Chief Laynas MASHILE, from Bushbuckridge in the eastern Transvaal, who was banished to Lady Frere in the Transkei fifteen years ago, has applied to be released from his restriction order.
Chief Mashile is thought to be the last of 130 banished people, mainly chiefs and headmen, who were deported from their homes to remote areas by the Nationalist government under the Native Administration Act of 1927, usually for resisting tribal reorganisation, passes for women and other official policies. In 1960 Mashile was detained for over a year for being a member of the banned African National Congress; on his release he objected to the allocation of part of his people's traditional land to another tribal group, which caused the government to remove him to Lady Frere, 1,200 km. away from his people and his family - wife and four sons - whom he last saw six years ago on a brief visit.
He arrived in the Transkei with no possessions beyond those he could carry, and is currently working as foreman on a Bantu Trust farm.
In March 1976 the Minister of Bantu Administration said "as the circumstances which necessitated Mr Mashile's removal still prevail, he cannot at this stage be allowed to return." In order to get his banishment order lifted Mashile would have to relinquish his chieftainship and move from his home area into the Lebowa 'homeland'.
