressures not to execute three Africans sentenced to death before UDI. With Clifford Dupont, who signed the death warrants, Lardncr-Burke took the main responsibility for the procedures which ignored the Queen’s reprieve from London and led to hangings on March 6, 1968.
He translated Rhodesian Front policy for preserving white rule in the Constitution Bill of October 1969. It made Rhodesia a republic and limited African prospects to “equal participation” in government eventually.
Twice he had detention orders served on former Prime Minister Garfield Todd in 1965 and 1972. It was his tough security measures which led to rioters being shot dead and demonstrators arrested in January 1972 when the Pearce Commission arrived from Britain to test the acceptability of independence proposals. On September 23, 1972, he was re-elected a vice-president of the Rhodesia Front Party. His answer to the criticism of border security in February 1973 was to issue a warning that spreading “alarm and despondency” could lead to prison sentences of up to seven years’ hard labour.
For many he seemed the natural hardline successor to Ian Smith but his popularity among whites suffered a setback over the border incidents which caused the deaths of white farmers. He was blamed for the weakness of the security network and five MPs tabled a demand for his resignation in February 1973. Even when Premier Smith brushed aside the resignation call he conceded there had been a lapse in security.