The Lancaster Constitution and its “willing-seller, willing-buyer” clause was the starting point for Zimbabwe after independence. It turned out to be a source of friction.
The Lancaster Constitution was the outcome of the Lancaster House Conference of September 1997. This conference was the first opportunity in which all parties involved in the Liberation Struggle came together for the purpose of ending a 15-year guerrilla war and to agree on a new future for Southern Rhodesia. It was very significant because earlier attempts at finding peace in Zimbabwe had all failed.
The Lancaster Conference of September 1979 was acceptance of compromise over conflict in Zimbabwe after a ferocious liberation struggle. At the height of the Cold War, it was clear to the west that unless something was done (and urgently too) Southern Africa would fall into the grip of Russia and China. The years preceding the Lancaster Conference had been marked by failed western diplomacy in Rhodesia.
In 1976, US secretary of State Henry Kissinger designed a plan which in his view was aimed at granting majority rule to black Rhodesians. This plan was rejected by blacks. In, the same year, a conference was held in Geneva aimed at bringing peace to Southern Rhodesia. This also failed. The Andrew Young plan of 1977 met with little success as did the Internal Settlement of 1978 which was condemned by the Organization of African Unity.
The only conference that held a glimmer of hope for Southern Rhodesia was the Lusaka Conference of 1979. It was in this conference that Britain accepted her responsibility to decolonize Rhodesia, a call which had been echoed since the mid 1970s by the Frontline states and the Commonwealth. At the Lusaka Conference, a constitution was also drawn with safeguards for minorities. This conference also provided the basis for the Lancaster House Conference that marked the end of the transfer of power in Rhodesia.