KwaNdebele was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a semi-independent homeland for the Ndebele people. The homeland was created when the South African government purchased nineteen white-owned farms and installed a government.^[3]

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KwaNdebele
1981–1994
Flag Coat of arms
Location of KwaNdebele (red) within South Africa (yellow).
Status	Bantustan
Capital	KwaMhlanga
Common languages	isiNdebele (Southern Ndebele) Northern Ndebele(siNdrebele) Sepedi
History
• Self-government	1 April 1981
• Re-integrated into South Africa	27 April 1994
Area
1980[1]	1,970 km2 (760 sq mi)
Population
• 1980[1]	156,380
• 1991[2]	404,246
Currency	South African rand
Preceded by Succeeded by Republic of South Africa Republic of South Africa

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The homeland was granted self-rule in April 1981. Siyabuswa was designated as its capital, but in 1986 the capital was relocated to KwaMhlanga. The KwaNdebele legislature expressed interest in seeking independence (as in the cases of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) in May 1982. Some preparations were made, but an exceptional lack of viability in economic affairs and land disputes prevented this.^[4][5]

KwaNdebele was re-integrated into South Africa after the 1994 South African general election. It now forms part of the Mpumalanga province.

Districts of the province and population at the 1991 census.^[2]

• Mdutjana: 125,485
• Mkobola: 212,771
• Mbibana: 65,989

• Chief Ministers of KwaNdebele

• South Africa 1980/81 – Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa ISBN 0-908393-51-2, ISSN 0302-0681