The QwaQwa homeland receives self-government status

Qwaqwa was one of the ten homelands in South Africa introduced by the apartheid government. It was home to the Batlokoa and Bakwena Southern Sotho sub-tribes. The word Qwaqwa hails from the San language meaning ‘whiter than white’ which was in reference to the sandstone that makes up most of the homeland’s rocky Drakensberg mountain. From 1974, the homeland became a self-governing state under the leadership of Kenneth Mopeli until 1994 when South Africa became a democracy. It was then dissolved to form part of the Free State Province. All the other nine independent and dependant homelands were also dissolved.