On 7 February 1990, the Transkei leader, Major General Bantu Holomisa, announced the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Azanian Liberation Movement (ALM) among others. The unbanning allowed all political organisations to resume their political activities by lifting banning restrictions and amending the Public Safety Act to allow free political expression in the Transkei Bantustan.
In the same speech Holomisa announced the release of all political prisoners, including Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) cadres Ndibulele Ndzamela, Phumzile Mayaphi, Teko Mokhou, Tandisile Jada, Mcebisi Waqu and Sindiso Sigcu.
As head of the Transkei Defence Force (TDF), Holomisa led successive coups against the Transkei Bantustan regimes and then became the head of its military government. He turned the Transkei into a “liberated zone” even before the political movements were officially unbanned, giving shelter to ANC and PAC activists around 1988 and 1989, and declared his intention of holding a referendum on the reincorporation of the Transkei into South Africa.
On 30 December 1987, he ousted the then ruler of the Transkei, Stella Sigcau, and became Chairman of the Military Council of Transkei. Between 1988 and 1989, his government unbanned approximately 33 organisations which had been banned by his predecessors, paving the way for the ANC and PAC to set up camps in Transkei. His government worke
