The Transkei Puppet Show

At the stroke of midnight next Monday, a 101-gun salute will mark the independence of the Transkei, a Denmark-sized territory on the eastern coast of South Africa. There will be tribal dancing, fireworks, feasting and bonfires, as there were to mark the birth of more than 40 African nations that have become independent in the past two decades. The difference is that in the eyes of most of the world, the independence of the Transkei-- the first of the nine black tribal homelands that South Africa intends to set up as separate states--is a device by which Pretoria hopes to perpetuate the rule of its own white minority. Lee Griggs, TIME'S Africa bureau chief, visited the Transkei (meaning: across the River Kei) last week. His report:

In the normally sleepy town of Umtata (pop. 25,000), the cold and drizzle did not deter the frantic last-minute preparations for independence day. Giant yellow earthmovers groaned through the mud of the Transkei's capital, completing $12 million worth of new paved highways and carving out access roads to the newly completed $14 million airport and a $2.4 million Holiday Inn. The immediate purpose of all the construction is to prepare for distinguished visitors. The only head of state who has so far accepted an invitation to next week's ceremonies, however, is South Africa's President Nicolaas Diederichs, who has to be present anyway to hand over the official instruments of independence.

Shunned by Neighbors. Chief Minister Kaiser D. (for Daliwonga) Matanzima, 61, who heads the Transkei government, sent invitations to most countries of the world, only to receive formal rejections or silence. He is still hoping that conservative regimes in Taiwan, Paraguay, Malawi, Rhodesia and perhaps Ivory Coast may send delegations--but that will be about all. Even his nearest neighbors are shunning him. Swaziland says it will "continue to recognize the Transkei as a region of South Africa and nothing more," and Lesotho (which is surrounded by South Africa but, like Swaziland, was never part of it) has decided that the Transkei does not appear to "meet the requirements" of an independent state. Even the pretty black Miss Transkei has been ruled ineligible for the Miss World contest.

One of South Africa's nine homelands, or tribal reserves assigned to blacks, the Transkei will thus remain a stepchild of the white-supremacy government of Pretoria. Though its gross national product ($120 million) and per capita income ($130) exceed those of a dozen independent African states, the figures are misleading. Three-quarters of the Transkei's annual operating budget is contributed by South Africa, and 70% of its national income consists of remittances from members of the Xhosa tribe who work "abroad"--in the mines, factories and farms of white South Africa --as migrant laborers. Admits a black civil servant in one of Umtata's new government office buildings, "We are like a puppet show, with the whites pulling the strings as we dance to their tune."

Matanzima, a paramount (super) chief, never bothered to submit the issue of independence to a referendum. His National Independence Party swept the territory's parliamentary elections last month, partly because he took the precaution of jailing virtually the entire leadership of the opposition Democratic Party as a "threat to law-and-order." He acted under Proclamation R-400--a preventive detention law that he inherited from South Africa and intends to keep.

A onetime lawyer and part-time farmer who raises cattle and sheep, Matanzima rules in a chiefly style. On state occasions he is preceded by a "praise singer," wrapped in a leopard's skin, who shouts of great deeds, real or imagined, by "Matanzima the Mighty." Among the new buildings being erected near Umtata is a $345,000 mansion for the chief.

Criticism is not welcomed. When the celebrated South African play Sizwe Banzi Is Dead was presented in Umtata, Matanzima was furious at its barbed references to the Transkei's independence as meaningless. Though the play has been hailed both in the U.S. and Britain, Matanzima closed it down and jailed Xhosa Actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona (who appeared in it on Broadway last year) on the grounds that the play was "highly inflammatory, abusive and vulgar."

Coat of Arms. Superstition and tribal customs still abound in the Transkei, though there are many signs of modernization. The lobola (bride price) was once reckoned only in cows (ten was the average). Today transistor radios are increasingly acceptable as a partial substitute, and so are Western-style clothes. Livestock farming is the main occupation, but there are factories for making matches, textiles and cutlery. A university is planned that will ultimately cost $80 million (though at present only 6% of all Transkeian children reach secondary school). The territory even has a new coat of arms--two leopards, a bull, an ear of corn and a cog wheel representing hoped-for industry.

In theory, Matanzima's nation will have a population of nearly 3.3 million Xhosas. In fact, only 1.8 million of these actually live in the Transkei; most of the others live permanently in South Africa, but from now on they will be citizens of the Transkei--not of South Africa. The Transkei's 10,000 whites will still run much of the commerce and own some of the best farm land, though South Africa is buying out some white farms and businesses and turning them over to blacks at a low cost. (Indeed, Matanzima and his younger brother George, who is Justice Minister, have bought into hotels and liquor stores at rock-bottom prices under this system.)

For Matanzima, the advantages of independence are fairly obvious. "We know what is best for us. Independence means the end of the color bar imposed by South Africa and repeal of all South African laws that do not suit our needs. When the time is opportune, we will apply for membership in the U.N., and if it rejects us, we will accept it with a smile --but we will also view it with the contempt it deserves." For South Africa, on the other hand, the eventual independence of all nine black homelands (the others have so far resisted) could theoretically provide a solution to its central dilemma. Through a bit of constitutional legerdemain, the country's 18 million blacks would become foreigners in "white" South Africa, entitled to citizenship and political rights only in the homelands, although fewer than half of them live there. By giving 70% of its population political power in only 13% of its land area, Pretoria could claim white control over the rest of the country. So in the early morning hours of next Tuesday, bonfires on the hilltops will spread the word that the Republic of Transkei is born, whether the Xhosas want it or not.

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