Swazi
About 1.6 million Swazi people live in the region in the 1990s--almost 900,000 in Swaziland and the remainder in South Africa, especially in the area of the former homeland, KaNgwane. Until the late eighteenth century, Swazi society consisted of a group of closely related Nguni chiefdoms organized around patrilineal descent groups. At that time, a powerful chief, Ngwane I, seized control over several smaller neighboring chiefdoms of Nguni and Sotho peoples to strengthen his own army's defense against the Mthethwa forces led by Dingiswayo. The greatest rival of the Mthethwa, the Ndwandwe, later subjugated the Mthethwa and killed Dingiswayo. Ngwane I, under pressure from the Ndwandwe, then withdrew into the mountainous territory that would later become Swaziland.
Ngwane I was able to resist incorporation into the Zulu empire during the reign of Shaka, and the Swazi maintained generally peaceful relations with Shaka's successors. Some Swazi clans were forced to move north, however, as regional upheaval spread, and together with displaced Zulu clans, they established aristocratic dynasties over herdsmen and farmers as far north as areas that would later become Malawi and Zambia.
In the twentieth century, the Swazi kingdom retained its autonomy, but not total independence, as the British protectorate of Swaziland in 1903 and as a British High Commission territory in 1907. In 1968 Swaziland became an independent nation led by King Sobhuza II. Swaziland has pressured Pretoria for the return of Swazi-occupied areas of South Africa since the 1960s. In 1982 Pretoria agreed, but that decision was reversed by the South African Supreme Court.
KaNgwane was carved out of land adjacent to Swaziland during the 1960s and was declared a "self-governing" territory with a population of about 400,000 in 1984. KaNgwane's Chief Minister Enos Mabuza tried to build an agricultural and industrial economy in the small, segmented territory, and he became the first homeland leader to grant full trade union rights to workers in his jurisdiction. Mabuza also led the fight against the incorporation of KaNgwane into Swaziland. During the late 1980s, he clashed with Pretoria by expressing strong support for the ANC, although many KaNgwane residents remained uninvolved in South African politics.
KaNgwane comprised three blocks of territory, rather small, in eastern Transvaal (today's Mpumalanga), the southern two bordering on Swaziland (and one of them also on Mozambique), and the other bordering on parts of Lebowa and Gazankulu. The majority of its inhabitants were Swazis. The name KaNgwane means the place of the Ngwane, a major tribe of the Swazis whose Chief had that name. KaNgwane was granted internal self-government on 31 August 1984.
Kangwane, the homeland of the Swazi people, had an appointed legislature of thirty-six members, nine from each of its four regional authorities. Although its territory had not yet been fixed, KwaNdebele was recognized in 1979 as a territorial site for the South Ndebele. A legislature of four chiefs and forty-two members of the tribal authorities had been appointed by Pretoria.
When the homeland governments were constituted, the White officials who formerly headed the administrative divisions are replaced by Black ministers, and the White officials become secretaries of departments within the territorial governments. When the homelands are declared independent, Black officials are normally elevated to replace the department secretaries, but the Whites often remain in an advisory capacity. Most senior administrative posts continue to be held by White civil servants and technicians on loan from the South African government—even after independence is attained.
Unlike the other homelands in South Africa, KaNgwane did not adopt a distinctive flag of its own and flew the then national flag of South Africa. The homeland was re-incorporated into South Africa on 27 April 1994 and is now part of Mpumalanga province.
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