The History of Native Policy in South Africa from 1830 to the Present Day¶
Edgar H. Brookes (1924). The History of Native Policy in South Africa from 1830 to the Present Day. Printed by the Nasionale Pers, Keerom Street, Cape Town.
| Type | book |
| Scope | Wider apartheid literature |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1830–1924 |
| Regions | Cape Colony (Ciskei, British Kaffraria, Transkei), Natal and Zululand, Transvaal / South African Republic, Orange Free State, Basutoland, Union of South Africa |
| Themes | origins segregation, agriculture land, bantustans removals influx, mining migrant labour, labour markets wages, politics ideology elections, education human capital, business and state |
| Citation key | brookes1924 |
Argument¶
Brookes traces how white governments ruled Africans from 1830 to 1924, comparing the Natal (Shepstone), Cape/Transkeian and Transvaal systems. He argues that none of the existing policies is satisfactory: the Cape policy of identity, the Free State and Transvaal policy of subordination, and the Union's drift. He proposes a third course, differentiation, meaning separate administration, law, political institutions and education for Africans, with partial, gradual and non-compulsory segregation of land. He holds that Africans belong mainly on the land as a peasantry and that poor whites belong in industry, and he criticises the mines' dependence on black migrant labour. The method is a historical survey from official archives, followed by prescriptive chapters. The book is openly paternalist and Christian-trusteeship in tone.
Evidence and method¶
Primary sources, claimed at about 1,500 printed items: Cape Archives, Transvaal, Lydenburg and New Republic archives, the Cape and Natal Native Blue Books, Commission reports (Commons Select Committees 1836 and 1851, Natal 1846-7, 1852-3, 1881-2 and 1906-7, Cape Native Laws and Customs 1883, S.A. Native Affairs Commission 1903-5), the private papers of S. O. Samuelson, legislation, and magistrates' reports. Secondary authorities are used sparingly (Theal, Cory, Loram, Jabavu).
Place in the debates¶
- Identity (Cape liberalism) vs subordination (Free State/Transvaal) vs differentiation as the basis of native policy (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Rejects both identity and subordination. Advocates differentiation, with Shepstone as its first exponent, and claims this is the policy that history supports.
- Origins and justification of territorial segregation and the 1913 Natives' Land Act (see Agrarian transition to capitalism and the fate of the African peasantry). Treats the Act as hasty and impolitic but not iniquitous. It was based on the 1903-5 Commission's recommendations. Brookes favours partial, gradual and non-compulsory segregation, with added neutral areas where Africans may buy land.
- Native labour, the mines and the poor white question (cheap labour critique) (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Condemns the recruitment of African labour for diamonds and gold as driven by greed for wealth and as demoralising. Favours gradual replacement of black by white labour on the mines, a vertical colour bar, and Africans as peasants.
- Who deserves credit for the Glen Grey system (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Credits the permanent Cape administrators (Brownlee, Blyth, Elliott, Stanford) rather than Rhodes.
- Recognition and codification of customary law. Argues for full recognition of uncodified Native Law as in the Transkei, with an exemption law, and against rigid statutory codification as in Natal.
Findings¶
-
The Natal Volksraad's native policy tied segregation to securing agricultural labour. (p. 32)
mark off an area for predominantly white occupation, to retain sufficient Natives therein for agricultural labour purposes
-
The 1852-3 Natal Commission of landowners objected to large locations because they reduced the labour supply. (p. 63)
and also dried up the source whereby an abundant and continuous supply of Kaffir labour for wages might have been procured
-
Brookes places differentiation between identity and subordination as the way out. (p. 71)
Between the policy of identity and the policy of subordination lies what in the writer's opinion is the way out of the difficulty, the policy of differentiation
-
He criticises incorporation of Africans into the wage economy as serving financiers. (p. 73)
We have brought him into our wage-system, not for his benefit nor yet much for our own, but for the monetary ease of groups of
-
Glen Grey quit-rent tenure was designed partly as an incentive to wage work and as a source of revenue. (p. 122)
The quit-rent furnished a useful revenue, and the necessity for its payment an incentive to work
-
The 1903-5 Commission's land recommendations were the basis of the 1913 Land Act. (p. 142)
which form the ground-work and basis of the Natives' Land Act of 1913.
-
He judges the 1913 Act a rushed and unwise measure. (p. 151)
Inaction itself would have been preferable to the one spasm of activity which in 1913 produced the Natives' Land Act.
-
Black and white are economically interdependent, so segregation cannot be total. (p. 332)
It remains as true to-day as in the 1830'S that white and black in South Africa are economically necessary to each other.
-
Land shortage in the reserves is tied to labour supply (Stanford, 1891). (p. 337)
There is no more vacant land for the young swarms to hive off into now. Thus the labour question is bound up with the land question.
