WI: Bantustan's Refuse to re-join South Africa?

Alright, so, for those unaware, during the Apartheid era in South Africa their were several Bantustan's (homogeneous native 'homelands') established,
of which four were essentially granted independence and in many areas were both de jure and de facto independent (Transkei at one point even
broke relations with South Africa itself).
Only South Africa and the other Bantustan's recognized their independence, though Botswana had an unofficial arrangement with Bophuthatswana.

Now, with the fall of the Apartheid regime the Bantustan's were all merged back into South Africa proper, being split or merged into the new provinces.

So, what if one or two of them, with popular support, refused to re-join South Africa?
How would South Africa and the world react to the situation where what amount to independent countries are refusing to be integrated into South Africa?
 
Nobody recognized the Bantustans. Ever. They were viewed as farces by everyone, and their leaders were people who SA knew would allow the apartheid system to continue.

The SADF might not be great, but the Bantustans had rather pathetic military forces. What you'd most likely see is a short, probably rather uneventful "bush war" where the SADF occupies the capitals of the Bantustans and then the UN steps in to make sure that the transition is uneventful.

Worst case scenario is a weak South Africa, perhaps experiencing serious violence in the post-apartheid transition, lets the Bantustans be Dominion-like states in South Africa, until the states, unable to support themselves, collapse into civil war and anarchy, forcing the SADF to invade and annex them.
 
Wasn't the point of the Bantustans that they were specifically created to be in the worst lands and they wouldn't be able to support themselves?
 

Thande

Donor
Oddly enough I was thinking about this earlier. I was wondering if when it became clear that apartheid was doomed the National Party might try to cleave off a big bit of the country as a single black state that would be more sustainable than the Bantustans - better to sacrifice half the country than be forced to live alongside the blacks.
 
Wasn't the point of the Bantustans that they were specifically created to be in the worst lands and they wouldn't be able to support themselves?

I don't think they had particularly terrible land, I mean atleast not more so than any other part of South Africa, the real issue was their status,
disdained by the world (even though they were likely better off than being ruled directly) and with the aide from South Africa not being aimed
towards actual development, they became economically poor.
 
Ciskei is the only one I think that actually thought about doing this, and only did not because popular pressure was so high the dictator in charge was forced to. Transkei and Venda however are the only ones I think that are economically viable and stable to maintain an independence that does not result in their annexation by South Africa. If these "nations" wished to maintain their independence, the international communities would pressure South Africa to recognize it rather than force their re-intergration.
 
If these "nations" wished to maintain their independence, the international communities would pressure South Africa to recognize it rather than force their re-intergration.

The international community saw the bantustans a farce and would have to change course 180 degrees to even consider pressuring South Africa.
 
Last edited:
Not only were the almost universally derided as illegitimate the were so incompetently run the make modern South Africa look like a paragon of governance, as soon as Apartheid goes, they go.
 
I don't think they had particularly terrible land, I mean atleast not more so than any other part of South Africa, the real issue was their status,
disdained by the world (even though they were likely better off than being ruled directly) and with the aide from South Africa not being aimed
towards actual development, they became economically poor.

I give you, the Bophutswana national motto:

" If we stand together and work hard we will be blessed with rain"

....ahh.....yeah.

Anyway. Its just what I've heard, looking at a map they sure seem to be in very selective areas and they avoid the cities (where people would get first choice to build back whn the country was new). South African?
 
Oddly enough I was thinking about this earlier. I was wondering if when it became clear that apartheid was doomed the National Party might try to cleave off a big bit of the country as a single black state that would be more sustainable than the Bantustans - better to sacrifice half the country than be forced to live alongside the blacks.

Hmm, a possible idea would be to ask Botswana to take over Bophuthatswana (thereby formalizing that special relationship), which I'm surprised the government didn't consider trying earlier. The only other option I see for a surviving bantustan is Transkei, and that's it.
 
Oddly enough I was thinking about this earlier. I was wondering if when it became clear that apartheid was doomed the National Party might try to cleave off a big bit of the country as a single black state that would be more sustainable than the Bantustans - better to sacrifice half the country than be forced to live alongside the blacks.

Incidentally, reading James Michener's The Covenant (published in the early 80s- fiction but exhaustively researched), he actually presents an interesting snapshot of some thoughts about apartheid in the late 70s. Apparently a number of Afrikaner groups felt that it would ultimately be unsustainable and thought that the likely end result would be a white retreat to the Cape, pulling into laager as it were, to form a white state around the original Dutch settlements while leaving the rest of the country to the Blacks.
 
I honestly can not see this happening. The world saw these autonomous states as puppets of the pro-apartheid government of South Africa.
 
Hmm, a possible idea would be to ask Botswana to take over Bophuthatswana (thereby formalizing that special relationship), which I'm surprised the government didn't consider trying earlier.

The South Africans actually negotiated with Swaziland to cede all or part of KaNgwane in the '80s, but for some reason the proposal failed.

I could see QwaQwa ceded to Lesotho and KwaZulu acquiring some sort of legitimacy.
 
Top