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Bophuthatswana (meaning gathering of the Tswana people) was a bantustan
Bantustan

A bantustan or euphemistically black african homeland or simply homeland, was territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South-West Africa , as part of the policy of South Africa under apartheid....
 ("homeland") in the northwest of South Africa. It had a surface area of approximately 40 000 kmē and consisted of seven enclaves dispersed over the former South African provinces of Cape Province
Cape Province

The Cape of Good Hope Province was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Colony, and had Cape Town as its capital....
, Transvaal
Transvaal

File:Flag of Transvaal.svgFile:Transvaal map.pngFile:Spelterini Transvaal.jpgThe Transvaal is the name of an area of northern South Africa....
 and Orange Free State
Orange Free State

The Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boere-Afrikaner republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British Orange River Colony and a Provinces of South Africa of the Union of South Africa....
. The capital Mmabatho
Mmabatho

Mmabatho is the former capital of the North West Province of South Africa. In the apartheid era, it was the capital of the former "Bantustan" of Bophuthatswana....
 was situated in an area bordering Botswana
Botswana

The Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are called "Batswana" , regardless of ethnicity. Formerly a British protectorate of Bechuanaland Protectorate, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth of Nations on 30 September 1966....
. The homeland was set up to house Setswana-speaking peoples.






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Bophuthatswana (meaning gathering of the Tswana people) was a bantustan
Bantustan

A bantustan or euphemistically black african homeland or simply homeland, was territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South-West Africa , as part of the policy of South Africa under apartheid....
 ("homeland") in the northwest of South Africa. It had a surface area of approximately 40 000 kmē and consisted of seven enclaves dispersed over the former South African provinces of Cape Province
Cape Province

The Cape of Good Hope Province was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Colony, and had Cape Town as its capital....
, Transvaal
Transvaal

File:Flag of Transvaal.svgFile:Transvaal map.pngFile:Spelterini Transvaal.jpgThe Transvaal is the name of an area of northern South Africa....
 and Orange Free State
Orange Free State

The Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boere-Afrikaner republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British Orange River Colony and a Provinces of South Africa of the Union of South Africa....
. The capital Mmabatho
Mmabatho

Mmabatho is the former capital of the North West Province of South Africa. In the apartheid era, it was the capital of the former "Bantustan" of Bophuthatswana....
 was situated in an area bordering Botswana
Botswana

The Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Citizens of Botswana are called "Batswana" , regardless of ethnicity. Formerly a British protectorate of Bechuanaland Protectorate, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth of Nations on 30 September 1966....
. The homeland was set up to house Setswana-speaking peoples. In 1983 it had more than 1,430,000 inhabitants; in 1990, it had an estimated population of 2,352,296.

History

Bophuthatswana was given nominal self-rule in 1971, and became nominally independent on 6 December 1977; Kgosi Lucas Mangope
Lucas Mangope

Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope is the former leader of the Bantustan of Bophuthatswana.Born in Motswedi on 27 December 1923, Mangope worked as a high school teacher until 8 August 1959, when he succeeded his father Lucas as Chief of the Motswedi Ba hurutshe-Boo-Manyane tribe....
 was appointed head of state. In reality Bophuthatswana was a client state of apartheid-era South Africa and was not recognized as an independent country by any government other than that of South Africa. Those relocated to Bophuthatswana lost their South African citizenship. In 1988 an attempted coup was suppressed by South Africa, who reinstated Mangope. The coup was later said to have been led by the opposition at the time, the People's Progressive Party (PPP) under the leadership of Rocky Malebana Metsing. A second coup in 1990 was also thwarted.

Economy

It was the richest of the TBVC states (nominally independent Bantustans), as it had platinum
Platinum

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is in Group 10 of the periodic table of elements....
 mines
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
. It also made money from the Sun City
Sun City, North West

Sun City is a luxury South African casino resort, situated in the North West Province. It is located about two hours' drive from Johannesburg, near the city of Rustenburg....
 casino, which was a day trip from Johannesburg
Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Joburg, is the largest city in South Africa. Johannesburg is the province Capital of Gauteng the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa....
 and Pretoria
Pretoria

Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three Capital , serving as the Executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislature capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital....
, where gambling
Gambling

Gambling is the wikt:wager#Verb of money or something of material Value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods....
 was illegal under the National Party
National Party (South Africa)

The National Party was the governing party of South Africa from June 4, 1948 until May 9, 1994, and was disbanded in 2005. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a republic, and the promotion of Afrikaner culture....
 government (as it was in the whole country).

