Responsible government and miner-farmer relations in Southern Rhodesia, 1923-1945

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Periodical article

Title:	Responsible government and miner-farmer relations in Southern Rhodesia, 1923-1945
Author:	Madimu, Tapiwa
Year:	2016
Periodical:	South African Historical Journal (ISSN 1726-1686)
Volume:	68
Issue:	3
Pages:	366-389
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zimbabwe
Subjects:	mining agriculture taxation gold colonial policy economic history
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2016.1246591
Abstract:	This paper uses miner-farmer relations in post-1923 Southern Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) as a lens to delineate the protean nature of state policy in dealing with sectorial interests of the two foremost primary sectors of the country's economy, highlighting how agriculture eventually toppled mining from the apex position by 1945 - both economically and politically. It discusses how government policies inclined towards supporting farmers and implications thereof to the mining sector, especially changes implemented to cushion settler farmers from the impact of the Great Depression and the levying of a Gold Premium Tax (GPT) on gold producers. The paper will demonstrate how this tax system was detested by gold miners and how it ultimately led to a marked decline in gold mining by 1945. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]