Roy Welensky
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Sir Roy Welensky, KCMG, (January 20, 1907 - December 5, 1991) was a white African politician and the second and final prime minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. He would later describe himself as "half Jewish, half Afrikaner and 100% British".[citation needed]
[edit] In his youth
Roland Roy Welensky was born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. His father was a Polish Jew who settled in Southern Rhodesia after first emigrating to the United States and then South Africa while his mother was an Afrikaner.[1] (See discussion page for comment about his actual name and father's nationality).
Welensky left school at the age of 14 and spent his teen years wandering around Africa working at jobs varying from railroading to boxing (1926-28). At one time he was heavyweight boxing champion of Southern Rhodesia. He settled in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now Kabwe, Zambia) where he worked for Rhodesia Railways as a train driver (railroad engineer)[2] and became involved in the trade union movement, becoming leader of the powerful European Railway Workers Union.[3] In Broken Hill the Africans nicknamed him Mazambani.[4]
[edit] In power
In 1933, Welensky became chairman of the local branch of the Railway Workers' Union. He was first elected to the Northern Rhodesian Legislative Council in 1938 representing Broken Hill and served in the colonial upper house until the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953. After he left his post as a trade union leader, he became a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, later to become a Knight of the Order (1959) for his work during the wars, in 1941-1946 and 1956-1959. He won the election to the federation's newly formed legislative assembly and became a senior cabinet minister. In 1956 he succeeded Sir Godfrey Huggins as prime minister and continued in that role until the federation collapsed in 1963 with the creation of Zambia and Malawi as independent states under black majority rule. During his term as president of the Federation, he took office as the Defense minister between 1956 and 1959.[1]
With the collapse of the federation, Welensky moved to Rhodesia (formerly Southern Rhodesia) which had reverted to crown colony status and remained under white minority rule. His fellow white African politician and friend, Stewart Gore-Browne, remained in Zambia at Shiwa Ngandu. In Rhodesia, Welensky opposed the Ian Smith government's Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Roy Welensky, Sir." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.
- ^ The Zimbabwe Situation online: "Serious politics, educated elite and related matters" by Geoff Nyarota. Accessed 7 March 2007
- ^ Welensky, Roy. Welensky, 4000 Days: The Life and Death of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. (1964)
- ^ Kelvin Kachingwe: “Kabwe: The nucleus of national politics” Times of Zambia online accessed 7 March 2007.
| Preceded by: Sir Godfrey Martin Huggins, 1st Viscount Malvern 1953 - 1956 |
Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland | Followed by: position abolished in 1963 |
