The Bophuthatswana Coup, 1988 (From Fragmented Nations)

Lucas Mangope, the president of Bophuthatswana, was arrested by his own soldiers before breakfast on 10 February 1988. By the next morning he was back in office, because the South African Defence Force had crossed the border and put him there. The rescue took less than 24 hours, drew no consequence from the international community, and settled in public what the homeland system actually was. In this video I tell the full story of that day and everything around it. The de facto one party state that Bophuthatswana had become. The opposition leader who held a commission in the army, because the ballot box had been disconnected. The 250 soldiers who took the radio station at dawn. The State Security Council decision taken in another country's capital within hours. And the 2 competing readings of what the intervention proved, because the book this video draws on refuses to give only the easy conclusion. Then the ending. In March 1994 Mangope refused reincorporation into South Africa, invoking the same sovereignty that had lasted less than 24 hours against a coup. His civil servants went on strike, his army refused orders, and the government that had rescued him in 1988 crossed the same border to retire him. He was saved in 24 hours and removed in 3 days, by the same state, and the difference was only what that state needed. This video is a summary of a story told in the book Fragmented Nations: A History of the Bantustans by Liam Richard May, and I encourage you to read the full book. I borrow from the book deliberately, to keep the story as close to the author's telling as possible, and every passage shown on screen carries its page number so you can verify it in the free PDF below. Free PDF of Fragmented Nations: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19NFE... view?usp=drivesdk Author contact and Volkskild channels: Facebook:   / 18mxmmpbr3   Website: https://www.lrmay.com/ WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbD1... Instagram:   / volkskild   Previous videos from this book: Apartheid's Own Experts Said It Would Fail. The Government Built It Anyway!:    • Apartheid's Own Experts Said It Would Fail...   The SADF and the Bantustan Armies:    • The SADF and the Bantustan Armies   Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:21 A ONE-PARTY STATE WITH A BALLOT BOX 2:12 THE OPPOSITION LEADER WORE A UNIFORM 3:33 PRETORIA ANSWERS IN HOURS 4:45 THE 2 READINGS 5:40 THE AFTERMATH 6:44 THE DAY PRETORIA DID NOT COME 8:50 WHY THIS MATTERS IN 2026 9:57 THE BOOK