Editing Transkei (section)

===Establishment===
The South African government set up the area as one of the two [[Bantustan|''homelands'']] for [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]]-speaking people in [[Cape Province]], the other being [[Ciskei]]; it was given nominal autonomy by Prime Minister [[Hendrik Verwoerd]] in 1963. Although the first election was contested and won by the [[Democratic Party (South Africa)|Democratic Party]], whose founder Chief [[Victor Poto]] was opposed to the notion of Bantustan independence,<ref name=sa_dem_ed780>{{citation |editor=South African Democracy Education Trust |title=The Road to Democracy in South Africa: 1970–1980 |year=2006 |publisher=Unisa Press |location=Pretoria |isbn=1-86888-406-6 |page=780 }}</ref> the government was formed by the [[Transkei National Independence Party]]. Of the 109 members in the regional parliament, 45 were elected and 64 were held by [[ex officio]] chiefs.<ref>{{Citation |publisher=EISA |year=2002 |title=South Africa: Historical franchise arrangements |url=http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/soubg2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509080718/http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/soubg2.htm |archive-date=9 May 2013}}</ref>

The entity became a nominally independent state in 1976 with its capital at Umtata (now [[Mthatha]]), although it was recognised only by South Africa and later by the other nominally independent republics within the [[Bantustan|TBVC]]-system. [[Kaiser Matanzima|Chief Kaiser Daliwonga Matanzima]] was Transkei's [[List of heads of government of Transkei|Prime Minister]] until 1979, when he assumed the office of [[List of heads of state of Transkei|President]], a position he held until 1986.

====International reaction====
South African [[prime minister]] [[B. J. Vorster]] justified the declaration of Transkei as an independent republic by referring to "the right of every people to have full control over its own affairs" and wished "Transkei and its leaders God's richest blessings on the road ahead."<ref>{{Citation |last=Vorster |first=B. J. |title=Message to Transkei on the eve of Independence, July 1976 |work=Selected Speeches |url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/speeches/vorster-speeches/1976-transkei.htm |access-date=11 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326062757/http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/library-resources/speeches/vorster-speeches/1976-transkei.htm |archive-date=26 March 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Quote box
  | quote  = My heritage commands me in the name of [Xhosa] nationhood to sacrifice the best of my abilities to the advancement of my own nation in its own country [...].
  | source = [[Kaiser Matanzima]]<ref>Barber, James. ''South Africa in the Twentieth Century.'' Blackwell Publishers. Oxford:1999.  p186</ref>
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{{Quote box
  | quote  = The General Assembly rejects the declaration of "independence" of the Transkei and declares it invalid.
  | source = [[United Nations General Assembly]]<ref name=un>{{Citation |publisher=General Assembly of the United Nations, 42nd plenary meeting |date=26 October 1976 |title=Resolution A/RES/31/6 A |url=https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/31/ares31.htm |access-date=29 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626121912/http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/31/ares31.htm |archive-date=26 June 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
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A press release by the [[African National Congress]] at the time rejected the Transkei's independence and condemned it as "designed to consolidate the inhuman policies of [[apartheid]]".<ref>{{Citation|date=26 October 1976|title=Statement by the African National Congress GA/5498|url=http://www.anc.org.za/un/pr/pr1026-76.html|access-date=11 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907220746/http://www.anc.org.za/un/pr/pr1026-76.html|archive-date=7 September 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> During its thirty-first session, in resolution A/RES/31/6 A, the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly of the United Nations]] referred to Transkei's "sham independence" as "invalid," re-iterated its labelling of South Africa as a "racist régime," and called upon "all [g]overnments to deny any form of recognition to the so-called independent Transkei."<ref name=un /> An article published in ''[[Time Magazine]]'' opined that though Transkei declared independence theoretically as a "free Black state", Matanzima ruled as the dictator of a [[one-party state]]. He banned local opposition parties and bought farmlands for himself and his family offered by the South African government at subsidised prices.<ref>{{Citation|date=25 October 1976|title=The Transkei Puppet Show|newspaper=[[TIME Magazine]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918444,00.html|access-date=25 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230063252/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918444,00.html|archive-date=30 December 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Matanzima published ''Independence my Way'' in 1976, a book in which he argued that true liberation could only be gained through a confederation of black states; he described Transkei as a positive precedent and maintained that the liberation struggle chosen by the [[African National Congress]] would not be successful.<ref>{{citation |last=Matanzima |first=Kaiser D. |title=Independence my Way |year=1976 |publisher=Foreign Affairs Association |location=Pretoria |isbn=0-908397-05-4 }}</ref>

The [[United Nations Security Council]] supported moves not to recognise Transkei, and in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 402|Resolution 402]] (1976) condemned moves by South Africa to pressure [[Lesotho]] to recognise Transkei by closing its borders with the country.