Published date
30 December 1987
References
Country-data.com (2011). South Africa-Homeland Militaries [online]. Available at www.country-data.com [Accessed 14 November 2011]|Republic of South Africa (2011). ‘Profile Information-Stella Sigcau, Ms.’from Government Communications [online]. Available at www.gcis.gov.za [Accessed 14 November 2011]|Boddy-Evans, A. (2011). ‘This Day in History: 30 December’from About.com: African History [online]. Available at www.africanhistory.about.com [Accessed 14 November 2011]
On 30 December 1987, Major General Bantu Holomisa, commander of the Transkei Defence Force (TDF), a staunch African National Congress (ANC) activist, led a bloodless coup against the Transkei government. Holomisa, who would become Deputy Minister of Housing in President Nelson Mandela's cabinet, suspended the civilian constitution and refused South Africa's repeated demands for a return to civilian rule. He insisting that a civilian government would be a puppet controlled by Pretoria. At the time of the coup Transkei was under the leadership of Stella Sigcau who would also be a Cabinet Minister in Mandela’s government. The Transkei was then ruled by a Military Council, with General Holomisa as Chairperson. Holomisa and his accomplices later applied for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for what they did in 1987.