the rainfall was lower and the defeated Matabele were moved away out of the areas surrounding
Bulawayo into two large blocks of land comprising 6500 square miles, known as the Shangani and Gwaai
Reserves.
Under the Southern Rhodesia Order in Council of 1898 the Imperial Government, while retaining the
right of Africans to buy land anywhere in the colony on the same terms as Europeans, placed a statutory
obligation upon the Charter Company to provide sufficient land holdings with sufficient water for Africans
living under the tribal system. Native Commissioners were charged with the duty of demarcating the
reserves and in general attempted to leave the indigenous people, as far as possible, undisturbed. Thus
it was that reserves were created where the population was most dense, the crescent of population
described by David Beech extending from Mount Darwin in the north in a half moon through Mutoko,
Mrewa, Hwedza, Buhera, Gutu, Bikita and Zaka through to the Masvingo Province in the south. Reserves
were also created in various other parts of the country to cater adequately for the population at that
time. In 1913 at the suggestion of the Colonial Office a Commission was established to investigate the
reserves question and a report was submitted at the end of 1915. The Commission’s recommendation
was that the total area of the reserves should be just under 20 million acres, about 1/5th of the
country’s total extent, an area equivalent to more than four times the size of Wales. The Commission
believed that the reserve system was a transitional arrangement to assist those Africans who could not
at once become assimilated into the new society and to act as a protection for the backward. The
amount of land in the country was limited. It was appreciated that the African population would go on
increasing but the Commission felt that no one could expect that every African as yet unborn must retain
an indefeasable right to land sufficient for all his traditional needs. If once this idea was accepted the
whole of the country would ultimately have to be turned into one gigantic reserve. The Commissioners
found that the allocation was sufficient to provide for an increasing tribal population in the foreseeable
future. In 1915 the best available statistics projected a doubling of the African population in 80 years i.e.
in 1995. In fact the population doubled in the first 30 years and is now 25 times the size of the
population of 1890. This massive population increase is a tribute, not only to the favourable natural
environment of Zimbabwe, but also to the care and concern given to the native interests by the Colonial
Government now so often criticised for its allegedly harsh practices. The true position is that it was the
introduction of medical services, improved methods of agriculture and the establishment of law and
order which created the conditions which resulted in this massive population growth. The Colonial
Government’s treatment of the indigenous population compares very favourably with the treatment
meted out to the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America and Canada
and the white settlers of Zimbabwe have very little to be ashamed of in this connection.
The country’s economy was adversely affected by the Boer War and the death of its founder, Cecil
Rhodes, and the white settlers began to criticise the administration of the country by the BSA Company.
Their most serious grievance was the extent of the mining royalties payable to the Company and
whether it was right that the Company should continue to demand payment for unalienated land. The
question was raised whether the Company owned the unalienated land in a commercial or merely an
administrative capacity. The Company sought to appease the settlers by reducing the mining levy and by
increasing the number of elected members to the Legislative Assembly. These palliative measures did
not help the Company and the settlers continued to complain about the Company’s government. The
Company was in a deficit position but the settlers opposed any suggestion that they should be
responsible for the deficit. The settlers wanted the country to raise loans for development but the
Company was not prepared to sanction this. The general mood was to get rid of the Company’s
administration but there was division as to whether the country should become a crown colony or
amalgamate with the Union of South Africa. The British Government decided to submit the question as
to who owned the unalienated land to the Privy Council and this was done in 1914. The case was
bedeviled by delays and became a four cornered contest. Originally the fight for ownership was between
the Company and the settlers but the parties were joined by the Colonial Office who, having made no
hint of a claim to the land for 25 years, suddenly claimed that ownership of the land vest in the Crown. A
claim that the land belonged to the Matabele was also put up by one of Lobengula’s sons. Eventually the
judgment of the judicial committee of the Council came out and it was to the effect (i) that those who
had been given title by the Company were entitled to keep their land; (ii) that the indigenous population
had lost by conquest whatever title they had previously possessed ; (iii) that the Company were not the
owners of the unalienated land and (iv) that this land belonged to the Crown. The effect of this decision
was that when the colony eventually obtained responsible government in 1923 it was
obliged to pay the British Government for the unalienated land.
SELF GOVERNMENT
In 1922 a referendum was held to decide whether the country should amalgamate with South Africa or
become a Crown Colony and the vote for a Crown Colony with responsible government was won by 8
774 votes to 5 989, and legislation was enacted to make the country a self governing colony of the
Crown. The Chartered Company thus ceased to rule Rhodesia but its contribution towards the country
was a notable one. It continued to be a very important commercial concern, even when its rights to
minerals had been bought out in 1933 and it lost control over the railway system. It was eventually
taken over on a friendly basis by the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa which continues to be a
force in the land, concentrating now on its mining interests.
The country was formerly annexed to the Crown as a colony and the new administration was headed by
