ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the legal compromises accepted by the Patriotic Front at the Lancaster House negotiations were turned into an overwhelming political victory at the elections when the Zimbabweans were finally allowed to voice their opinion. It investigates the cost of supporting the Zimbabwean independence for each of the Frontline States. An assessment of the costs begins to explain some of their vacillations and underlines the high price for political victory. Political prisoners were also to be released before elections, but two months after the British took administrative control of Rhodesia, Amnesty International reported that 'torture is standard procedure to elicit information from detainees who number 6,000 political prisoners and 2,000 martial law detainees'. The Patriotic victory was two-fold: a constitution that gave the majority-rule government political and economic control and an overwhelming election victory that abolished any chances for the minority white party to engage in destabilising political coalitions.