Bophuthatswana coup

Bop 77
In the beginning of 1994 with South Africa heading for democratic elections, the autocratic President Lucas Mangope
Lucas Mangope

Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope is the former leader of the Bantustan of Bophuthatswana.Born in Motswedi on 27 December 1923, Mangope worked as a high school teacher until 8 August 1959, when he succeeded his father Lucas as Chief of the Motswedi Ba hurutshe-Boo-Manyane tribe....
 resisted reincorporation into South Africa. 40 people were wounded when Bophuthatswana Defence Force troops opened fire on striking civil servants. Mangope took an increasingly hardline stance, rejected Independent Electoral Commission
Independent Electoral Commission

South AfricaThe Independent Electoral Commission in South Africa has managed all the country's national and local government elections in South Africa since the South African general election, 1994 on 27 April 1994....
 chairman Judge Johann Kriegler
Johann Kriegler

Johann Christiaan Kriegler is a former Constitutional Court of South Africa and Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa judge from South Africa....
's plea for free political activity
Freedom (political)

Political freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression. The members of a free society would have full dominion over their public and private lives....
 in the territory, and fired the staff of the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation, closing down two television stations and three radio stations.

The white supremacist group Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging or AWB, is a far right political organisation and former paramilitary group in South Africa under the leadership of Eug?ne Terre'Blanche....
 (AWB) took the opportunity to move in and try to restore the apartheid status quo, but was humiliated in early March when, in the presence of photojournalists and a TV crew, uniformed members of the AWB on an armed incursion
Bophuthatswana coup

The Bophuthatswana coup of March 1994 occurred in the tribal bantustan of Bophuthatswana and resulted in the reincorporation of the homeland into South Africa following the negotiated ending of apartheid....
 to the Mmabatho/Mafikeng
Mafikeng

Mafikeng , "The City of Goodwill", is the capital of the North West Province of South Africa. Located on South Africa's border with Botswana, it is northeast of Cape Town and west of Johannesburg....
 area shot at people alongside the road, injuring and killing many. They themselves were shot at by members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force (BDF) and the Police and forced to retreat. Three wounded AWB members were shot dead at point blank range by Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe of the BDF while retreating. These killings effectively spelt the end of white right-wing military opposition to democratic reforms. Mangope was replaced by an interim government, and on 27 April of the same year all ten homelands, including Bophuthatswana, were reincorporated into post-apartheid South Africa
Post-apartheid South Africa

Post-apartheid South Africa, also known as the New South Africa, Democratic South Africa and the Rainbow nation, refers to the socio-economical , political and social changes in South Africa after the South African general election, 1994 when the African National Congress came into power under the leadership of Nelson Mandela....
.

Post-apartheid South Africa

With the end of apartheid, of the 7 enclaves, 5 were added into the North West Province. Thaba Nchu became part of the Free State and Moretele (the easternmost part) became part of Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga, , is a Provinces of South Africa South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Nguni languages....
. The capital, Mmabatho, is now the capital of the North West province.

See also

  • Heads of State of Bophuthatswana
    Heads of state of Bophuthatswana

    List of the Heads of State of Bophuthatswana ...
  • Coins of Bophuthatswana
    Coins of Bophuthatswana

    Bophuthatswana was an independent Bantustan between 1977 and 1994. There were only two coins struck. Both of them were issued in proof coinage only. Bophuthatswana was the only Bantustan to have had their own coins, but the official currency was the South African rand....


Further reading

  • The Bang-bang Club: The Making of the New South Africa, Greg Marinovich
    Greg Marinovich

    Greg Sebastian Marinovich is an award-winning South africa Photojournalism, film maker, photo editor, and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He co-authored the book The Bang-Bang Club, which details South Africa's transition to democracy....
     and Joao Silva
    Joao Silva

    Joao Silva is a war photographer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was one of four people commonly associated with the Bang-Bang Club, a group of photographers who covered South Africa from the time of Nelson Mandela's release to the first elections in 1994....
    , William Heinemann, 2000 ISBN 0-434-00733-1
  • into the violence Bophuthatswana on 11 March 1994