Southern Rhodesian government referendum, 1922

The Southern Rhodesia government referendum of October 27, 1922 saw the voters of the colony of Southern Rhodesia by a comfortable majority reject the chance to join the Union of South Africa in favour of establishing a responsible government within the colony. It prefaced the official granting of responsible government on October 1, 1923.

Background

The referendum arose after the Legislative Council election of 1920 resulted in a majority which favoured immediate moves towards establishing "Responsible Government" within the colony. Immediately after the election the Legislative Council passed a resolution requesting the United Kingdom government to inaugurate responsible government, and the United Kingdom's response was establishing a Commission under Earl Buxton, a former Liberal minister.

The Commission reported in 1921 that the Colony was ready for responsible government and that a referendum should be held to confirm it. A delegation was sent from the Legislative Council to negotiate with the Colonial Office on the form of the constitution. The delegation comprised Sir Charles Coghlan, W. M. Leggate, J. McChlery, R. A. Fletcher, and Sir Francis Newton. At the 1920 election there had been three schools of opinion in Southern Rhodesia, one favouring responsible government inside Southern Rhodesia, one favouring a continuation of rule through the British South Africa Company, and the third believing that the best solution would be to seek membership of the Union of South Africa. The British South Africa Company option dropped out of consideration, but the Buxton Commission had said that its recommendations should not preclude consideration of joining South Africa if this was favoured by voters.

The Southern Rhodesians did petition the Colonial Office to inquiry what circumstances the Union of South Africa would admit them, as this option had received some support (especially in Matabeleland) at the election. Representatives of the Southern Rhodesian administration visited Cape Town to confer with Jan Smuts who after some delay was willing to offer terms he considered reasonable and which were also acceptable to the United Kingdom government. In accordance with the wishes of Winston Churchill (the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London), the Southern Rhodesians decided to invite the electorate to make the decision. Although they did not try to interfere in the referendum, opinion among the United Kingdom government, the South African government and the British South Africa Company favoured the union option.

Arrangements

The election used the existing Legislative Council electoral roll and votes were counted in the electoral districts used for the Legislative Council elections. However, there was one minor change, with voters entitled to cast their votes in whichever district they wanted, regardless of where they were registered.

Results

With an electorate of 18,810, the total number of votes cast was 14,763, a turnout of 78.5%. All but one of the electoral districts supported Responsible government and rejected Union with South Africa. The one district to support a Union with South Africa was Marandellas, and this was by a slim margin.