KWANDEBELE

former nonindependent black state and enclave in central Transvaal province, South Africa, that was a self-governing national state for Transvaal Ndebele people from 1981 to 1994. KwaNdebele was located in a 3,500-foot- (1,060-metre-) high dry savanna area about 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Johannesburg. It was established in 1979, when many Transvaal Ndebele were expelled from the nearby Bophuthatswana homeland. A massive resettlement program led to the creation of 12 camps in KwaNdebele, housing about 40 percent of the Transvaal Ndebele population in South Africa by the end of 1982. The capital was KwaMhlangu. The new constitution of South Africa abolished apartheid, and in 1994 KwaNdebele became part of the new province of Eastern Transvaal, which was subsequently renamed Mpumalanga province.