Ian Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) the last Prime Minister Rhodesia, as pre-independent Zimbabwe was then known has died in Cape Town, South Africa. Ian Smith was a white nationalist who in 1965 seized power in the then British Colony of Rhodesia in what he termed a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

This declaration led to a government and society that excluded black Zimbabwean from all main facets of government and the economy. This declaration was condemned throughout the world with the United Nations passing resolutions condemning the move and later on imposing sanctions against Rhodesia.

The isolated regime led by Ian Smith remained steadfast in its intention to create a white minority state and rebuffed all attempt at talks to resolve the crisis. The intransigence of Ian Smith and his cohorts meant that political leaders representing the majority black Zimbabweans had no choice but to resort to a guerrilla war to unseat the regime and gain full independence.

The Zimbabwean war of Independence ran from 1964 to 1979 and despite support from then apartheid regime in South Africa and elsewhere Ian Smith’s regime eventually capitulated to forces led by Robert Mugabe and the late Joshua Nkomo.

With Independence the new government of Robert Mugabe pursued a policy of reconciliation and Ian Smith was allowed a role in public life despite calls for him to be tried for war crimes which included use of biological weapons against the black populace. He served as an MP in independent Zimbabwe for five years before retiring after losing his parliamentary seat in 1985. In his later years his ill-health forced him to move to Cape Town to be close to his stepdaughter and it was here he eventually passed away on Tuesday.