Transkei nears its controversial independence from S.A.

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 9

Transkei nears its controversial independence from S.A.

Bv

LARRY HEINZERLING,

NZPA-Reuter correspondent Pretoria 1 Hilltop bonfires, a 101-gun salute, and the strains of Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika, or God Bless Africa, will usher in the controversial independence on October 26 of the black South African Transkei homeland. The last booms of the cannons will signal the birth of Africa's 50th independent State and mark the first step in South Africa’s plan to partition the nation racially under its policy of apartheid, or separate racial development. At the stroke of midnight, 3.3 million blacks, mostly Xhosa tribesmen, will lose all claims to citizenship in white-ruled South Africa, and become Transkeians. Many nations, particularly in black Africa and Western Europe, have said they will refuse to recognise the Transkei because it is a product of apartheid. But South Africa argues that the territory’s independence will be genuine and that it is no different from the independence Britain granted the similar territories of Botswana, Swaziland, and Lesotho a decade •go. South Africa s critics acknowledge that refusing to accept and support the Transkei will increase the territory’s dependence on South Africa. If one million people of Lesotho were entitled to sovereignty, how could it be denied the three million people of the Transkei? asked Radio South Africa in a recent commentary. Pretoria'* policy was achieving for the Transkei what London’s policy achieved for Lesotho — except that Pretoria had made much more thorough and costly preparations for independence, it said.

Under the apartheid policy, the Transkei is one of

nine tribal homelands carved out of South Africa to which the nation’s 18 million blacks will be consigned. When the policy is complete, it will mean that all blacks in South Africa will be citizens of the various homelands without any claims to citizenship or poli- [ tical rights in the land of their birth.

The policy is aimed at resolving the dilemma faced by South Africa’s four million whites whom blacks outnumber by nearly five to one.

With one exception, the homeland of Bophuthatswana, all other homelands have rejected independence and demand participation in the white-dominated political system. Blacks opposed to the homeland policy argue that they constitute only 13 per cent of South Africa’s land area, are impoverished compared with areas reserved for whites, and are not economically viable. Another complication is that of the three million people scheduled to become Transkeian citizens, only about 1.1 mjllion live inside the territory.

The rest, many of whom have never seen the Transkei, live and work in white South Africa, but will nevertheless have to become Transkeian citizens.

It is estimated that of all of South Africa’s 18 million blacks, about half live outside the homelands. These urban blacks, many

of whom were involved in the wide-spread rioting this year, have little interest in becoming citizens of relatively backward, rural tribal reserves.

The policy is tantamount to the United State’s declaring that all American Indians must become citizens of Indian reservations and lose all rights as Americans.

South Africa, however, views the policy as the fulfillment of the ideal of self-

determination in which blacks, who have no political rights in white South Africa, may enjoy full freedom in the homelands.

However, if the policy is brought to its logical conclusion, it will mean that South Africa, which relies heavily on black labour will have more foreign workers—citizens of the homelands —• in white South Africa than white citizens, a unique situation.

The Transkei, largest of all the homelands, covers 14,300 square miles and is larger than Switzerland or Denmark. Its name means Across the Kei River, and it extends from the Indian Ocean on the eastern seaboard to the eastern border of the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, and from the Umtamvuna River in the north to the great KeiRiver in the south-west Its terrain is mountainous and fertile, and it enjoys good rainfall, critical to a country that is largely agricultural. Most of the inhabitants, aside from those in a few small modem enclaves, live in mud-thatched roof huts and make a living tending goats and cattle and cultivating small fields of com. The Transkei now has the status of a self-governing territory with its own Parliament, Opposition Party, and local governments. It is led by Chief Kaiser Matanzima, aged 61, who has run the territory since 1961, most recently through his Transkei National Independence Party. While the Transkei may be politically independent, most observers believe it will remain heavily reliant financially in South Africa for many years. The territory is considered ' probably the most selfsufficient of all the homelands, but its present budget is 83 per cent subsidised by South Africa.

Matanzima is one of two

homeland leaders in South Africa to have opted for independence. Others have refused to go along with South African policy so far. Hudson Ntanwisi, Chief Minister of the Gazankulu homeland, recently summed up black objections to independence for the homelands, saying: “We would lose our claims to South Africa’s wealth, and we would be abandoning our claims to an economy we have helped build up.”

Black militants in South Africa view Matanzima’s acceptance of independence as a sell-out of the African birthright in South Africa. The Republic of Transkei’s first Parliament will be made up of 75 appointed traditional chiefs and 75 elected members. Elections were held on September 29, and the final results are not out, although Matanzima is expected to win an overwhelming victory if only because a number of key opposition leaders were detained indefinitely without explanation under security laws before the voting.

The Opposition Democratic Party, which opposes independence, was virtually silenced by the arrests, underlining Matanzima’s determination to rule with an iron hand.

Government critics see the independence of the Transkei as a crucial move to secure white control of all significant wealth and power in South Africa.

They point out that the homelands comprise only 13 per cent of the land area of the country, but are expected to serve as the home of about 75 per cent of the population. Cedric Phatudi, leader of the Lebowa homeland, has rejected independence, and says separate racial development is making slaves of blacks in South Africa. “We in Lebowa can’t be bluffed by the deceptive idea of independence for the

homeland. We shall not agree to it, and want to warn the chiefs not to be enticed to agree to it," Phatudi said recently. "The Government speaks in glorious terms of independence and separate development and yet the more we get involved in the system, the more we get frustrated when we see. that it is unworkable.” he said in a speech. Chief Gaisha Buthelezi of the Ulus is another longstanding critic of the- homelands policy. “We don’t want a pseudoindependence that will make us poor cousins on whom white South Africa can fob off crumbs of charity, making us their economic vassals forever,” he remarked recently. South Africa argues that the Transkei’s budget of more than S6OM exceeds the national budget of at least 11 other independent African countries, and that the homeland is geographically larger than 12 other members of the United Nations. Major controversy is expected to erupt, however, when the Transkei seeks a seat at the world body, a move expected to be opposed by black African States on the ground that the Transkei is the creation of a racially-discriminatory policy. Matanzima says the newly-independent Transkei will be a multi-racial society, and whites may live there if they agree to take out citizenship. The widely-scattered reserve areas which form the basis of the homelands were established in 1913 under the Native Land Act, which also prevented Africans from acquiring land in white areas. In 1936, the Native Lancf and Trust Act was passed which enlarged the quota of land to be made available to Africans, and fixed it at 13.7 per cent of the total land area.