Lord Richard Cecil well established links with Rhodesia, the capital city of which was named Salisbury after the third Marquess (it was renamed Harare in 1982 on the second anniversary of Zimbabwean independence). The family had extensive land holdings in the country and the fifth Marquess (Lord Richard's grandfather) was a leading British supporter of the white minority UDI government that ruled Rhodesia from 1965-1979. Lord Richard was the eldest of the younger brothers of Robert Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, who has been both an MP and the Leader of the House of Lords. In 2003, Cranborne became 7th Marquess of Salisbury upon the
2008 Zimbabwean cholera outbreak distributed 360,000 litres of water per day in Harare, as well as handing out soap and buckets. Notwithstanding the contributions received, UNICEF indicated on 9 December 2008 that US$17,500,000 was needed to respond properly to the outbreak. As of 15 December, following agreement with the Zimbabwe government, the World Health Organization was procuring medical supplies to roll out a response plan to run health centres. The 2008 cholera outbreak spread to districts in Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia bordering Zimbabwe. Cholera spread to the Zimbabwean migrant worker community in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa and cholera bacteria