Background
Kaiser Mathanzima was born on June 15, 1915, at Qamata in the St Mark’s district, son of the chief reigning over Emigrant Tembuland.
Kaiser Mathanzima was born on June 15, 1915, at Qamata in the St Mark’s district, son of the chief reigning over Emigrant Tembuland.
Educated at Ntlonze Primary School, then Qumanco School before going in 1930 to Lovedale Missionary Institute. Sent at tribe’s expense to Fort Hare University and graduated Bachelor of Arts in Roman law and Politics from the University of South Africa in 1939.
In 1942 the South African government appointed him member of the United Transkei Territorial Council. He resigned in 1944 to undertake law studies but rejoined it in 1955 a year before it was renamed Transkei Territorial Authority.
His, long-standing claim to be Senior Chief of Emigrant Tembuland was recognised in 1958. Three years later he was elected chairman of the TTA and in 1963 took over as Chief Minister of the Transkei at Umtata. In 1972 he proposed that all Bantu homelands should be merged into one big multiracial state.
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Mathanzima became a member of the United Transkeian Territorial Council in 1955 and an Executive Council member of the newly created Transkeian Territorial Authority (TTA) in 1956. In 1961 he graduated to Chairman of the TTA, survived an assassination attempt in December 1962 by members of the Pan Africanist Congress, and in 1963 was an obvious candidate for Chief Minister of the newly formed Transkeian Legislative Assembly. Mathanzima founded the Transkei National Independence Party, led it to election victories in 1968 and 1973, and was sworn in as Prime Minister in 1976 when Transkei became the first bantustan to gain nominal independence. According to an article published in Time Magazine at the time, though Transkei declared independence theoretically as a “free state”, Mathanzima ruled the territory as a de facto puppet-state dictator, banning local opposition parties and buying at subsidized prices Transkei farmlands offered by the South African government.
Leader of the two million Xhosas grouped into the second largest Bantu state. A trained attorney who decided to accept separate development “if peaceful relations have to be maintained”. Strongly rejects accusations of being a stooge to the South African government; he insists he is acting in the best interests of the Xhosas. Tall, earnest Methodist, an outspoken critic of the South African government’s land policy, repeatedly challenging it for more territory for his people.