Mandela's Kinsmen

A novel study of the complex connections between Nelson Mandela and the nationalist leadership in the ANC with their kinsmen inside the Transkei Bantustan state, that reveals the significance of ethnic belonging, so important in African history.


At a time of increasing regional fractures within the African National Congress, Mandela's Kinsmen provides a timely study of South Africa's nationalist elite. Whilst mass protests against apartheid were forged in the crucible of township and trade union politics, Gibbs focuses on Mandela's fraught relationships to his kinsmen inside apartheid's foremost "tribal" Bantustan, the Transkei. He uncovers the enduring connections between the nationalist elites and the chieftaincy areas, and argues the enduring institutional legacies of the Bantustans continue to shape post-apartheid South Africa.

Timothy Gibbs is a Lecturer in African History, University College London.

Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland & Botswana): Jacana