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QwaQwa | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974–1994 | |||||||||
.svg) Flag
 Coat of arms
| |||||||||
 Location of QwaQwa (red) within South Africa (yellow). | |||||||||
| Status | Bantustan | ||||||||
| Capital | Witsieshoek | ||||||||
| Common languages | Sesotho English Afrikaans | ||||||||
| Chief Minister | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Self-government | 1 November 1974 | ||||||||
• Re-integrated into South Africa | 27 April 1994 | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
| 1980[1] | 620 km2 (240 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1980[1] | 157,620 | ||||||||
• 1991[2] | 542,886 | ||||||||
| Currency | South African rand | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | South Africa | ||||||||
QwaQwa was a bantustan ("homeland") in the central eastern part of South Africa. It encompassed a very small region of 655 square kilometres (253 sq mi) in the east of the former South African province of Orange Free State, bordering Lesotho.[1] Its capital was Witsieshoek. It was the designated homeland of more than 180,000 Sesotho-speaking Basotho people.
The frequent snow on the Drakensberg mountain peaks led the San to call the region "QwaQwa" (whiter than white).[2] In Afrikaans it was known as "Witsieshoek", after Oetse (also Witsie and Wetsi), a Makholokoe chief who lived there from 1839 to 1856.[3]
Three tribes lived in the region, the Makholokoe, Bakoena and the Batlokoa. In 1969[4][better source needed] they were united and the area was named "KwaKwa". In the same year, the name was changed to "QwaQwa" to avoid an ethnic identification.[clarification needed]
- ^ Sally Frankental; Owen Sichone (2005-01-01). South Africa's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook. ABC-CLIO. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-57607-674-3. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
RSAdistwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Raper, PE. "Dictionary of Southern African Place Names". Human Science Research Council. p. 478. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
- ^ Flags of the world Discussion of name and history. Retrieved 10 April 2006.