Simon Skosana, S. African Tribal Leader, Dies at 59
Tribal leader Simon Skosana, who abandoned efforts to lead his tiny homeland to nominal independence from Pretoria after a series of violent episodes, has died after a long illness, officials said Tuesday.
A spokesman for Skosana’s government in KwaNdebele said the chief minister died in a Johannesburg clinic Monday from diabetes. He was 59.
KwaNdebele, an 890-square-mile territory about 80 miles northeast of Johannesburg, is the traditional home of the small Ndebele tribe. It has a population of about 230,000.
Skosana worked his way up through tribal politics and became chairman of the Ndebele Territorial Authority in 1977. He became chief minister of the homeland in 1981, when it was given self-governing status, a step below independence.
Skosana had hoped to make his homeland the fifth tribal territory to accept independence from Pretoria on Dec. 11, but representatives to the Legislative Assembly voted Aug. 20--amid bloody riots and opposition by the Ndebele royal family--against the plan.
That same month, shortly after a key Skosana aide was killed by a bomb, the homeland Legislative Assembly endorsed Skosana’s decision to reverse himself and drop independence plans.
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