Virtual Seminar by Dr. Honest Koke

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of Southern Rhodesia’s income tax department, with particular focus on the politics surrounding the introduction by the British South Africa Company government of income taxation in the 1917/18 fiscal year. The introduction of income taxation triggered opposition and resistance from the white settlers in Southern Rhodesia, who questioned the locus standi of the Company government to implement such a fiscal measure. By examining the settlers’ concerns over the legitimacy of the Company government to impose direct taxation on the settler community, this article joins conversations on the intersection of the colony’s politics and economics in influencing policy. The article draws on archival materials from the National Archives of Zimbabwe to highlight the controversies surrounding income taxation in Southern Rhodesia. By spotlighting the entanglement of income taxation with Responsible Government politics in the context of the principle of “no taxation without representation”, this article unpacks the complexities of state formation in a settler-colonial setup. it contributes to a deeper understanding of the political economy of Southern Rhodesia’s early colonial period.

Bionote

Dr. Honest Elias Koke is a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, in the History, Heritage and Knowledge Systems Department. He is also a Research Fellow with the International Studies Group (ISG) at the University of the Free State (UFS), where he completed his PhD in Africa Studies in 2021.. Dr. Koke has published scholarly work on Zimbabwe’s fiscal history in accredited journals such as African Economic History Journal, Enterprise and Society, Review of African History, Imperial and Commonwealth Journal. He is currently working on a monograph titled The Political Economy of Revenue Collection and Expenditure in Colonial Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia), 1953– 1979.His research interests focus in the history of fiscal politics and public finance management in southern Africa.