QwaQwa was a

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...

("homeland") in the central eastern part of

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

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

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

, bordering

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

. Its capital was

Phuthaditjhaba Phuthaditjhaba (formerly Witsieshoek or Qwaqwa) is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. Phuthaditjhaba is a seSotho name that means ''meeting place of the tribes''. It is located on the banks of the Elands River.Sesotho Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free ...

-speaking

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

people. The frequent snow on the Drakensberg mountain peaks led the San to call the region "Qwa-Qwa" (whiter than white). In

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

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 The Bakoena or Bakwena ("those who venerate the crocodile") are a large clan in Southern Africa. They form part of the Sotho-Tswana Bantu people and can be found in different countries such as Lesotho, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Eswa ...

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 Tsiame Kenneth Mopeli (20 September 1930 – 1 October 2014)http://www.express-news.co.za/articles/articledetails.aspx?id=193545 was the former Chief Minister of the South African bantustan of QwaQwa. Born in Namahadi, Mopeli earned a Bachelor ...

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

Phuthaditjhaba Phuthaditjhaba (formerly Witsieshoek or Qwaqwa) is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. Phuthaditjhaba is a seSotho name that means ''meeting place of the tribes''. It is located on the banks of the Elands River.Maluti a Phofung Local Municipality Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District of the Free State in South Africa. It encompasses substantially all of the former bantustan of QwaQwa, except for the small enclave (detached porti ...

. 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 has then been incorporated into the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary se ...

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

Witsieshoek Phuthaditjhaba (formerly Witsieshoek or Qwaqwa) is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. Phuthaditjhaba is a seSotho name that means ''meeting place of the tribes''. It is located on the banks of the Elands River.Chief Ministers of QwaQwa The following is a list of the chief ministers of the South African apartheid era Bantustan of QwaQwa, also known as the ''Basotho ba Borwa''. Leaders of QwaQwa Dates in italics indicate ''de facto ''continuation of office. {, border=1 style=" ...

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