Janet Smith

Janet Duvenage Smith (née Watt; 19153 December 1994), was the wife of Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she studied history at the University of Cape Town and became a teacher. In 1942, she married Piet Duvenage, a rugby player, and had two children. He died in an accident on the rugby field in 1947. The next year, a short visit with family in Southern Rhodesia became permanent when she accepted a teaching job in Selukwe. There, she met her future husband, Ian Smith, who had recently come home from the Second World War. In 1948, the couple got married and bought a farm, and Ian was elected to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly.

In 1964, when Ian Smith became Prime Minister of Rhodesia, the family moved to the premier's residence in Salisbury. Smith split her time between state functions and managing the farm back in Selukwe. After Zimbabwean independence from the United Kingdom, her husband was defeated at the 1980 election, but remained in the Parliament of Zimbabwe until 1987. Smith continued to divide her time between Harare and the farm until her death from cancer in 1994.

Early life, education, and first marriage Janet Watt was born in Cape Town in the Union of South Africa in 1915. Her parents were from Scotland, and her father was a surgeon. She attended the University of Cape Town, where she studied history, geology, and some philosophy, and was a star field hockey player. She was quite well known for playing hockey for Western Province. A young widow, she was left to support her two young children on a teacher's salary. The move became permanent when she accepted a job offer from Selukwe Primary School. That year, through her sister, she became reacquainted with Ian Smith, who had recently returned to his hometown and was taking courses at Gwebi College of Agriculture. Jacob Smit's Liberals, despite their name, were decidedly illiberal, chiefly representing commercial farming, mining and industrial interests. Smith was initially reluctant, saying he was too busy organising his life to stand, but agreed after one of the Liberal officials suggested that a political career might allow him to defend the values he had fought for in the Second World War. With their wedding barely a fortnight away, Smith was astonished to learn of her husband's decision to run for the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly, having never before heard him discuss politics. She asked him, "Are you interested in politics—party politics?" taking up the responsibilities of instant fatherhood, partially, as he explained, "because I knew [Piet Duvenage] so well" from playing rugby against him.

Having grown up in an area of Cape Town so pro-Smuts that she had never had to vote, Smith did not think her husband's entry to parliament would alter their lives at all. "First of all I was marrying a farmer," she later said, "now he was going to be a politician as well. So I said, 'Well, if you are really interested in it, carry on.'... It never dawned on me—being so naive about politicians—that our lives would be affected in the slightest degree."

Wife of the Prime Minister Ian Smith defected from the Liberal Party to the United Federal Party, and served as Chief Whip from 1958 onwards. He left in 1961 in protest at the territory's new constitution, and the following year helped Winston Field to form the all-white, firmly conservative Rhodesian Front (RF), which called for independence without an immediate shift to black majority rule. Her husband's right-wing views were no problem for Smith, whose views on race were even more hardline than his. Ian became Deputy Prime Minister following the Rhodesian Front's December 1962 election victory, and stepped up to the premiership after Field resigned in April 1964. The Smiths left management of the farm to others, and relocated to Salisbury to move into the Prime Minister's official residence, later known as Independence. Janet, a charming, intelligent, and determined woman, adapted well to her role as the Prime Minister's wife. A common, if unfounded, smear used against Ian by his domestic political opponents was that his wife was "the power behind the throne."

She died of cancer in Harare on the night of 3 December 1994. She was buried in her long-time hometown, Shurugwi (previously Selukwe). After her death, her husband employed a manager to run their farm.

Personal life and family Smith had two children with her first husband, Jean and Robert. In 1967, Jean married Clem Tholet, a singer-songwriter best known for his Rhodesian patriotic songs like "Rhodesians Never Die". Janet and Ian Smith had one son, Alec, who later became chaplain of the Zimbabwe National Army. All three of their children attended Chaplin High School in Gweru. Smith's sister Helen was married to Owen Horwood, who was Minister of Finance in the South African government.

Smith, like her husband, was a church-going Presbyterian, socially conservative, and an avid sportsperson.