1922 Southern Rhodesian government referendum

Failed plebiscete on joining the Union of South Africa April 2022 1934 1934 Southern Rhodesian sweepstakes referendum 1922 Southern Rhodesian government referendum Referendum on the status of Southern Rhodesia Flag of the British South Africa Company.svg Responsible government Union with South Africa 8774 5989 93 18810 27 October 1922 1922 Southern Rhodesian government referendum map.svg electoral district A referendum on the status of Southern Rhodesia was held in the colony on 27 October 1922. Voters, almost all of them white, were given the options of establishing responsible government or joining the Union of South Africa.Southern Rhodesia rejects joining the Union of South Africa South African History After 59% voted in favour of responsible government, it was officially granted on 1 October 1923 with the implementation of the First Cabinet of Southern Rhodesia. The referendum came eight months after the 1922 Northern Rhodesian amalgamation referendum, where Northern Rhodesia had voted against union with Southern Rhodesia. Background The referendum arose after the 1920 Legislative Council elections resulted in a majority which favoured immediate moves towards establishing responsible government within the colony. Immediately after the election, the Legislative Council passed a resolution requesting the British Government to inaugurate responsible government, and the United Kingdom's response was establishing a Commission under The 1st Earl Buxton, a former Liberal minister and former Governor-General of South Africa. The Buxton Commission reported in 1921 that the Colony was ready for responsible government and that a referendum should be held to confirm it. A delegation was sent from the Legislative Council to negotiate with the Colonial Office on the form of the constitution. The delegation comprised Sir Charles Coghlan, W. M. Leggate, John McChlery, R. A. Fletcher, and Sir Francis Newton. At the 1920 election there had been three schools of opinion in Southern Rhodesia, one favouring responsible government inside Southern Rhodesia, one favouring a continuation of rule through the British South Africa Company, and the third believing that the best solution would be to seek membership of the Union of South Africa. The British South Africa Company option dropped out of consideration, but the Buxton Commission had said that its recommendations should not preclude consideration of joining South Africa if this was favoured by voters. The Southern Rhodesians did petition the Colonial Office to inquire what circumstances the Union of South Africa would admit them, as this option had received some support (especially in Matabeleland) at the election. Representatives of the Southern Rhodesian administration visited Cape Town to confer with Jan Smuts, who after some delay was willing to offer terms he considered reasonable and which were also acceptable to the United Kingdom government. In accordance with the wishes of Winston Churchill (the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London), the Southern Rhodesians decided to invite the electorate to make the decision. Although they did not try to interfere in the referendum, opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option. Arrangements The election used the existing Legislative Council electoral roll and votes were counted in the electoral districts used for the Legislative Council elections. However, there was one minor change, with voters entitled to cast their votes in whichever district they wanted, regardless of where they were registered.March 2026 Black voters were excluded from the referendum by the property qualifications used in existing electoral legislation.Bishi 2023 526-527 Campaign The Responsible Government Association led by Charles Coghlan was the primary organisation opposing amalgamation with South Africa.Cussans 2024 153 Their campaign received support from the Southern Rhodesian Civil Service and the British South Africa Police.Cussans 2024 154 Women played a key role in the campaign, having only recently received an equal franchise to men.Cussans 2024 158-159 A separate women's branch of the Responsible Government Association was organised,Cussans 2024 153 and according to one source 75 percent of women's votes were cast in favour of responsible government.Cussans 2024 159 Local support for union with South Africa was primarily drawn from business groups and the small local Afrikaner population. Amalgamation was favoured by the British and South African governments, although the British government remained neutral during the campaign.Cussans 2024 153 Smuts openly campaigned in favour of unification, in line with his white nationalist views favouring a white-dominated Greater South Africa within the British Empire.Cussans 2024 163 In contrast, South African opposition leader J. B. M. Hertzog viewed unification as unconstitutional and criticised the lack of consultation with the existing South African provinces.Cussans 2024 164 Results All but one of the electoral districts supported responsible government and rejected Union with South Africa. The one district to support a Union with South Africa was Marandellas, and this was by a slim margin. thumb|400px|Map of the referendum results in Southern Rhodesia against the wider political backdrop in British southern Africa. Southern Rhodesia had been voting on whether to join the Union of South Africa (black). At the time of the vote, South-West Africa was also a mandate of South Africa. Responsible government 8774 Union with South Africa 5989 93 18810 PassmoreGloria C. Passmore (1963) Source Book of Parliamentary Elections and Referenda in Southern Rhodesia, 1898-1962, p115 By district DistrictResponsible governmentUnion with South AfricaVotes%Votes%Bulawayo District55165.029735.0Bulawayo North82667.939032.1Bulawayo South95564.053836.0Eastern71157.552642.5Gwelo58257.343342.7Hartley44966.522633.5Marandellas43349.444350.6Midlands55051.950948.1Northern74160.348739.7Salisbury District84557.362942.7Salisbury Town89463.850736.2Victoria62651.758548.3Western61159.341940.7Total8,77459.45,98940.6 Analysis Demographic concerns were a key factor in the rejection of union with South Africa, with most voters being of British origin and fearing their interests would be ignored by the politically dominant Afrikaners in South Africa.Cussans 2024 155 South Africa was perceived as politically unstable, particularly following the Rand Rebellion earlier in 1922,Cussans 2024 160-161 and many voters believed that official bilingualism would reduce the status of English in Southern Rhodesia in favour of Afrikaans.Cussans 2024 158-160 There were also concerns over the proposed terms of unificaiton, which would result in major policy matters being transferred to the South African government and being taken away from local control.Cussans 2024 154-155 The 1922 referendum has been cited as a source of anti-British sentiment among later Zimbabwean nationalists, who perceived the British government as having enabled white minority domination of the African majority. According to Bishi 2023, "Africans perceived the 1922 referendum and the subsequent settler-led administrations as integral components of an imperial and colonial machinery designed to subjugate and exploit the black majority".Bishi 2023 539 In 1977, ZAPU leader Joshua Nkomo described the vote as a "fictitious referendum [...] I say fictious because the people of the country did not take part in it".Bishi 2023 536-537 References Further reading ‘A Fictitious Referendum and a European Affair’: African Perspectives of the 1922 Referendum and the 1923 Responsible Government in Southern Rhodesia George Bishi South African Historical Journal 2023 75 10.1080/02582473.2024.2386959 523-540 free Whiteness is not enough: South Africa and the 1922 responsible government referendum in Southern Rhodesia Charlton Cussans Historical Research 97 275 2024 147-166 10.1093/hisres/htad026 free An Analysis of the Rhodesian Referendum, 1922 1977 Rhodesian History 8 71-98 M. Elaine Lee When South Africa Tried to Make Zimbabwe Its Fifth Province: Settler Colonial Interests and Legacies of the 1922 Rhodesian Referendum Tinashe Nyamunda South African Historical Journal 2023 75 10.1080/02582473.2024.2432629 443-452 Southern Rhodesia Category:Referendums in Zimbabwe Government referendum Category:Constitutional referendums in Zimbabwe