KaNgwane

KaNgwane
Bantustan
← 1981–1994 →
Flag Coat of arms
Location of KaNgwane within South Africa
Capital	KaNyamasane (Louieville)
Language(s)	Swati language
Political structure	Bantustan
History
- Self-government	1981
- Re-integrated into South Africa	27 April 1994
Currency	South African rand

KaNgwane was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government to be a semi-independent homeland for the Swazi people. Formerly called the "Swazi Territory", the homeland was granted nominal self-rule in 1981. Schoemansdal was designated as its capital. Its official capital was at Louieville (formerly KaNyamasane). It was the least populous of the ten homelands, with an estimated 183,000 inhabitants only.

An attempt to transfer parts of the homeland to the neighbouring (genuinely independent) country of Swaziland in 1982 failed following protests. The homeland's territory had been claimed by King Sobhuza of Swaziland as part of the Swazi monarchs' traditional realm, and the South African government hoped to use the homeland as a buffer zone against guerrilla infiltration from Mozambique. This would have given land-locked Swaziland access to the sea. South Africa responded to the failure of the transfer by temporarily suspending the autonomy of KaNgwane, then restoring it in 1984.

Unlike the other homelands in South Africa, KaNgwane did not adopt a distinctive flag of its own and flew the national flag of South Africa.

KaNgwane was re-integrated into South Africa on 26 April 1994. Its territory now forms part of the provinces of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.

See also

• Chief Ministers of KaNgwane

Bibliography

• „Informa” April 1981 vol XXVIII No 3 (The Department of Foreign Affairs and Information of RSA, newspaper)