The suppression of political opposition and the extent of violating civil liberties in the erstwhile Ciskei and Transkei bantustans, 1960-1989
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Date
2016-01
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
This paper aims at interrogating the nature of political suppression and the extent to which civil liberties were
violated in the erstwhile Ciskei and Transkei. Whatever the South African government's reasons, publicly stated or
hidden, for encouraging bantustan independence, by the time of Ciskei's independence ceremonies in December
1981 it was clear that the bantustans were also to be used as a more brutal instrument for suppressing opposition.
Both Transkei and Ciskei used additional emergency-style laws to silence opposition in the run-up to both selfgovernment and later independence. By the mid-1980s a clear pattern of brutal suppression of opposition had
emerged in both bantustans, with South Africa frequently washing its hands of the situation on the grounds that
these were 'independent' countries. Both bantustans borrowed repressive South African legislation initially and, in
addition, backed this up with emergency-style regulations passed with South African assistance before
independence (Proclamation 400 and 413 in Transkei which operated from 1960 until 1977, and Proclamation
R252 in Ciskei which operated from 1977 until 1982). The emergency Proclamations 400, 413 and R252 appear to
have been retained in the Transkei case and introduced in the Ciskei in order to suppress legal opposition at the
time of attainment of self-government status. Police in the bantustans (initially SAP and later the Transkei and
Ciskei Police) targeted political opponents rather than criminals, as the SAP did in South Africa.
Description
Peer reviewed article published under Inkanyiso journal, Volume 8 Number 1, Jan 2016, p. 21 – 33
Keywords
Transkei, Ciskei, suppression, civil liberties, bantustans, Operation Katzen
Citation
Shamase, M.Z., 2016. The suppression of political opposition and the extent of violating civil liberties in the erstwhile Ciskei and Transkei bantustans, 1960-1989. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 8(1), pp.21-33.