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".

Life in the Bantustans

The Bantustans were all extremely poor. This was quite deliberate, as their boundaries were drawn to exclude economically valuable land and industries. Few employment opportunities were available. Their single most important home-grown source of revenue was the provision of casinos and topless revue shows, which the National Party government had prohibited in South Africa proper as being "immoral". This provided a lucrative source of income for the local elite, who constructed megaresorts such as Sun City in the homeland of Bophuthatswana.

Related Topics:
Casino - Topless - Megaresort - Sun City - Bophuthatswana

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However, the homelands were only kept afloat by massive subsidies from the South African government; for instance, by 1985 in Transkei, 85% of the homeland's income came from direct transfer payments from Pretoria. The Bantustans' governments were invariably corrupt and little wealth trickled down to the local populations, who were forced to seek employment as so-called "guest workers" in South Africa proper. Millions of people had to work in often appalling conditions, away from their homes for months at a time. – for example, 65% of Bophuthatswana's population worked outside the homeland.

Related Topics:
1985 - Transkei

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Not surprisingly, the homelands were extremely unpopular among the black population, many of whom lived in squalor in slum housing. Their working conditions were often equally poor, as they were denied any significant rights or protections in South Africa proper. Most of the individuals assigned to homelands did not live in or originate from the small areas which the homelands encompassed, and the division into ethnic groups was often arbitrary.

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A total of around twelve million people were citizens of the Bantustans. Another eleven million blacks lived in South Africa proper, though the ultimate intention of the apartheid governments was that all blacks should be moved to Bantustans with no permanent black residents after the plan was fully implemented. This was never fully realised, not least because the economy of white South Africa depended on access to a black labour force.

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