QwaQwa was a

Bantustan A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...

("homeland") in the central eastern part of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It encompassed a very small region of in the east of the former South African province of

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

, bordering

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. Its capital was

Witsieshoek Phuthaditjhaba (previously Witsieshoek), is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. It is located in a section of the Drakensberg mountains ( Maloti in the Sesotho language). It borders the province of KwaZulu-Natal to the south east ...

. It was the designated homeland of more than 180,000

Sesotho Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...

-speaking Basotho people. The frequent snow on the Maloti mountain peaks led the San to call the region "QwaQwa" (whiter than white).https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/phuthaditjhaba-free-state In

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

it was known as "Witsieshoek", after Oetse (also Witsie and Wetsi), a Makholokoe chief who lived there from 1839 to 1856. Three tribes lived in the region, the Makholokoe, Bakoena and the Batlokoa. In 1969Flags of the world
Discussion of name and history. Retrieved 10 April 2006. they were united and the area was named "KwaKwa". In the same year, the name was changed to "QwaQwa" to avoid an ethnic identification.

History

On 1 November 1974, QwaQwa was granted self-government, with Tsiame Kenneth Mopeli as Chief Minister. Mopeli would serve as Chief Minister throughout QwaQwa's existence. After 27 April 1994, QwaQwa was dissolved, following the first South African democratic election, and reunited with Orange Free State. It is now part of the Free State province, with

serving as the seat of Maluti a Phofung Local Municipality. The municipality also comprises the towns of Harrismith and Kestell. Together, they have a combined population of 385 413, of which about 80% lives in the former QwaQwa. The population is divided as follows: 98.09% Black; White 1.68%; Coloured 0.09% and Asian and/or Indian 0.13%. The place was also a major educational centre in the old apartheid days, with at least 80% of schools in the present Free State province having teachers that were educated in the former homeland. It has a fully functional university, but its teachers' colleges have been turned into FETs (Further Education and Training) colleges. The university was called "Uniqwa" under the University of the North before 1994, but it since has been incorporated into the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

(UFS) and renamed "UFS Qwaqwa Campus". The Bantustan of QwaQwa had only one district in 1991,

, with a population of 342,886.

Notable people from QwaQwa

* Seipati Seoke -

Lesedi FM Lesedi FM is a South African PBS radio network owned the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Coverage areas and frequencies The station was launched in 1960 and is currently available in seven provinces with a spill-over to the o ...

Presenter and 2020 DStv Mzansi Viewers' Choice Awards * Hlaudi Motsoeneng - African Content Movement (ACM) and former acting Chief operating officer of the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

(SABC)

References

{{coord, 28.5333, S, 28.8167, E, source:wikidata, display=title 1994 disestablishments in South Africa Bantustans in South Africa States and territories established in 1974 1974 establishments in South Africa States and territories disestablished in 1994 Former republics

History

Notable people from QwaQwa

See also

References