[4] When the bantustan of Ciskei was nominally granted independence in 1981, although this was never recognised outside South Africa, Bisho served as its capital city.

Its location six kilometres north of King William's Town on the main road linking the Cape to the Transkei and Natal has been described as the result of the Ciskei government wanting to place an "economic stranglehold" upon the white community of King William's Town[5] who united across political lines against incorporation into the homeland, in the face of a 1979 recommendation by the South African government.

[4] In 1983, at the height Ciskei government, Bisho signed a sister-city agreement with the settlement of Ariel in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Bisho was reincorporated into South Africa on 12 August 1994, following the first democratic elections in the country in April the same year.

[8] The department of Arts and Culture published a correction of spelling of Bisho to Bhisho in their government notice No.