Events inside Rhodesia point to an increasingly indiscriminate, "no questions asked" approach towards those suspected of supporting the armed struggle.
An unknown number of Africans in the operational areas, for example, have been killed outright by the security forces for allegedly failing to stop when challenged during curfew hours, mingling with guerillas or simply getting caught in cross-fire. Mr. P. Claypole, the regime's Secretary for Law and Order, recently urged a passing-out parade of police recruits to adopt "tough measures" against guerillas. They should avoid being "squeamish in departing from the niceties of established procedures which are appropriate for more normal times" he said, for in the long run this would "avoid greater loss of life." "It would be unfortunately inevitable that innocent civilians would be caught in the net when police took stern measures aimed at terrorists and their supporters."
Allegations have been made by African members of the House of Assembly of the indiscriminate bombing of villages and shooting of civilians. Mr. T. Zawaira (Kunyasi) stated on 23 June that security forces had bombed a number of villages around Zhanje Mountain in the Matibi No. 1 TTL, south of Fort Victoria, following an attack on a guerilla base believed to be sited on the mountain itself. (He also described an incident on the road to Triangle in which a woman carrying a child had been shot down by troops. She had been waiting at a bus stop but had run away in fright when the tyre on a vehicle carrying troops burst).
Two days later, Mr. E. Nyandoro (Mabvazuwa) accused security forces of bombing and completely destroying Chitora School because teachers and students had been unable to help them in their search for a group of guerillas who had allegedly abducted a white man. More than 500 children were now without schooling, he said.
In reply to these allegations, Mr. P.K. van der Byl, Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs, said that "if villagers harbour terrorists and terrorists are found running about in villages, naturally they will be bombed and destroyed in any manner which the commander on the spot considers to be desirable in the suitable prosecution of a successful campaign... Where the civilian population involves itself with terrorism, then somebody is bound to get hurt and one can have little sympathy for those who are mixed up with terrorists when finally they receive the wrath of the security forces."
MISSIONS UNDER ATTACK
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Umtali, the Rt. Rev. Donal Lamont, has been questioned by Rhodesian police special branch officers and warned that charges may be preferred against him. It is believed that these would concern allegations of failure to report the presence of guerillas and of advising mission staff against doing so, offences which carry the maximum penalty of death under Rhodesia's Law and Order (Maintenance) Act.
In an outspoken open letter written just after the border city of Umtali had come under rocket and mortar fire from Mozambique on 11 August, Bishop Lamont had called on the Smith regime to change "its present course of tragic action". "Conscience compels me to state", he went on, "that your administration is largely responsible for the injustices which have provoked the present disorder... The dangers which threaten Rhodesia have their roots in the repressive legislation which you have enacted in an effort to maintain the power and privilege of the white minority, reckless of the rights of the rest of the population... Africans feel themselves compelled in conscience to fight for the elimination of all discrimination which has degraded their people and made them second-class citizens in the land of their birth."
Bishop Lamont pointed out that the Catholic Church had always refused, as a matter of principle, to practice racial discrimination in its schools and hospitals. "Today an equally important decision will have to be taken whether or wherever the charity of the Church is sought by those who are in conscience opposed to your regime. Have not those who honestly believe they fight for the basic human rights of their people a justifiable claim on the Church for the spiritual administration of the clergy?"
The confrontation between the regime and certain churches and missions suspected of giving support to the national liberation movement has come to a head in recent weeks, and steps have been taken to close down a number of church-based activities in the operational areas.
In an acrid debate in the House of Assembly at the end of July, churches in Rhodesia were accused of advocating revolution, giving shelter to guerillas and encouraging pupils at mission schools to join guerilla training camps in Mozambique. In a motion proposed by Mr. Robert McGee (RF, Matobo), missions were accused of "nefarious malpractices" and "irresponsible land use", and the regime urged to "close these missions down or to expropriate all their lands not actually used for educational or religious needs". Mr. John Wright (RF, Eastern), seconding the motion, named Mount Selinda, Southdown and Chikore as mission stations within his own constituency where there had been inadequate land protection, but said that although he possessed much evidence of "nefarious activities" he could not identify the missions concerned for security reasons. Mr. Rodney Simmonds (RF, Mtoko) said that there were 13 missions in his constituency, many of which were deeply involved in "African nationalist intrigues." Mission stations had "outlived their usefulness", he went on. It was "a security risk to allow missionaries to run around freely."
