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Two things can be true at once. Robert Mugabe was a terrible dictator but there’s no denying that Rhodesia was also a white supremacist oligarchy. It was a black majority country that was ran by the wealthy white minority, much like apartheid South Africa.

The constant romanticization of Rhodesia is really weird and is definitely rooted in white supremacy, and the people who say that Rhodesia was better than Zimbabwe “even for the blacks” simply have no idea how Rhodesia was run or what it was like for black people living in Rhodesia.

People will compare images of some old closed off white suburb in Rhodesia to some black slum that had looked like that, if not worse since the Rhodesia times and act like that’s “proof” that Rhodesia was better lol

Discrimination in the military

The military of Rhodesia was also heavily influenced by racial hierarchy, non-white soldiers were allowed in the Rhodesian army but they were subjected to stricter entry standards and were rarely able to rise to higher ranks.

The army was heavily segregated and only some units including both black and white soldiers formed in the 1970s. Units made up of non white soldiers were subjected to close supervision by white leaders and it was believed that this would properly discipline them. Importantly these integrated units did not include “Coloured” soldiers, this was done to prevent Coloured and black soldiers from uniting against the white leaders.

Coloured and Asian men in the army were not able to carry weapons or take combat roles until the late 1970s and before this they were only given minimal training and menial jobs.[13] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Zimbabwe#Discrimination_in_the_military

I don’t see the “Rhodesia wasn’t an apartheid state” part, but it certainly and obviously was. It’s also true that Robert mugabe was an evil dictator who, among other things, committed crimes against humanity; and completely fucked his country up just for the personal gain of his and his family. Shit was bad when it was Rhodesia and shit was bad when it became Zimbabwe, albeit for different reasons.

Did you cut out a piece of the comment because your title isn't in it.

OOP doesn't seem to *deny* racism but instead is arguing that despite the racism people liked Rhodesia more.

Which is still a racist excusing racism, but not one denying that it happened.