Wilfrid Denis Walker (29 December 1933 – 8 January 2024) was a politician who was a cabinet minister in Rhodesia from 1974 to 1979. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1982 following conflict with the government of Robert Mugabe. As was the case for many Rhodesian politicians in Ian Smith's cabinet, there was the expectation that he would be arrested on false, politically motivated charges aimed at expelling the opposition from the country.
Early life
Having grown up in
Tooting and
Chingford, London, Walker was called up for national service in the
Royal Fusiliers in 1952. Although he was to be posted to fight in the
Korean War, this was cancelled before he departed. He was discharged in 1954.
Walker went on to become a
Methodist missionary in southern Africa, including time in the
of
Johannesburg.
He left the mission service and later settled in
Bulawayo,
Rhodesia, acquiring Rhodesian citizenship after the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.
Political career in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe
In the Rhodesia general election of 1974, he gained the seat of Bulawayo North as a
Rhodesian Front candidate, polling 93.4% of the vote among the electorate. After this success, he was re-elected in both the 1977 and 1979 elections. Walker served as Minister of Education from 1977 in
Ian Smith's government and also held office under
Abel Muzorewa.
In January 1979, he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs,
serving alongside
Kayisa Ndiweni until the Government of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia was established in June 1979, after which he held office as a Deputy Minister.
Following the end of Rhodesia and the creation of Zimbabwe, he remained as an MP, but came under pressure from the new government of Robert Mugabe. He was to have been arrested (on suspicion of attempting to overthrow the government) on 10 December 1981, together with the MP for Bulawayo South, Wally Stuttaford, but had already left the country.
Return to Britain
On 10 February 1982, Walker delivered a letter to Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street highlighting the political situation in Zimbabwe.
On 29 September 1986, Walker was the guest-of-honour at a Conservative Monday Club Foreign Affairs Committee Dinner at Bailey's Hotel, Gloucester Road,
South Kensington, chaired by Richard Stallabrass, who had previously served in Rhodesia. He subsequently joined the club and joined the Executive Council as membership secretary in 1990. He also chaired the International Monarchist League.
[ The Monarchist League Newsletter, Spring, 1990, p.4]
Other activities
Walker was a trustee of the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Relief Fund, a charity that describes itself as assisting "Zimbabwe Rhodesians throughout the world".
He administered the International Monarchist League, the Monday Club, and other business activities from an office at Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.
Denis Walker was married to Jill Walker, who was born in South Africa, and had one son, Trevor Wilfrid Walker.
On 1 November 1989, Walker produced a paper for the Monday club's Foreign Affairs Committee on Land Reform in Zimbabwe. In his last paragraph, he stated:
Walker's predictions ultimately came to fruition decades later. Land reform in Zimbabwe led to the mass seizure of white farmers' land from the early 2000s onwards. His predictions about the decline towards economic collapse in the country were also accurate: Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, which began in February 2007, ended in the cessation of the country printing its currency in April 2009. Denis Walker died on 8 January 2024 at the age of 90.
