Proclamation No. 84 of 1951 declared, without providing reasons, the removal of the entire community from Area No. 54, Tenbosch Farm No.234, Barberton District, Eastern Transvaal, [now Mpumalanga Province].
They were to be relocated on Native Trust land elsewhere in the Barberton district. Several meetings were held from 1951 to 1953, at which the community repeatedly refused to vacate the land. They were informed that water supplies, adequate residential sites, arable land, funds to build schools and a clinic and travel arrangements for their stock would be made available.
The Acting Chief, Makomba Ngomane, was accused of threatening the Native Commissioner (NC), who subsequently discontinued the payout of grants and pensions at centers in Tenbosch.
Given the role of the Acting Chief in resisting the forced removal – he had previously been sentenced to a fine of £5 (R10) or one month’s imprisonment for disobeying the NC - his banishment was considered vital for the removal of the community. Ngomane was banished to Glen Red, Vryburg District, [Northern] Cape, [now North West Province] on 2 February 1954.
Ngomane’s banishment order was withdrawn on 14 December 1954. It was reported that he had asked for forgiveness and pledged his allegiance to the community.
• Contribution by Professor S. Badat, on Banishment, Rhodes University, 2012.