Occasional papers, no. 23

Abstract

The Ciskei was gradually ‘consolidated’ by a process of geo-political gerrymandering that included the incorporation of black dormitory townships dependent on ‘white’ cities outside the homeland for survival. By 1973, the Ciskei homeland’s de facto population was estimated at 602 000.4 Since then, the overcrowded rural population has been forced to absorb thousands of refugees removed from South Africa’s ‘white’ areas — including several ‘black spots’ now outside the boundaries of the homeland — and migrants from two districts (Herschel and Glen Grey) formerly in the Ciskei which were ceded by the South African government to Transkei. Any attempt at measuring the extent to which communication affects the political credibility of the present Ciskei homeland in the eyes of its inhabitants must be weighed against these historical realities. This monograph is divided into three parts: 1. An outline of the political system in the Ciskei. 2. The role of the mass media in determining attitudes towards homeland news. 3. Some observations on the status accorded oral channels of communication in the transmission and validation of political news in selected rural and urban areas of the Ciskei. In obtaining data for this study, five surveys were conducted in two rural villages, the biggest urban area in the Ciskei and the Ciskei Legislative Assembly. The villages of Gobozana (or Xengxe) and Nyaniso formed the basis of the rural surveys conducted in April — June 1976. Fifty heads of homesteads in each village, in a universe of about 500 homesteads, were selected at random.Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER