recognised as a homeland town under the bantustan of Ciskei in 1966. Township in independent Ciskei Ciskei became self-governing in 1972 and then granted nominal independence on 4 December 1981, with Mdantsane becoming one of the homeland's largest townships. To encourage African residents of Duncan Village and East London to relocate to Mdantsane, the apartheid government adopted a number of strategies. The first was to introduce the Regional Decentralisation Programme (RIDP) in the 1960s which saw the establishment of clothing, food, furniture and building accessory factories on the border of East London, particularly in Wilsonia and at Fort Jackson in Mdantsane. These industries provided employment opportunities to the Mdantsane residents. To keep these industries operational, the government offered generous industrial subsidies and incentives. By the end of the 1980s, about 30,000 and 7,500 jobs respectively were available in Wilsonia and Fort Jackson. However, low wages, the rise of trade unions and lack of funding in the early 1990s led to the collapse of these factories. To further create the illusion of Mdantsane as an ideal township for Africans, apartheid government then added social services and facilities such as Rubusana Training College, and the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, and subsidised road and rail transport. Egerton Massacre On 13 July 1983, the Ciskei Transport Corporation (CTC) introduced an 11% (50 cent) bus fare increase on the route between East London and Mdantsane. To discuss the issue of the bus fare increment, a meeting with 1000 people was held in a church hall in Duncan Village on 10 July 1983. A committee of ten workers known as the "Committee of Ten" was elected to represent the community's interests to the CTC. The Committee of Ten tried to meet CTC management on Monday 11 July. The CTC refused on the grounds that they had already talked to community leaders two months before the increases were announced. A second mass meeting was held on 12 July in Duncan Village. About 3000 people attended. The CTC responses were rejected and a decision was taken to boycott the CTC buses. On 18 July, the bus boycott began. The commuters initially walked to work in large groups, from Mdantsane across the Ciskei border to East London, a distance of about twenty kilometres. On its second day, the boycott attracted over 80% of the bus commuters. The number of police soon increased as reinforcements were brought in, and they became