Kaiser Matanzima

Kaiser Daliwonga Matanzima graduated from Fort Hare University College (whose students registered as external Unisa students) in 1940 with a BA in Politics and Roman Law.

Kaiser Matanzima is synonymous with the politics of the Transkei, an apartheid-delineated Bantustan that was declared “an independent state” by the government in the 1970s in order to enforce separate development among South Africa’s races and to relegate the black majority to a small fraction of the country’s land. Born in Qamata in the Transkei, Matanzima was a chief of the AbaThembu, a Xhosa-speaking clan of South Africa. He was Mandela’s nephew, and when Mandela arrived at Fort Hare, Matanzima is reported to have found him a home, introduced him to soccer, and “encouraged him to stand up for his rights as an African”. However, a deep ideological rift later soured their relationship. As leader of the one-party government that ruled the Transkei from 1976 to 1986, Matanzima was described by Mandela as “a sell-out” for his collusion with the apartheid government.

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