 Hughes met with several other Rhodesian figures before leaving late on 27 July , but Lisbon remained off the programme most of the time . Just before Hughes departed , Dupont released a statement saying that Reedman would take office in Lisbon on 1 August , and would be " warmly welcomed " by the Portuguese government . Hughes decried this in a brief telephone call to Smith , but could do little more before leaving Rhodesia that evening . On 29 July , Smith fielded questions from the press , commenting on both Lisbon and the independence talks in general . He expressed the belief that Rhodesia had made more progress towards independence talking with Hughes than it ever had before , but qualified this by saying only Wilson 's reply to the proposals given to Hughes would show if this were indeed true . He said that although he thought Whitehall was keen to resolve the independence issue , he did not believe their line had changed . He declared that he and the RF would not change their stance in any way . Moving to the subject of Lisbon , Smith stressed that this was separate from the independence dispute , then overruled Dupont 's announcement of two days before : Reedman 's appointment would remain provisional until further notice , he said . 
