Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe

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The Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe was the final incarnation of a party formerly called the Republican Front and prior to that the Rhodesian Front. In the immediate post-independence period, the party sought to promote the position of whites in Zimbabwe and did not initially seek support amongst other ethnic groups.

White politics - post independence

White politics in Zimbabwe immediately after independence were mainly involved in contesting 20 reserved "white roll" seats in the Zimbabwe parliament, although some whites joined ZANU (PF). The RF party remained under the dominance of Ian Smith who insisted on keeping its identity as a white party concentrating on issues of importance to whites. The RF and later CAZ did not contest common roll seats in either 1980 or 1985. The inadequacy of this as a political strategy quickly became apparent. Most of the sitting RF MPs in the 1980 to 85 parliament either became independents or defected to ZANU.

Smith's response to this in the 1985 general election was to mount a campaign against the defectors and RF (now renamed CAZ) succeeded in winning 15 of the 20 white seats.^[1] The white seats in Parliament were abolished in 1987, although CAZ continued to enjoy limited representation at municipal level. By that time, white led civic groups such as the CZI (Confederation of Zimbabwe Industry) and CFU (Commercial Farmers Union) were openly supporting ZANU (PF).

In July 1992, Ian Smith chaired a meeting of opposition political groups with a view to forming a political front to oppose ZANU (PF). This meeting was attended by representatives of Rhodesian-era parties including CAZ, UANC, ZANU-Ndonga and ZUM. ^[2]The Forum for Democratic Reform and the Forum Party (incorporating CAZ) emerged from this.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Zimbabwe Government Gazette. 12 July 1985.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. ↑ Adebayo O. Olukoshi. The Politics of Opposition in Contemporary Africa. p. 108. 

Ian Smith
Prime Minister of Rhodesia (1964–79) Leader of the Rhodesian Front and successors (1964–87) Leader of the Opposition of Zimbabwe (1980–87) 8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007
Pre-premiership	Royal Air Force service Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party 1953 federation referendum Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland United Federal Party Cold War Wind of Change Decolonisation of Africa No independence before majority rule 1961 constitutional referendum Rhodesian Front
Premiership	1964 independence referendum Rhodesian mission in Lisbon Unilateral Declaration of Independence (signatories) Harry letters affair Beira Patrol 1969 constitutional referendum Rhodesian Bush War 1975 Victoria Falls Conference 1976 Geneva Conference Internal Settlement Air Rhodesia Flight 825 1979 constitutional referendum Air Rhodesia Flight 827
Post-premiership	Government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Lancaster House Agreement Republican Front Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe
General elections	1948 1953 1958 1962 1965 1970 1974 1977 1979 1980 1985
Books authored	The Great Betrayal (1997) Bitter Harvest (2001)
Family	Alec Smith (son) Clem Tholet (son-in-law)
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