‘Autonomy for Our Economy’: A Review of the Responsible Government Status and Economic Interest Groups in Southern Rhodesia, 1922 to the Second World War

Abstract

This article revisits the impact and legacy of the 1922 referendum and the subsequent granting of responsible government status to Southern Rhodesia in shaping the future economic trajectory of the self-governing colony. Governed through the chartered British South Africa Company (BSAC) from 1890, Southern Rhodesia developed as a typical colony dependent on the export of raw materials, the import of manufactured goods, external capital for economic development, and imperial control. The attainment of responsible government status three decades later gave Southern Rhodesia a unique opportunity to determine its economic affairs with minimum interference from the metropole. That autonomy was made possible by consolidated settler politics that manifested through organised civic organisations that coalesced around particular economic interests, leading to the emergence of interest groups of miners, farmers, commerce, and industrialists. These groups interacted, competed, and collaborated as they pursued their interests, and thus shaped the economic trajectory of Southern Rhodesia. This article demonstrates that unique self-governing colony status allowed Southern Rhodesia to flourish more than other colonies. It thus argues that the 1922 referendum that birthed responsible government laid the base for the diversification of the Rhodesian economy.