On 30 November 1987, the then 32-year-old Major General

Bantu Holomisa Bantubonke Harrington Holomisa (born 25 July 1955) is a South African Member of Parliament and President of the United Democratic Movement. Holomisa was born in Mqanduli, Cape Province. He joined the Transkei Defence Force in 1976 and had b ...

, the Chief of the

Transkei Defence Force The Transkei Defence Force (TDF) was established during March 1981, from the 141 Battalion of the South African Defence Force (SADF). It was the defence force of the Republic of Transkei, a nominally independent bantustan during the Apartheid er ...

, led a bloodless

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against the government of

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ba ...

led by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Stella Sigcau Princess Stella Sigcau (4 or 14 January 1937 in Lusikisiki – 7 May 2006 in Durban) was a Minister in the South African Government. Sigcau was also the first female Prime Minister of the bantustan of Transkei before being deposed in a milit ...

( TNIP). He suspended the civilian constitution and refused

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

's repeated demands for a return to civilian rule on the grounds that a civilian government would be a puppet controlled by

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

. (Accessed 1 May 2015) A counter-coup staged in 1990 failed, and Holomisa's government stayed in power until the reunification of Transkei with South Africa in 1994, after the first post-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

general election.All Bantustans (both nominally independent and self-governing) were dismantled and their territories reincorporated into South Africa with effect from 27 April 1994, in terms of section 1(2) and

Schedule 1 Schedule 1 may refer to: * Schedule I Controlled Substances within the US Controlled Substances Act * Schedule I Controlled Drugs and Substances within the Canadian Controlled Drugs and Substances Act * Schedule I Psychotropic Substances within t ...

of the

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 The Interim Constitution was the fundamental law of South Africa from the first non-racial general election on 27 April 1994 until it was superseded by the final constitution on 4 February 1997. As a transitional constitution it required th ...

, the so-called "Interim Constitution" which abolished apartheid in South Africa. The text of this Interim Constitution, which came into force on 27 April 1994, coinciding with the beginning of the first democratic elections, is available online at Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993 as of 27 April 1994. The Military Rule Medal was instituted to commemorate the 1987 coup d'état. While the medal is known to have been instituted and awarded, no warrant has yet been traced.South African Medal Website - Transkei Defence Force
(Accessed 30 April 2015)Republic of South Africa Government Gazette Vol. 477, no. 27376, Pretoria, 11 March 2005,

References

Military coups in Transkei Politics of Transkei 1987 in South Africa 1980s coups d'état and coup attempts {{SouthAfrica-stub