Bophuthatswana

Bophuthatswana, former bantustan, or black homeland, in South Africa, one of ten territories assigned to the black majority population in the 1950s as part of the South African government's policy of apartheid, or racial segregation. Covering a total area of 44,000 sq km (16,988 sq mi), Bophuthatswana consisted of seven fragments of land scattered throughout Orange Free State, Cape Province, and Transvaal, which were three of the four provinces in South Africa at that time. Bophuthatswana, a name meaning “that which binds the Tswana together,” was established as a so-called homeland for the Tswana people, although it had significant Pedi, Basotho, Shangaan, and Zulu minorities. Bophuthatswana's capital was Mmabatho. The territory also included the towns of Mafikeng, Onverwacht, Phalaborwa, Phuthaditjhaba, Sun City, and Thaba Nchu. In 1994, when South Africa was divided into nine new provinces, most of Bophuthatswana was incorporated into North-West Province; the remaining fragment was included in the province of Free State.

Tswana peoples lived in the region from about the 13th or 14th century ad, but they lost most of their land in the 19th century to Afrikaner and British conquest. Shortly after the Union of South Africa (later the Republic of South Africa) was formed in 1910, the white leaders of South Africa began to implement national policies of racial segregation. These policies culminated in the 1950s when the government divided the black majority according to ethnic identity and defined them as citizens of separate ethnic homelands, or bantustans.

The Bantu Homelands Constitution Act of 1971 gave the South African president the power to establish constitutions and legislative assemblies for any of the bantustans. Once a bantustan had a homeland legislature and an executive council and had held a general election, it was considered to be self-governing. Its administrative body could collect taxes and pass laws relating to certain areas, such as schools, hospitals, and transportation, but all of these laws still required the approval of the South African president. The South African government also retained final control over the bantustan's finances. Bophuthatswana was granted self-governing status in 1972.

Five years later Bophuthatswana became the second of the bantustans to achieve so-called independence. In theory, independent bantustans were given complete control over their internal affairs and foreign relations. Some did repeal racially discriminatory laws, but the independence of these bantustans was limited by the fact that the South African government still supplied most of the funding for their budgets and contributed many key civil servants and army officers to the bantustan administrations. Bophuthatswana generated some income through platinum mines, but only 6.6 percent of its land could be farmed, and most citizens of Bophuthatswana continued to seek jobs in other parts of South Africa. No other country besides South Africa recognized the bantustan as an independent country, because to do so implied acceptance of the apartheid system.

Although approximately 2.5 million people were defined as citizens of Bophuthatswana, about half that number lived outside the borders of the bantustan. Few black people supported the bantustan system because it meant they were considered primarily citizens of the bantustans instead of citizens of South Africa, even if they had never lived within the bantustans. When a bantustan chose to become independent, its citizens lost their South African citizenship completely. In spite of popular opposition, some black politicians accepted the bantustan system, and the South African government gradually transferred political power to those individuals.

Periodic elections were held in Bophuthatswana, but political power rested in the hands of one party, the Bophuthatswana Democratic Party, founded in 1974. The leader of that party, Lucas Mangope, became president of Bophuthatswana in 1977. In 1988 a military coup staged by members of the Bophuthatswana Defense Force, the bantustan's small army, attempted to overthrow Mangope. The South African government sent in security forces that intervened and restored Mangope to power. He remained president until 1994. On March 7, 1994, Mangope declared that his homeland would not take part in South Africa's first multiracial elections because he opposed the interim constitution that would dissolve the bantustans. The constitution, negotiated by the African National Congress (ANC) and the former South African government, was scheduled to go into effect at the time of the April 1994 elections. Citizens of Bophuthatswana, eager to vote in these elections, protested Mangope's boycott, and armed white extremists, who opposed the changes occurring in South Africa, came to assist Mangope. Riots broke out and continued for four days, until Mangope agreed to allow participation in the elections. The next day, however, Mangope once again reversed his decision. He was then deposed by the South African government, acting in conjunction with the ANC and the Transitional Executive Council, which was overseeing progress toward the national elections. After the April 1994 elections, Bophuthatswana, along with the other bantustans, was reintegrated into a unified South Africa.