Lucas Mangope leaves Mmabatho due to uprising

President Lucas Mangope, the leader of the apartheid homeland Bophuthatswana, retreated from the capital, Mmabatho, in the face of a popular uprising after he had tried to boycott participation in South Africa's first democratic elections. Mangope rejected the South African Independent Electoral Commission's pleas for free political activity in Bophuthatswana, a member of the anti-election Freedom Alliance. His stance caused widespread demonstrations in which 40 people were shot and wounded by local police. A public servants' strike was also called. Mangope dismissed the staff of the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation, shutting down 3 radio and 2 television stations. He then sought armed support from the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) to quell the uprising. This prompted the intervention of the South African Defence Force (SADF), leading to Mangope's removal from office. References: Business Day, Thursday 10 March 1994