Ciskei
Encyclopedia
Ciskei was a Bantustan
in the south east of South Africa
. It covered an area of 2,970 square miles (7,700 km³), almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province
, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean
.
Under South Africa's policy of apartheid, land was set aside for black peoples in self-governing territories. Ciskei was designated as one of two homeland or "Bantustan" for Xhosa
-speaking people. Xhosa speakers were resettled there and to Transkei
, the other Xhosa homeland.
Ciskei had a succession of capitals during its existence. Originally, Zwelitsha
served as the capital with the view that Alice would become the long-term national capital. However, it was Bisho (now spelled Bhisho) that became the capital until Ciskei's reintegration into South Africa.
The name Ciskei means "on this side of the Kei River
" (cf. Cisalpine
), and is in contrast to the neighboring Bantustan of Transkei
.
By the time Sir John Cradock
was appointed governor of the Cape Colony
in 1811, the Zuurveld region had lapsed into disorder and many white farmers had begun to abandoned their farms. Early during 1812, on the instructions of the governor, Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham forced 20,000 Xhosa to cross the Fish River
. Subsequently, 27 military posts were erected across this border, which resulted in the establishment of the garrison towns of Grahamstown
and Cradock
.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the area between the Fish and Kei rivers had been set aside for the "Bantu" and was known as the Ciskei. Europeans gave the name Ciskei to the area to distinguish it from the Transkei, the area north of the Kei.
After the Union of South Africa
formed in 1910, the "Bantu" rights of occupation remained unclear and differed from colony to colony within South Africa. The Native Lands Act of 1913 demarcated the reserves in the Union, and made it illegal to sell or lease these lands to Europeans (except in the Cape Colony). General Hertzog pursued his segregation policy and subsequently passed the Native Trust and Land Act in 1936. This act effectively abolished the right of the Cape "Bantu" to buy land outside of the existing reserves.
In 1961 Ciskei became a separate administrative region and in 1972 was declared self-governing under the rule of Chief Justice Mabandla
and then Lennox Sebe
. In 1978 it became a single-party state under the rule of Lennox Sebe
and in 1981 it became the fourth homeland to be declared independent by the South African government and its residents lost their South African citizenship. However, there were no border-controls between South Africa and Ciskei. In common with other Bantustans its independence was not recognised by the international community
. Sebe once claimed that the State of Israel had granted official recognition to Ciskei, but the Israeli Foreign Ministry denied this.
In 1990 Brigadier Oupa Gqozo
deposed Sebe and ruled as a dictator
- despite an initial promise of a swift return to civilian rule. During 1991 and 1992 many of the legal foundations of apartheid in South Africa were removed, undermining the rationale for the homelands' continued existence. The African National Congress
pressed strongly for them to be reincorporated into South Africa. This was opposed by Gqozo and the other homeland leaders.
On 7 September 1992 the Ciskei Defence Force
fired into a crowd (led by Ronnie Kasrils) of ANC members demanding the removal of Gqozo. 28 people were killed and hundreds injured in the Bisho massacre
outside the sports stadium in Bisho.
Gqozo refused to participate in the multiracial negotiations to agree a post-apartheid constitution
for South Africa and initially threatened to boycott the first multiracial elections. This became unsustainable and in March 1994, Ciskei government workers went on strike for fear of losing their job security and pensions in the post-apartheid era. The police then mutinied, prompting Gqozo to resign on 22 March. The South African government took control of the homeland to ensure security until the elections could be held the following month.
Ciskei and all of the other homelands were reincorporated into South Africa on 27 April 1994, after the first post-apartheid elections. Along with Transkei, Ciskei became part of the new Eastern Cape Province. Its capital became the capital of the Eastern Cape Province.
Bantustan
A bantustan was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa , as part of the policy of apartheid...
in the south east of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It covered an area of 2,970 square miles (7,700 km³), almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province
Cape Province
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa...
, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
.
Under South Africa's policy of apartheid, land was set aside for black peoples in self-governing territories. Ciskei was designated as one of two homeland or "Bantustan" for Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
-speaking people. Xhosa speakers were resettled there and to Transkei
Transkei
The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...
, the other Xhosa homeland.
Ciskei had a succession of capitals during its existence. Originally, Zwelitsha
Zwelitsha
Zwelitsha is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. From 1972 to 1981 it served as the provisional capital of the Bantustan of Ciskei, until the capital could be moved to Alice, and then to Bhisho...
served as the capital with the view that Alice would become the long-term national capital. However, it was Bisho (now spelled Bhisho) that became the capital until Ciskei's reintegration into South Africa.
The name Ciskei means "on this side of the Kei River
Great Kei River
The Great Kei River is a river in South Africa in the Eastern Cape province. Before it becomes the Great Kei, the Swart-Kei River and the Wit-Kei River join forces, northeast of Cathcart. It flows for 520 km and ends at the Indian Ocean with the small town Kei Mouth on the west bank...
" (cf. Cisalpine
Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul, in Latin: Gallia Cisalpina or Citerior, also called Gallia Togata, was a Roman province until 41 BC when it was merged into Roman Italy.It bore the name Gallia, because the great body of its inhabitants, after the expulsion of the Etruscans, consisted of Gauls or Celts...
), and is in contrast to the neighboring Bantustan of Transkei
Transkei
The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...
.
