bantustan

bantustan in 20th-century South African history, territory that was set aside under apartheid for black South Africans and slated for eventual independence. Ten bantustans (later generally referred to as homelands), covering 14% of the country's land, were created from the former "native reserves." Four were proclaimed independent— Transkei (1976), Bophuthatswana (1977), Venda (1979), and Ciskei (1981)—but no foreign government recognized them as independent nations. Citizens of independent homelands lost the limited rights they had as South Africans. Under the South African constitution that was approved in 1993 and ended white rule, South African citizenship was restored to homeland residents, and the homelands were abolished.

Bantustan Separate Black homelands in South Africa whose creation from 1951 formed the cornerstone of apartheid as realized by the National Party and the relentless Verwoerd. They built on the existing ‘reserves’ for Blacks (Bantus), which had been established to segregate them from Whites in 1913 and in 1936. The 1951 Bantu Authorities Act set up a hierarchical structure of authority in each reserve, which corresponded to different ethnic groups. Tribal chiefs who did not cooperate were deposed. The 1959 Bantu Self-Government Act provided mechanisms for these territories to achieve self-government, which was granted in 1963 for the first time to the Transkei, the largest single homeland territory.

Thereafter, self-governing homelands were encouraged to opt for independence, since the more Blacks belonged to an independent homeland, the fewer could claim South African nationality. Thus, the 1970 Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act ruled that all Blacks would assume the nationality of one of the homelands, even if they had never set foot in it. This would ensure that, in the long run, there would be no Black South Africans. Transkei accepted independence in 1976, followed by Bophuthatswana (1977), Venda (1979), and the Ciskei (1981). As creations of apartheid, these ‘countries’, whose territories were widely interspersed throughout the eastern part of South Africa, were not internationally recognized. With the notable exception of Bophuthatswana, their governments were corrupt, and their single most important ‘independent’ revenue came from the ability to run casinos, as gambling was forbidden in South Africa.

In reality, they were vast slum areas without industry or fertile soil for agriculture. The majority of their populations depended on jobs in South Africa (e.g. 65 per cent of the working population in Bophuthatswana), while most of their governments' income depended on direct transfer payments from the South African government (e.g. 80 per cent in Transkei, 1985). The ‘independent’ bantustans were reintegrated into South Africa in 1994, sometimes, as in the case of Bophuthatswana, against the will of the local governing elites.

apartheid Policy of racial segregation practised by the South African government from 1948 to 1990. Racial inequality and restricted rights for non-whites were institutionalized when the Afrikaner-dominated National Party came to power in 1948. Officially a framework for “separate development” of races, in practice apartheid enforced white-minority rule. It was based on segregation in all aspects of life including residence, land ownership, and education. Non-whites, c.80% of the population, were also given separate political structures and quasi-autonomous homelands or bantustans. The system was underpinned by extensive repression, and measures such as pass laws which severely restricted the movements of non-whites. In 1990 the South African government, increasingly isolated internationally and beset by economic difficulties and domestic unrest, pledged to dismantle the system. Elections in April 1994 completed the transition to a nonracial democracy. See also African National Congress (ANC)