Gazankulu

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Flag of Gazankulu
Location of Gazankulu

Gazankulu (also Machangana ) was a homeland in northeastern South Africa that was intended for Shangana-Tsonga . It consisted of four enclaves in the former South African province of Transvaal and covered an area of ​​about 7,400 km². The capital was Giyani .

geography

Gazankulu was geographically in the lowveld of South Africa.

  • By far the largest part of the area lay west of the northern part of the Kruger National Park . The then capital Giyani is also located there. This area borders on the west of the formally independent Venda and on the southwest and south on three small areas of the Lebowa homeland .
  • A small area was northwest of Tzaneen . It bordered the middle of the above three areas of Lebova and almost touched the largest area of ​​Gazankulus.
  • The second largest part of Gazankulus was west of Shukuza . It bordered another part of Lebowa to the west and an area of ​​the homeland KaNgwane to the south . It was the southernmost area of ​​Gazankulus and also bordered the Kruger National Park to the east.
  • An approximately 300 km² area was located southeast of Tzaneen. It bordered the largest area of ​​Lebowa. The largest town in the area was Nkowakowa.

The official number of the population group belonging to the homeland was 736,000 around 1971, of which only 392,000 were permanently in the homeland area.

history

The original name of the homeland was Machangana (German roughly: "Land of the Shangana"). It was later renamed Gazankulu after the Kingdom of Gaza , the former kingdom of the Shangana in modern-day Mozambique .

Territorial Authority

At the end of 1962 the South African government announced publicly that under the direction of the Ministry of Bantu Administration and Development, six “Territorial Authorities” had been established for regions of the Bantu population . For the area of ​​the later homeland Gazankulu this was the Matshangana Territorial Authority with four regional administrative units (Regional Authority).

With the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1971 and the Bantu Homeland Constitution Act ( Act No. 21/1971 ), the South African government initiated the process of transitioning the homelands to self-government status. From 1971 to February 1, 1973 the area was ruled by Chief Councilor Hudson William Edison Ntsanwisi (about: "Supreme Councilor"). The Proclamation 148 of 25 June 1971 laid the legal basis for the establishment of the Machangana Legislative Assembly (about: Legislative Assembly). Additional regulations published in the Government Gazette in March and April governed recruitment procedures for that body.

Self-governing status

With the Proclamation R14 of 26 January 1973 , the South African government declared the homeland Gazankulu to be a self-governing territory in the Republic of South Africa. Gazankulu was granted self-government on February 1, 1973. Since then, Ntsanwisi was Chief Minister ("Supreme Minister"). From 1983 he led the newly founded Ximoko Xa Rixaka (German: "Whip of the Nation"). In the 1980s, a legislative assembly was formed from 68 MPs, mostly chiefs . 1993 was Edward Mhinga acting for several weeks Chief Minister before in April 1993 Samuel Dickenson Nxumalo the post of Chief Minister took over. Nxumalo belonged to the Ximoko Progressive Party (XPP), which emerged from Ximoko Xa Rixeka .

Reintegration

On April 27, 1994, Gazankulu was reunited with South Africa, along with the nine other homelands. Its area is now in the Limpopo Province .

Demographics

Gazankulu was established as a homeland for the Xitsonga- speaking tribes. Another 470,000 South African Shangana-Tsonga lived outside the homeland in 1989. North Sotho , Venda and Swazi also lived in Gazankulu .

economy

In addition to the mining of gold and, to a lesser extent, the manufacturing industry , the income of migrant workers was the most important source of income.

Others

An album by American singer Harry Belafonte from 1988 is called Paradise in Gazankulu . The Caribbean-born singer sings songs about South Africa. The title song is about the fact that in Gazankulu you have to be smart to make a living.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Juta's New Large Print Atlas . Juta, Capetown, Wetton, Johannesburg 1985, ISBN 0-7021-1545-2
  2. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1971 . Johannesburg 1972, p. 36
  3. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1963 . Johannesburg 1964, pp. 107-109
  4. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1971 . Johannesburg 1972, pp. 24, 28-29
  5. ↑ Muriel Horrell: The African Homelands of South Africa . SAIRR , Johannesburg 1973, p. 60
  6. ↑ a b Information on Gazankulu , accessed March 15, 2010
  7. ↑ Data on Gazankulu Politicians , accessed March 14, 2010