-
He reads the Land Act's squatting provisions as a device to force Africans into farm labour. (p. 344)
It is difficult to doubt that the object of these provisions is to force the Native into the position of a farm-labourer
-
Brookes argues that goldfield employment demoralised Africans. (p. 430)
Of the demoralisation of the Bantu, resulting from their employment on the goldfields, there can be no doubt.
-
He describes the existing mine colour bar as horizontal and proposes a vertical one. (p. 434)
At present we have on the gold mines what may be termed a horizontal colour bar.
-
Native education is criticised as bookish and unsuited to life, citing Hunter (1922). (p. 462)
To these is being given, with comparatively few exceptions, what is mainly a book education.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Native Blue Books (1874 onwards; annual Magistrates' reports from Transkei, Ciskei, Basutoland) | commission or official report | 1874-1900 | Supplies district magistrates' reports on tenure, agriculture (ploughs, sheep, wheat), Glen Grey reception, missions and crime. |
| Natal Native Blue Books (from 1878) | commission or official report | 1878-1909 | Magistrates' reports used for Natal administration, agriculture, ploughs, Christian vs heathen crime, Native commerce. |
| Samuelson papers (official and personal papers of S. O. Samuelson, Natal Under-Secretary for Native Affairs, incl. Papers N.N.T. 32/1896, S.N.A. files) | state archives | 1893-1909 | Unpublished memoranda used for Natal Native Trust, exemption law, Code, and the 1906-7 Commission's reorganisation. |
| Archives of the Province of the Transvaal (1877-81) | state archives | 1877-1881 | Shows the Shepstones introducing the Natal system into the Transvaal; includes Native Affairs memoranda and Landdrost questionnaire replies (G 1200/1). |
| Archives of the New Republic (1884-7) and Republic of Lydenburg | state archives | 1857-1887 | Establishes the lack of Native policy and Location/hut-tax measures in these small republics. |
| Union Archives, Pretoria (Volksraad of Natal resolutions, Vol. A 1/2; Transvaal Volksraad and Staatsprokureur files) | state archives | 1840-1896 | Volksraad resolutions of 1840-43 on squatting limits (five families) and surplus Native removal. |
| Commons Select Committee on Aborigines (British Settlements), 1836-7 | commission or official report | 1836-7 | Evidence of Philip, Stockenstrom, Shaw used to explain Treaty policy and segregation views. |
| Commons Select Committee on Cape of Good Hope, 1851 | commission or official report | 1851 | Napier and Stockenstrom evidence on recognising Chiefs and Native policy. |
| Natal Native Commissions of 1846-7, 1852-3, 1881-2 and 1906-7 (Reports and Evidence) | commission or official report | 1846-1907 | Principal sources for Location system, Native population estimates, labour views, Native witnesses on Shepstone, exemption, franchise, and post-Rebellion reform. |
| Cape Native Laws and Customs Commission, 1883-5 | commission or official report | 1883-1885 | Evidence on recognition and codification of Native Law, Transkeian Penal Code, Native Councils, and land tenure. |
| South African Native Affairs Commission (Inter-Colonial Commission), 1903-5, Report and Evidence (Vols I-V) | commission or official report | 1903-1905 | Recommendations on land, labour, franchise, education and missions; witness evidence (Dower, Samuelson, Fraser, Windham) used throughout. |
| Annual Report of the Union Native Affairs Commission, 1921 (and Department of Native Affairs Report 1913-18; Cape Native Affairs Commission 1910) | commission or official report | 1910-1921 | Cited on Council system success, Natives' Land Act effects, urban slums, Native education control and survey of allotments. |
| Report of the Beaumont Commission (1916) and Local Committees' Reports (1918) | commission or official report | 1916-1918 | Used to show practical difficulties of delimiting additional Native areas and European farmers' protests. |
| Mining Industry Commission (Union), 1922; Martial Law Judicial Commission 1922 | commission or official report | 1922 | Mining Industry Commission discussed and dismissed as resting on rigid postulates; Martial Law Commission cited on communist propaganda. |
| Native Laws and Customs Commission/other: Imperial Blue Books (C.5070/1887, C.5238/1887, C.5249/1887, C.5363/1887, C.5896/1890; Return of Engagements with Native Tribes 1884) | commission or official report | 1884-1890 | Supports treaty list, Basutoland administration, and police misconduct examples. |
| Colonial Office despatches (Murray, Aberdeen, Glenelg, Earl Grey, Smith, Grey, Cathcart, Frere, West) | state archives | 1830-1879 | Quoted extensively to trace the Treaty system, Location policy and the 'Sepoy' scheme. |
| Cape and Natal Legislative Council/Assembly Debates; Natal Legislative Council Debates (Vol. XIV 1889-90, XXVIII 1899, etc.) | parliamentary debates | 1860s-1908 | Quoted to show decline of Natal Native administration and Secretary's remoteness. |
| Legislation and proclamations (Natal Laws 11/1864, 28/1865, 26/1875, 19/1891; Transvaal Law 4 of 1885; Glen Grey Act 25/1894; Natives' Land Act 27/1913; Native Affairs Act 23/1920; Native Disputes Bill 1912) | legislation gazette | 1849-1920 | Analysed to describe tenure, exemption, franchise, land segregation, and Native Law recognition. |
