Special Branch - Southern Rhodesia

Southern Rhodesia

The BSAP developed its Special Branch in the early 1950s amid growing unrest within African communities protesting slow progress towards racial equality. During the period of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation (CAF) 1953–63, that brought the self-governing and virtually independent British colony of Southern Rhodesia into a federation with the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland, (Malawi) the political nature of Special Branch became a source of tension between the BSAP and different police forces in the northern territories. Following the dissolution of the CAF and the refusal of the British government to grant independence to Southern Rhodesia without more progress towards multiracial democracy, the predominantly white electorate of Southern Rhodesia backed a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. London instructed all Southern Rhodesian civil servants, including the police, to stay at their posts while the white settler rebellion was resolved diplomatically. Under Emergency Powers, Special Branch became the principal internal security agency in the "phoney war" with Zimbabwean guerrillas 1966–72, serving as a model for and establishing strong links with South Africa's Special Branch. As the Chimurenga or Bush War gathered force after 1972, Special Branch developed the Selous Scouts, an undercover tracker battalion of 1,500 troops, 80 percent black, many having been recruited from captured guerrillas facing trial and possible execution, and also "pseudo guerrillas" such as the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) to disrupt Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) camps across the border in Mozambique. However, as the war turned against the white settler regime, the lead role of Special Branch was taken over by the Central Intelligence Organisation and Rhodesian Army intelligence. Following the transition to independent Zimbabwe in 1980, some Special Branch members were incorporated within the South African security services, while others found ready employment in the Persian Gulf states.