Background
Lancelot (Lance) was born on anuary 17, 1910, son of a tailor at Felixstowe, Suffolk, England.
Lancelot (Lance) was born on anuary 17, 1910, son of a tailor at Felixstowe, Suffolk, England.
Educated at Felixstowe and emigrated at 25 to join the Rhodesian police.
Instead of a police career he took to the land, became a successful farmer and was later elected chairman of the Rhodesian Farmers’ Association. Founder-member of the Rhodesian Front Party in 1962, he entered Parliament as MP for Lomagundi. After the May 1965 elections Premier Ian Smith (no relation) promoted him Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture. His big chance came with the dismissal of William Harper from the government. He took over as Minister of Internal Affairs on August 16, 1968, and was reappointed on April 13, 1970, after the elections.
An eager advocate of republican status, he made a bitter attack on the Queen on May 30, 1969, as “figurehead and mouthpiece of whatever government is in power in England”. His plans for Africans to carry identity cards when working outside their designated areas was defeated at the Rhodesian Front Party Congress in October 1971.
After the Pearce Commission verdict against the independence proposals. Smith warned Africans in June 1972 they would have to rely on themselves for improving their position and not depend upon outside financial help. His “provincialisation” plans, disclosed on July 13, 1972, were intended to increase the power of the chiefs to control tribal areas and accelerate the trend towards separate development. His increasing popularity in the Rhodesian front Party was reflected in his election as a vice-president at the annual congress at Bulawayo on September 23, 1972.
A man of steadily increasing influence in the cabinet, after the review of strategy following the verdict of the Pearce Report in May 1972 ruling out implementation of the provisional independence agreement. He was the minister entrusted with opening the dialogue with Bishop Muzorewa, the African National Council leader, in October 1972.