Abel Muzorewa

Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa (14 April 1925 – 8 April 2010), also commonly referred to as Bishop Muzorewa, was a Zimbabwean bishop and politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to the Lancaster House Agreement in 1979.

A United Methodist Church bishop and nationalist leader, he held office for only a few months.

Muzorewa was the eldest of a lay preacher's eight children and was educated at the United Methodist School, Old Umtali, near Mutare.

He was a school teacher at Mrewa between 1943 and 1947 before becoming a full-time lay preacher at Mtoko between 1947 and 1949.

He then studied theology at Old Umtali Biblical College (1949–1952) and was ordained a Minister at Umtali in August 1953.

He was a pastor at Chiduku, near Rusape, from 1955 to 1958.

Muzorewa attended Central College in Fayette, Missouri, later Central Methodist University.

By then he had a wife and three sons, who lived with him in prefabricated student housing, while his sons attended a segregated school.

His youngest son Wesley and playmate Mark Elrod (son of the college librarian J. McRee Elrod) attempted to integrate the ice cream counter of the local drug store, but were turned away.

When Elrod took Muzorewa to visit Scarritt College for Christian Workers in Nashville, Tennessee, they were turned away from an eating facility, an incident he mentions in his autobiography.

However, he later graduated as a Master of Arts from Scarritt (now a conference center).

In July 1963, Muzorewa became pastor of Old Umtali.

A year later he was appointed National Director of the Christian Youth Movement and was seconded to the Christian Council.

In 1966, he became Secretary of the Student Christian Movement.

In 1968, at Masera in Botswana, he was consecrated as the United Methodist Church's Bishop of Rhodesia.

In 1971 the British government struck a deal with Ian Smith that provided for a transition to "majority rule" in exchange for an end to sanctions against the government.

Muzorewa joined an inexperienced cleric, the Reverend Canaan Banana, to form the United African National Council (UANC) to oppose the settlement, under the acronym NIBMAR (no independence before majority rule).

The proposed referendum was withdrawn and Muzorewa found himself a national leader and an international personality.

The government opposition movements—the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) of Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) of Joshua Nkomo—both placed themselves under the UANC umbrella even though they had some doubts when Muzorewa founded a national party.

After ZANU (led by Robert Mugabe after disagreements with Sithole) and ZAPU undertook guerrilla warfare, the UANC was the only legal BLAck pARty, since it rejected violence.

On 3 March 1978, Muzorewa, Sithole and other non-exiled leaders signed an agreement at Government House, Salisbury, which paved the way for the interim government, the leadership of which was an Executive Council made up of Muzorewa, Sithole and Jeremiah Chirau, along with Ian Smith.

This Executive Council was to run the affairs of state prior to elections taking place.

A new constitution was drafted reserving 10 seats in the Senate and 28 seats in the House of Assembly for the white minority, and a quarter of the Cabinet positions.

The internal settlement was also condemned by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 423 of 1978, which declared any settlement drafted under the "illegal racist minority regime" to be "illegal and unacceptable."

The British government asked all parties to come to London for negotiations to find a lasting solution to the Bush War.

Nkomo and Mugabe attended the conference under the "Patriotic Front" (PF) banner.

The constitution was approved in a nearly whites-only referendum that took place in January 1979.

An overwhelming majority of 85% voted yes.

Elections were held, and the UANC won.

Josiah Gumede was the first President, Muzorewa became prime minister and the country's name was changed to Zimbabwe Rhodesia.

However, the war that Smith hoped to stem as a result of the settlement continued unabated.

Mugabe and Nkomo rejected the settlement, ending any realistic chance for Muzorewa to gain any international legitimacy.

While ZANU and ZAPU could have taken part in the elections if they laid down their arms, they refused to do so.

The conference was held from 10 September to 15 December 1979, under the chairmanship of Lord Carrington, the British Foreign Secretary.

In accordance with the final agreement, Muzorewa's government revoked the Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 11 December 1979 and dissolved itself.

As part of a transition to internationally recognised independence, the country once again became the British colony of Southern Rhodesia pending elections.

Muzorewa was persuaded to accept fresh elections, to be held in early 1980.

Parliamentary elections took place at the end of February 1980, after a campaign filled with much intimidation by Mugabe's ZANU.

The British government briefly considered disqualifying ZANU from participating in the elections for flagrant violation of the Lancaster House Agreement, but in the end did nothing.

On 4 March 1980, the elections resulted in a majority for Mugabe and ZANU.