History
John Cradock, 1st Baron Howden
General John Francis Cradock, 1st Baron Howden GCB was a British peer, politician and soldier.-Life:He was son of John Cradock, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin....
was appointed governor of the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
in 1811, the Zuurveld region had lapsed into disorder and many white farmers had begun to abandoned their farms. Early during 1812, on the instructions of the governor, Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham forced 20,000 Xhosa to cross the Fish River
Great Fish River
The Great Fish River is a river running through the South African province of the Eastern Cape, it originates east of Graaff-Reinet and runs through Cradock, just south of this the Tarka River joins it...
. Subsequently, 27 military posts were erected across this border, which resulted in the establishment of the garrison towns of Grahamstown
Grahamstown
Grahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...
and Cradock
Cradock
-People:*Christopher Cradock , admiral in the Royal Navy.*Johnnie Cradock , British cook, writer, broadcaster and Army Major.*Fanny Cradock , British writer, restaurant critic and television cook....
.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the area between the Fish and Kei rivers had been set aside for the "Bantu" and was known as the Ciskei. Europeans gave the name Ciskei to the area to distinguish it from the Transkei, the area north of the Kei.
After the Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
formed in 1910, the "Bantu" rights of occupation remained unclear and differed from colony to colony within South Africa. The Native Lands Act of 1913 demarcated the reserves in the Union, and made it illegal to sell or lease these lands to Europeans (except in the Cape Colony). General Hertzog pursued his segregation policy and subsequently passed the Native Trust and Land Act in 1936. This act effectively abolished the right of the Cape "Bantu" to buy land outside of the existing reserves.
In 1961 Ciskei became a separate administrative region and in 1972 was declared self-governing under the rule of Chief Justice Mabandla
Thandatha Jongilizwe Mabandla
Chief Justice Thandathu Jongilizwe Mabandla is currently the chief of the AmaBhele Tribe in Alice . He was born on 16 April 1926 and is the eldest son of the late Chief Mbovane Mabandla....
and then Lennox Sebe
Lennox Sebe
Lennox Leslie Wongamu Sebe was chief minister of the Xhosa bantustan of Ciskei, and the country's first president, after its self-rule in 1972....
. In 1978 it became a single-party state under the rule of Lennox Sebe
Lennox Sebe
Lennox Leslie Wongamu Sebe was chief minister of the Xhosa bantustan of Ciskei, and the country's first president, after its self-rule in 1972....
and in 1981 it became the fourth homeland to be declared independent by the South African government and its residents lost their South African citizenship. However, there were no border-controls between South Africa and Ciskei. In common with other Bantustans its independence was not recognised by the international community
International community
The international community is a term used in international relations to refer to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world or to a group of them. The term is used to imply the existence of common duties and obligations between them...
. Sebe once claimed that the State of Israel had granted official recognition to Ciskei, but the Israeli Foreign Ministry denied this.
In 1990 Brigadier Oupa Gqozo
Oupa Gqozo
Joshua Oupa Gqozo was the military ruler of the former homeland of Ciskei in South Africa.-Early life:Oupa Gqozo was born in Kroonstad on 10 March 1952, the son of a Christian minister. He was sent away at a young age to stay with a relative living in Witgatboom in Northern Transvaal . There he...
deposed Sebe and ruled as a dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
- despite an initial promise of a swift return to civilian rule. During 1991 and 1992 many of the legal foundations of apartheid in South Africa were removed, undermining the rationale for the homelands' continued existence. The African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
pressed strongly for them to be reincorporated into South Africa. This was opposed by Gqozo and the other homeland leaders.
On 7 September 1992 the Ciskei Defence Force
Ciskei Defence Force
The Ciskei Defence Force was established during March 1981 from the 141 Battalion of the South African Defence Force . It functioned as part of the 21 Battalion based in Lenasia, Johannesburg....
fired into a crowd (led by Ronnie Kasrils) of ANC members demanding the removal of Gqozo. 28 people were killed and hundreds injured in the Bisho massacre
Bisho massacre
The Bisho massacre occurred on 7 September 1992 in Bisho, in the nominally independent homeland of Ciskei in South Africa. Twenty-eight African National Congress supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march when they attempted to enter Bisho to...
outside the sports stadium in Bisho.
Gqozo refused to participate in the multiracial negotiations to agree a post-apartheid constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
for South Africa and initially threatened to boycott the first multiracial elections. This became unsustainable and in March 1994, Ciskei government workers went on strike for fear of losing their job security and pensions in the post-apartheid era. The police then mutinied, prompting Gqozo to resign on 22 March. The South African government took control of the homeland to ensure security until the elections could be held the following month.
Ciskei and all of the other homelands were reincorporated into South Africa on 27 April 1994, after the first post-apartheid elections. Along with Transkei, Ciskei became part of the new Eastern Cape Province. Its capital became the capital of the Eastern Cape Province.
See also
- List of heads of state of Ciskei
- Vice President of CiskeiVice President of CiskeiThe Vice President of Ciskei was a political position in that republic. The Vice President was appointed as a deputy by the President.Rev. W. M. Xaba held the office between 1981 and 1983....
Books on Ciskei
- Mager, A.K. (1999) Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan: A Social History of the Ciskei, 1945–1959, Heinemann.
- Switzer, L. (1993) Power and Resistance in an African Society: The Ciskei Xhosa and the Making of South Africa, University of Wisconsin Press.