Following the 1980 Southern Rhodesian general election, the country was granted internationally-recognized independence within the Commonwealth as the Republic of Zimbabwe.

[5][6] The "Internal Settlement", signed in March 1978, led to the creation of an interim government in which Africans were included in leading positions for the first time, while creating an independent civil service, judiciary, police force, and army.

It was also stated that the primary job of this new government is to draw up a constitution for the country, hold elections in April 1979,[4] and arrange a ceasefire with the Patriotic Front.

"[11] Furthermore, a goal of the settlement was for Rhodesia to receive international recognition and have the sanctions imposed on the country due to Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965 to be removed.

[14] However, the country's civil service, judiciary, police and armed forces continued to be administered by the same officials as before, of whom most were White Zimbabweans, due to the composition of the upper-middle class of the period.

The Commonwealth Secretariat claiming that the "so-called 'Constitution of Zimbabwe Rhodesia'" would be "no more legal and valid" than the UDI constitution it replaced,[16] The U.N. Security Council, in Resolution 448 condemned the general election in April 1979 as "null and void" and described the country as an "illegal racist regime" which was attempting to retain and extend "racist minority rule and...preventing the accession of Zimbabwe to independence and genuine majority rule."

[17] As noted by Time in June 1979, United States President Jimmy Carter believed that the elections which installed the government in were neither "fair or free," because they were held under a constitution that reserved "a disproportionate share of power for the white minority.

"[18] He later, in November 1979, continued sanctions until the negotiations conducted by the United Kingdom to end the "peaceful resolution" of the conflict in Rhodesia had come to a close.

The name "Zimbabwe", broken down to Dzimba dzamabwe in Shona (one of the two major languages in the country), means "houses of stone".

Adapting the constitution of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), Zimbabwe Rhodesia was governed by a Prime Minister and Cabinet chosen from the majority party in a 100-member House of Assembly.

[40] The Lancaster House Agreement, signed on 21 December 1979,[42] stipulated that control over the country be returned to the United Kingdom in preparation for elections to be held in the spring of 1980.

Before the negotiations had ended, on 11 December 1979, the law was passed which declared that "Zimbabwe Rhodesia shall cease to be an independent State and become part of Her Majesty's dominions".