Zimbabwe "votes" (2)

RHODESIA IN 1965 WOULD PROBABLY HAVE NOT SURVIVED THE INTERNATONAL SANCTIONS brought on by UDI had it not been for the help of South Africa, also ruled by a white minority government. Nevertheless the Rhodesians proved resourceful and seemed to be able to thumb their noses at the world while they got on with life. In Zambia we felt the effect of sanctions very quickly since no other routes to the coast had been sufficiently developed. Gas was rationed severely through the allocation of coupons. My father received the initial standard allocation of four gallons for six weeks for his Ford Consul. However he was soon able to qualify for essential services as a pastor and received an additional allocation to enable him to carry out his service to the community.

With imports from the south having been halted frantic efforts were made to find alternative routes. For the immediate needs the British funded a fleet of aircraft to fly gasoline in and fly copper wire bars out, a hugely uneconomical method for these commodities. Additionally the
1,000 mile Great North Road to the Tanzanian port of Dar Es Salaam was put to the test as the government hired anyone with a truck to ferry imported goods from the coast. The road was not tarred and soon developed huge ruts and holes. The rains did not help matters and soon the route became known as the Hell Run. Trucks over turned and mired in the mud with alarming frequency and the attractive price offered by the government soon lost its appeal.

Eventually the government formed Zambia Tanzania Road Services (ZTRS) with a fleet of large green Fiat trucks and trailers, which took over from multitude of small entrepreneurs who made the hell run. The Great North Road was also eventually tarred and in the early ‘70’s the Chinese would construct the Tazara railway line from the existing railway at Kapiri Mposhi to Dar Es Salaam.

In 1972 my wife and I took a vacation to Rhodesia, entering at Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River where a friend had arranged for us to meet a friend of his working on the new hydro-electric power plant. When construction was completed in 1959 it created the largest made lake in
the world. Initially a power station was constructed only on the Rhodesian side to supply electricity to both sides of the border.

During our visit the second stage was under construction to build a power plant on the northern side and we were able to go underground to visit the construction site for the turbines and other machinery. We spent a couple of days in Kariba town at a small hotel. We took a ride on a boat, which had been used in the early ‘60’s in Operation Noah, a massive rescue effort of the animals trapped by rising waters. It had been a big news item in school and also the subject of a documentary film.

The next stop on our visit took us to Salisbury (now Harare), and then on to Fort Victoria (now Masvingo) where we stayed in a Lake Kyle National Park lodge for a couple of days. Among the many animals we saw was a male nyala, a rarely seen large antelope. As we left Fort Victoria we visited the Zimbabwe Ruins (see picture), the remnants of an ancient African empire, which gave Rhodesia its new name in 1980. Then on to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city whose streets were built to be wide enough for a team of sixteen oxen to make a u-turn. From Bulawayo we drove north to Wankie (now Hwange) National Park, which was known as one of the best in southern Africa for viewing animals. From a platform we were able to view animals coming to drink at a waterhole – giraffe, sable, roan antelope, etc. From Wankie we moved on to Victoria Falls which was not as spectacular as I had promised because we were at the end of the dry season and the Zambezi was at its lowest. (We visited again in May, at the end of the
wet season, when we had to use umbrellas in the mist)

The most harrowing part of the trip was our entry back into Zambia. We crossed the Victoria Falls Bridge and were stopped at a military checkpoint. Anyone arriving from Rhodesia was met with utmost suspicion because of the political tensions between the two countries. For an hour our car was turned inside out, as the soldiers looked for contraband. Finally we were cleared, repacked and on our way. A quarter of a mile further we reached the official customs post where the customs officers acted as though the military checkpoint did not exist and repeated the process we had completed with the military ten minutes earlier! To complain only makes matters worse so we quietly stood by as they did their thing. Our car was pretty well loaded with items we could not get in Zambia but which were available in Rhodesia despite the international economic sanctions. We did not have to give anything up nor pay duty so the cost in time was worth it.

© 2008 Roy Kruse