Janet Smith (Rhodesia)

Janet Smith CLM
Spouse of the Prime Minister of Rhodesia
In role 13 April 1964 – 1 June 1979
Prime Minister	Ian Smith
Preceded by	Barbara Field
Succeeded by	Maggie Muzorewa
Personal details
Born	Janet Watt 1915 Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Died	3 December 1994 (aged 79) Harare, Zimbabwe
Resting place	Shurugwi, Zimbabwe
Spouse(s)	Piet Duvenage ​ ​ (m. 1942; died 1947)​ Ian Smith ​ (m. 1948)​
Relations	Owen Horwood (brother-in-law) Clem Tholet (son-in-law)
Children	Robert Jean Alec
Alma mater	University of Cape Town (BA)
Occupation	Teacher; farmer
Awards

Janet Duvenage Smith CLM (née Watt; 1915 – 3 December 1994), was the wife of Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she studied history at the University of Cape Town and became a teacher. In 1942, she married Piet Duvenage, a rugby player, and had two children. He died in an accident on the rugby field in 1947. The next year, a short visit with family in Southern Rhodesia became permanent when she accepted a teaching job in Selukwe. There, she met her future husband, Ian Smith, who had recently come home from the Second World War. In 1948, the couple got married and bought a farm, and Ian was elected to the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly.

In 1964, when Ian Smith became Prime Minister of Rhodesia, the family moved to the premier's residence in Salisbury. Smith split her time between state functions and managing the farm back in Selukwe. After Zimbabwean independence from the United Kingdom, her husband was defeated at the 1980 election, but remained in the Parliament of Zimbabwe until 1987. Smith continued to divide her time between Harare and the farm until her death from cancer in 1994.