It certainly is a hard life for some.

[PSmith08]

So your answer is that Rhodesia would have never worked because Smith's goverment had a few bad apples?

I would hardly say that Smith's chief deputy (at least from 1974-1979, when he laid down the Information portfolio to take up the Defense and Foreign Affairs portfolios, which were fairly essential as it struggled against internal insurrection and a precarious international position) represents one 'bad apple.' Rather, I'd say that Mr. van der Byl represented the sort of thinking that was at the heart of Rhodesia under the UDI government.

Unfortunately, the proof remains in the putting. Compared to Mugabe reign of terror, Ian Smith's goverment, whatever it's faults, was paradise. In fact, at the time of his leadership, Rhodesia was one of the fastest growing economies in South Africa, with a monetary value on par with that of the states (!). That alone implies that his administration worked, and that's all there is to it.

Well, a repressive regime that censors the press and quashes dissent ruthlessly is as good as another. Now, in your references to the Rhodesian dollar, you mean a currency that wasn't fully convertible was some sort of indicator of economic health? You see, such an inference would be dead wrong. In the case as it actually was, the fact that the Rhodesian dollar traded well could not and cannot be used to imply, necessarily, that the Rhodesian economy thrived. So, then, your sole proof that the Smith administration worked is not so much a proof as a factually incorrect and unjustifiable assertion.

If it wasn't for the knee-jerk pinko intrusion of the west into the affair, Rhodesia would probably still be around, and in a far better state then today's Zimbabwe.

Of course, god forbid if the UN ever takes any responsibility for their actions.

Yes. B.J. Vorster was a pinko commie leftist, who just happened to be the prime minister of South Africa during the Apartheid years. Rhodesia's days were numbered with South Africa pulled its military support in 1975-1976, under Vorster's orders, who also urged Smith to back off the all-white government approach. In fact, Vorster was a National Party figure when Apartheid was created in a legal sense. I think, before you go off singing the praises of UDI Rhodesia, that you really should check your facts and get them reasonably straight.

[bwv 1080]

Mugabe is evil, not stupid.  The high inflation he has created is a form of government wealth confiscation - one much easier than taxation.  This extends his hold on power by making government patronage the only source of wealth available.  If something costs x today, the government can always print the money to acquire it, expanding the money supply and pushing inflation up in the proccess - but the people with the printing press are immune to inflation.

The administration of Rhodesia was a major contributor to the current instability - if you disenfranchise the majority of the population and create no lasting political institutions then it is expected they will turn to a populist demogouge like Mugabe.  In places like India where the British did create institutions (and the culture had its own institutions to begin with) and involved the local population in the adminstration of the government the post-colonial result was much better.