David Smith (Rhodesian politician)

David Smith
Minister of Trade and Commerce of Zimbabwe
In office
19 April 1980 – March 1981
Prime MinisterRobert Mugabe
DeputyMoses Mvenge
Preceded byErnest Bulle (Zimbabwe Rhodesia)
Succeeded byRichard Hove
Minister of Finance of Zimbabwe Rhodesia
In office
1 June 1979 – 12 December 1979
Prime MinisterAbel Muzorewa
DeputyDennis Nyamuswa
Preceded byHimself (Rhodesia)
Succeeded byEnos Nkala (Zimbabwe)
Minister of Commerce and Industry of Rhodesia
In office
April 1978 – 1979
Serving with Ernest Bulle
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Succeeded byErnest Bulle (Zimbabwe Rhodesia)
Deputy Prime Minister of Rhodesia
In office
20 August 1976 – 1979
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byJohn Wrathall
Succeeded bySilas Mundawarara (Zimbabwe Rhodesia)
Minister of Finance of Rhodesia
In office
13 January 1976 – 1979
Serving with Ernest Bulle (1978−1979)
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byJohn Wrathall
Succeeded byHimself (Zimbabwe Rhodesia)
Minister of Agriculture of Rhodesia
In office
September 1968 – January 1976
Prime MinisterIan Smith
Preceded byGeorge Rudland
Succeeded byRollo Hayman
Personal details
Born19 April 1922
Argyll, Scotland
Died9 July 1996(1996-07-09) (aged 74)
Harare, Zimbabwe
Resting placeKilkerran Cemetery, Campbeltown, Scotland
Political partyRhodesian Front
Spouse
Jean Graham
(m. 1948)
Children5
AwardsLegion of Merit GLM Independence Commemorative Decoration ICD

David Colville Smith GLM ICD (19 April 1922 – 9 July 1996) was a farmer and politician in Rhodesia and its successor states, Zimbabwe Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. He served in the cabinet of Rhodesia as Minister of Agriculture from 1968 to 1976, Minister of Finance from 1976 to 1979, and Minister of Commerce and Industry from 1978 to 1979. From 1976 to 1979, he also served Deputy Prime Minister of Rhodesia. He continued to serve as Minister of Finance in the government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed Minister of Trade and Commerce of the newly independent Zimbabwe, one of two whites included in the cabinet of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.

Born in Kintyre, Scotland, Smith emigrated to Southern Rhodesia in 1946 to take up farming. Initially a farm assistant, he rose to become a farm manager and later co-founded a farming enterprise of his own in Mazowe. He was elected to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly in 1965, the year of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence, and was added to the cabinet three years later as agriculture minister. He later held the portfolios of finance and commerce, and served for three years as Ian Smith's deputy prime minister. Considered a moderate within the Rhodesian Front, he was one of a few white ministers included in the cabinets of premier Abel Muzorewa of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979, and by Robert Mugabe in 1980. He resigned from the cabinet and the Rhodesian Front in 1981, and remained in retirement in Harare until his death.