The QwaQwa homeland receives self-government status

Date: 1 Nov 1974
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

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.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?

How we know this

01CRW Flags (2011) Qwaqwa (South African homeland)from CRW Flags [online] Available at:www.crwflags.com [Accessed on 11 October 2011]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, October 26). The QwaQwa homeland receives self-government status. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0068888

South African History Online (2011) 'The QwaQwa homeland receives self-government status', South African History Online, 26 October. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0068888 (Accessed: 21 July 2026).

South African History Online, The QwaQwa homeland receives self-government status [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0068888, (accessed 21 July 2026).

"The QwaQwa homeland receives self-government status." South African History Online, 26 Oct. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0068888. Accessed 21 July 2026.

South African History Online. "The QwaQwa homeland receives self-government status." South African History Online. October 26, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0068888.