Bantustan

Bantustan refers to any of the territories designated as tribal "homelands" for black South Africans (and Namibians) during the apartheid era. The term "bantustan" was first used in the late 1940s and was coined from Bantu (meaning "people" in the Bantu languages) and -stan (meaning "land of" in the Persian language). It was based on Hindustan, a term used to refer to Hindu-inhabited India. It later became a disparaging term used by critics of the apartheid-era government's "homelands".

Creation of the Bantustans

Well before the National Party came to power in 1948, South African governments had established "reserves" in 1913 and 1936 with the intention of segregating black South Africans from whites. The National Party's Minister for Native Affairs (and later Prime Minister) Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd sought to build on this, introducing a series of measures that were intended to reshape South African society to exclude its black majority population. The creation of the Bantustans was a central element of this strategy.

Related Topics:
National Party - 1948 - 1913 - 1936 - Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd

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Verwoerd argued – with little credible evidence – that the Bantustans were the "original homes" of the native peoples of South Africa. In 1951, the government of Daniel Francois Malan introduced the Bantu Authorities Act to establish small "homelands" allocated to the country's different black ethnic groups. These amounted to no more than 13% of the country's land, leaving the remaining 87% to the white population. Local tribal leaders were co-opted to run the homelands, with uncooperative chiefs being forcibly deposed.

Related Topics:
1951 - Daniel Francois Malan - Bantu Authorities Act

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The role of the homelands was expanded in 1959 with the passage of the Bantu Self-Government Act, which set out a plan called "Separate Development". This enabled the homelands to establish themselves as self-governing, quasi-independent states. The intention was to remove the few rights that black South Africans still had in South Africa, by making them nationals of the homelands rather than of South Africa. The homelands were encouraged to opt for independence, as this would greatly reduce the number of black citizens of South Africa. The process was completed by the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970, which forcibly made blacks citizens of Bantustans, even if they had never set foot in their nominal "homeland", and cancelled their South African citizenship.

Related Topics:
1959 - Bantu Self-Government Act - Separate Development - Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act - 1970

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In parallel with the creation of the homelands, South Africa's black population was subjected to a massive programme of forced relocation. An estimated 3.5 million people were expelled from their homes during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, many being resettled in the Bantustans.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1970s - 1980s

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The government made clear that its ultimate aim was the total removal of the black population from South Africa. Connie Mulder, the Minister of Plural Relations and Development, told the House of Assembly on 7 February 1978:

Related Topics:
Connie Mulder - House of Assembly - 7 February - 1978

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:If our policy is taken to its logical conclusion as far as the black people are concerned, there will be not one black man with South African citizenship ... Every black man in South Africa will eventually be accommodated in some independent new state in this honourable way and there will no longer be an obligation on this Parliament to accommodate these people politically.

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The Bantustans began to be given "independence" in 1976, with Transkei the first to obtain this status. However, none of them received recognition from the outside world. Their territories were broken up into numerous, non-contiguous enclaves, and the boundaries between these were very convoluted. In one instance, the South African embassy to Bophuthatswana had to be moved because it turned out that it had actually been built in South Africa rather than the homeland.

Related Topics:
1976 - Transkei

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A similar policy was pursued in South African-occupied South West Africa (present-day Namibia), where ten Bantustans were created. (See Bantustans in South West Africa for more on this topic.)

Related Topics:
South West Africa - Namibia - Bantustans in South West Africa

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