Word: matanzima
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Like Transkei's Prime Minister, Chief Kaiser Matanzima, who attended the independence ceremonies last week, Mangope is a political conservative without any viable opposition. His BophuthaTswana Democratic Party won overwhelmingly in pre-independence elections, and has 92 out of the 96 seats in the national assembly. Mangope has vowed never to let his territory become a base for black militants or anti-South African terrorists. Some urban blacks have attacked him as a puppet of Pretoria for going along with the independence scheme. Mangope argues that the plan will enable his people to consolidate their political power and thus...
...matter. The first homeland to be granted its "independence," Transkei, celebrated its first anniversary last month. Although invitations to the ceremonies were sent to most Western capitals, Pretoria was the only one to accept. Transkei's Prime Minister, Chief Kaiser Matanzima, took the occasion to attack "the rejection of our legitimacy" by the outside world. In December a second homeland, Bophuthatswana, will officially become independent, and three more are likely to follow within the next two years. The only one definitely holding out against such independence is KwaZulu, whose leader, Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, dismisses the whole idea as a sham...
Since then, the homeland has been under emergency rule, requested of Pretoria annually by Matanzima and his cohorts. Their power base is consolidated by free use of Proclamation 400, a security measure that allows the bantustan government unlimited power to suppress civil liberties and opposition parties. Last month, just before the referendum on whether or not to request independence, Matanzima rounded up 26 opposition leaders so they could not mobilize support against this sham of a vote. According to this month's Africa magazine, 57 high school students were jailed recently for protesting independence. And the Transkei's first independent...
Given the nature of his interaction with Vorster's government, it is not surprising that Matanzima himself is a rather unsavory character. The New York Times reported Sunday that the Sunday Timesof Johannesburg has accused the Transkei chief and his brother of corruption involving land deals between the chief and the party he controls; Matanzima responded with a rather vague statement, saying only that the allegations reflect the "deep-seated hatred these English jingoes have developed since we took over the Transkei...
...leaders of the eight other bantustans seem fairly justified in their unanimous condemnation of Matanzima's decision to prostitute his people for the power Vorster's backing gives him. He defends the Transkei's independence, calling it an "epoch-making event that is the product of peaceful evolution and an orderly transfer of power to the people of the Transkei." But less than 45 per cent of the voters turned out in the recent election in those constituencies where there was a contest, a fact that does not suggest the people of the Transkei are exactly carried away with their...