South Africa/Ambassador/Transkei
 South Africa/Ambassador/Transkei(Ambassador to Transkei) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Start | 1976 |
| End | 1994 |
| South African Ambassador to a puppet state. | |
Transkei, officially the Republic of Transkei, was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Bantustan (puppet state) for the Xhosa people—and operated as a nominally independent parliamentary democracy. Its capital was Umtata (renamed Mthatha in 2004).[1]
Transkei represented a significant precedent and historic turning point in South Africa's policy of apartheid and "separate development"; it was the first of four territories to be declared independent of South Africa. Throughout its existence, it remained an internationally unrecognised, diplomatically isolated, politically unstable de facto one-party state, which at one point broke relations with South Africa, the only country that acknowledged it as a legal entity. In 1994, it was reintegrated into its larger neighbour and became part of the Eastern Cape province.
The diplomat and spook Robert du Plooy was South Africa's ambassador to Transkei 1980-1981.