| Cape census of 1879 (Fingoland sheep) and 1849 missionary institutions return (White Book) | official statistical series | 1849-1879 | Provides figures on Native-owned sheep (211,174) and occupations on mission stations. |
| 1886 Return on industrial-institution pupils (Cape Legislative Council White Book, 1887) | official statistical series | 1886 | Tabulated to show only about 25 per cent of trained Natives followed industrial trades. |
| Magistrate J. J. Field's 1897 Mapumulo comparison of Christian and heathen convictions (Natal Native Blue Book, 1898) | official statistical series | 1897 | Table of criminal convictions used to rebut claim that Christian Natives are more criminal. |
| Education sources: Loram, Education of the South African Native; Hunter memorandum (1922); Cape Superintendent-General reports; Lovedale reports | secondary literature compilation | 1855-1922 | Examination questions, school enrolment (220,000) and curriculum criticism drawn from Loram's compilation and Hunter. |
| Rand Daily Mail editorial 24 Oct 1921 and Joint Council Native Welfare Committee report | newspapers periodicals | 1921 | Quoted for slum conditions of Natives in Johannesburg. |
| Contemporary pamphlets and books (Tengo Jabavu The Black Problem; Wannenburg 't Zwarte Gevaar; Russell Natal; Theal; Barter; Jorissen; Leyds; Martineau) | secondary literature compilation | 1860s-1920 | Anecdotes, quoted accounts and background narrative used for administration, annexation and grievances. |
| Author's personal observation, informants and correspondence (Rev. Bourquin, Rev. Loffhagen, Transvaal Missionary Association, unnamed authority) | interviews oral history | c.1920-1923 | Used for claims on Basutoland sheep, Mozambique sugar, Ethiopian churches, and Natal personalities. |
Inference¶
Quantification: Illustrative figures.
Narrative institutional-historical case studies of Natal, Cape/Transkei, Transvaal and Union, built from archival and Blue Book sources, followed by analytical chapters that compare provinces and derive normative recommendations ('policy of differentiation'). Evidence is mostly quoted official reports, with a few ad hoc tables.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Shepstone's Natal system controlled but failed to civilise and decayed after 1875 through the separation of judicial/administrative powers and loss of his personal rule. (p. 43) | Natal Commissions, Legislative Council debates, Samuelson papers, Frere despatches. | Partial data |
| The Transkeian/Glen Grey system, run by permanent magistrates, produced the most successful Native administration, with peace and material progress. (p. 115) | Cape Native Blue Books, Native Laws and Customs Commission 1883, SANAC 1903-5 evidence. | Partial data |
| Native agriculture progressed under European influence (plough, wheat, sheep, orchards) especially in the Transkei, while Natal, Transvaal and Free State did nothing. (p. 391) | Magistrates' reports in Cape/Natal Blue Books, 1879 census sheep figures, Blyth report. | Partial data |
| The Natives' Land Act of 1913 followed the 1903-5 Commission's recommendations but was rushed and harsh, and complete segregation is impracticable, so 'neutral' purchase areas are needed. (p. 333) | 1903-5 Commission votes, text of Act, Beaumont and Local Committee reports, about 3,000 dispensations. | Partial data |
| Mine labour recruitment demoralised Natives and should gradually be replaced by white labour, with a vertical colour bar. (p. 423) | Blue Book references to immorality/syphilis, Griqualand West and Republic letters to Sekukuni, Native Affairs Commission 1921. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Christian Natives are not more criminal than heathen; missionary work is overwhelmingly beneficial. (p. 445) | Field's Mapumulo table (0.74% v 2.12%) and several magistrates' quotations. | Partial data |
| Native industrial education produced few artisans since most trained Natives became teachers, clerks and farmers. (p. 412) | 1849 mission stations occupational list and 1886 Return of 2,075 pupils. | Systematic data |
| A policy of 'differentiation' (separate administration, law, politics, economy) between identity and subordination is the only practicable solution. (p. 501) | Synthesis of historical chapters and author's judgement. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
Author notes that primary sources are bewildering and only partly used, that Union-period history has no archival access, that statistics on polygamy are incomplete, that some authority cannot be named, and that economic remarks rest on personal observation and opinion; he admits personal views in places.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument on economics (Native agriculture, mine labour, wages, land) has no systematic quantitative series; census, agricultural and Chamber of Mines/recruiting data (which existed then) would test claims about productivity, labour supply and the Land Act's effects. African voices come only through official witnesses recorded in commission evidence, and unmediated sources (Native newspapers, petitions) are not used. Claims about causality (plough ending polygamy, missionary effects on crime) rest on anecdote and single-district tables rather than comparative data.
Replicability: Data poorly documented.