[9] Violent protests immediately broke out following President Mangope's announcement on 7 March that Bophuthatswana would boycott the South African general elections.

[12] A product of territorial apartheid, Bophuthatswana - popularly nicknamed "Bop" by her nationals - accepted nominal independence in 1977 from South Africa's Nationalist administration.

[13] The second national unit to reach the status of a bantustan with limited but hypothetically increasing powers of self-rule, Bophuthatswana adopted as her governing document an act drafted by the former Tswana Territorial Authority under South African guidance.

de Klerk's subsequent negotiations towards ending apartheid opened up the possibility of reincorporating the fragmented bantustans into a unitary South African state.

[14] Many Tswana voters were appalled at the prospect of their future exclusion from upcoming South African national elections; opposition mounted but remained subject to escalating repression.

[3] On 1 January 1994, de Klerk restored South African citizenship to Bophuthatswana residents but balked at the notion of removing its government from power.

Mangope agreed to convene with representatives from the Electoral Commission of South Africa yet refused to consider participating in the upcoming national elections.

[13] In late February, the executives of fifty-two Bophuthatswanan ministries formed the so-called "Mmabatho/Mafikeng Crisis Committee", which was to address the role and status of civil servants following the anticipated re-integration with South Africa.

[13] However, Mangope refused to address the committee's concerns and simply maintained he would continue to oppose re-integration with South Africa for the foreseeable future.

[13] Since Bophuthatswana was set to be disestablished by the South African government on 27 April, the civil servants demanded their wages and public pensions well in advance of that date.

The Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation's staff joined the civil service strike, seized control of the radio and television facilities, and took Lucas Mangope's Eddie hostage.

[15] Looting continued in Mmabatho, and local business centres such as the Mega City Shopping Complex were severely damaged or destroyed due to unchecked fires.

[15] When it became clear that the BDF was taking no action to curb the state of anarchy, Mangope made the decision to call on outside forces to help restore order.

[15] On 8 March 1994, the president invited General Constand Viljoen, head of the right-wing Afrikaner Volksfront, to a meeting of his chief ministers in the Bophuthatswana Defence Force, national police, and intelligence services.

Mangope initially made it clear, however, that he would not tolerate the Volksfront's more extremist ally, the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, being present because they were a violently racist organisation.

Later that afternoon, a group of anti-Mangope policemen presented a petition to the South African ambassador, Professor Tjaart van der Walt, calling for Bophuthatswana to be re-integrated into the republic against their president's wishes.

Following more protests and increasing rumors of ANC supporters massing on Bophuthatswana's established borders, Mangope asked Viljoen and the Volksfront to immediately assist in keeping the peace.

[16] That evening, Colonel Antonie Botse was displeased to see AWB leader Eugene Terre'Blanche and the Volksfront commandant together at the air base, insisting that the former remove his supporters immediately.

Turner was concerned that his black troops and the local civilians would panic when they saw AWB personnel, due to Terre'Blanche's established reputation as an extremist.

In response, the predominantly black Bophuthatswana Defence Force, agitated by their superiors' inability to control the AWB gunmen, mutinied against their white officers.

[6] As the Volksfront and AWB completed their withdrawal, SADF troops under General Johannes Geldenhuys moved to occupy Bophuthatswana and assume responsibility for the territory's security.

[10] Immediately after the incident, Constand Viljoen, resigned as co-leader of the Afrikaner Volksfront, citing irreconcilable differences in the leadership, and later confirmed the registration of the Freedom Front, a new political party representing white conservatives.