Editing Bophuthatswana (section)

===Series of coups d'état===

On 10 February 1988, [[Rocky Malebane-Metsing]] of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) became the [[president of Bophuthatswana]] for one day when he took over the government through a military coup. He accused Mangope of corruption and charged that the recent election had been rigged in the government's favour. A statement by the defence force said "serious and disturbing matters of great concern" had emerged, citing Mangope's close association with a multimillionaire Israeli Soviet [[émigré]] [[Shabtai Kalmanovich]].<ref name=nyt88>[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/11/world/south-africa-quells-coup-attempt-in-a-homeland.html South Africa Quells Coup Attempt in a Homeland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426071030/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/11/world/south-africa-quells-coup-attempt-in-a-homeland.html |date=26 April 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 11 February 1988</ref>

Subsequently, the [[South African Defence Force]] invaded Bophuthatswana and Mangope was reinstated and continued his term unabated.<ref name=sa_hist /> [[P. W. Botha]], [[State President of South Africa]] at the time, justified the reinstatement by saying that "[t]he South African Government is opposed in principle to the obtaining or maintaining of power by violence."<ref name=nyt88 />

In 1990, a second coup attempt took place in which an estimated 50,000 protesters demanded the President's resignation over his handling of the economy. ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that seven people had been killed and 450 wounded "after police officers in armoured cars fired their rifles into the crowds and used tear gas and rubber bullets".

After Mangope had asked for help from the South African government, he declared a state of emergency and cut telephone links to the territory "for political reasons", claiming that "normal laws had become inadequate".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/08/world/turmoil-spreads-to-2d-homeland.html Turmoil Spreads to 2d 'Homeland'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129031207/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/08/world/turmoil-spreads-to-2d-homeland.html |date=29 November 2017 }}, ''The New York Times'', 8 March 1990</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] put the number of protesters at 150,000.<ref>[http://www.refworld.org/docid/467fca2c2.html Human Rights Watch World Report 1990 – South Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726135320/http://www.refworld.org/docid/467fca2c2.html |date=26 July 2018 }}, published 1 January 1991</ref>