Behind the 'Curtain' at Botshabelo: Redefining the Urban Labour Market in South Africa¶
William Cobbett; Brian Nakedi (1987). Behind the 'Curtain' at Botshabelo: Redefining the Urban Labour Market in South Africa. Review of African Political Economy, No. 40, Southern Africa: The Crisis Continues. ROAPE Publications Ltd. / Taylor & Francis.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | mixed |
| Period studied | 1960–1987 |
| Regions | Orange Free State, Botshabelo/Onverwacht, Bloemfontein, Thaba'Nchu, QwaQwa, Bophuthatswana |
| Themes | bantustans removals influx, agriculture land, labour markets wages, manufacturing industrial policy, demography urbanisation, inequality poverty unemployment, unions strikes, politics ideology elections |
| Citation key | cobbett1987 |
Argument¶
Using Botshabelo (Onverwacht), a township of some 500,000 people east of Bloemfontein, as a case study, the authors argue that apartheid's removals and influx control did not stop urbanisation but displaced it into bantustan settlements. These supply commuter labour to white cities and mines, and host heavily subsidised decentralised industry paying extremely low wages. Most residents are refugees from the shedding of farm labour and from state-engineered ethnic violence at Thaba'Nchu, contrary to the official claim that they moved voluntarily. The 1980s local-government reforms (Regional Services Councils) and the end of the pass laws gave administrative recognition to this redefined urban labour market and 'regional proletariat'. The article closes by posing the landless unemployed as a challenge to opposition politics.
Evidence and method¶
Surplus People Project removal figures (Platzky & Walker 1985), a randomly administered questionnaire and oral testimonies of Botshabelo residents, an interview with the former SOFSAB director Mr Spies (1986), March 1987 interviews with 12 firms at the Onverwacht industrial park, parliamentary statements, press reports, and the 1970 census.
Place in the debates¶
- Official 'voluntary' resettlement narrative vs critical account of forced removals (see Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals). Rejects the state's claim that people moved voluntarily or fled ethnic conflict; argues removal was planned, with violence orchestrated at Thaba'Nchu and farm labour expelled.
- Cheap labour thesis / role of migrant and segmented labour markets (see Cheap labour thesis and the function of the reserves). Argues migrants and bantustan commuters are the cheapest tier of a segmented labour market, with decentralisation incentives and the avoidance of unions built on that cheapness.
- Whether apartheid reform dismantled influx control (see Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation). Argues influx control was restructured rather than abolished: pass-law offenders are now evicted under squatting and trespass laws, and 'urban' is redefined as daily access to the urban labour market.
- Causes of farm labour shedding (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Attributes it to mechanisation, drought and indebtedness, but also to workers leaving intolerable wages and conditions, rejecting a purely 'voluntary' reading.
Findings¶
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The Surplus People Project estimated about 3.5 million people removed between 1960 and 1983, over a million from farms. (p. 3)
Farms 179,000 250,000 300,000 400,000 1,129,000
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Black farm labourers in the Free State were paid minuscule cash wages, with the balance in kind or land, which tied labour to agriculture. (p. 5)
clear and consistent evidence emerged that confirmed a pattern of cash wages often under R10.00 per month, as late as 1984, with the 'balance' being paid in kind
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Expulsion from white farms was the main driver of the jobless and landless flowing into Thaba'Nchu in the 1970s. (p. 7)
The explusion of black labour from the 'white' agricultural sector is the single most important reason for the large numbers of jobless and landless that were entering Thaba'Nchu throughout the seventies.
-
Botshabelo was planned partly to turn mine migrants into commuters for the Goldfields. (p. 8)
Besides dumping surplus labour, the Administration Board also saw Botshabelo in terms of a regional labour market, by settling migrant labour working in the Goldfields and elsewhere in the area, and turning them into the new labour category - commuters.
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The state offered generous decentralisation incentives, including a near-complete wage subsidy. (p. 11)
the state will pay 95% of the wage bill tax-free, in cash, up to a maximum of R100.00 per worker per month for seven years.
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Firms locating at Onverwacht were mostly small, labour-intensive, and sought to avoid unions and industrial legislation. (p. 11)
In choosing to decentralise, they have done so both to capitalise on the incentives available, and to avoid the effects of unionised (or unionising) labour in the traditional production centres
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Factory wages were very low and the workforce was overwhelmingly female. (p. 12)
of the 12 companies interviewed in Onverwacht, 10 were paying wages between R50.00 and R80.00 per month.
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Women dominated the production workforce. (p. 12)
some 93% of the labour employed in the companies interviewed
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Apartheid's controls displaced rather than prevented urbanisation, producing commuter townships on bantustan land. (p. 15)
the policies controlling the movement and settlement of black people - not just influx control, but efflux control, forced removals, 'black spot' clearances etc -have ironically provided the main impetus towards urbanisation.
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The reforms redefined the urban labour market and created a regional proletariat; Botshabelo is the model for future townships. (p. 15)
This has involved the emergence of a regional proletariat, as the urban labour market has effectively been redefined.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surplus People Project estimates of removals by category and region 1960-1983 (Platzky & Walker, The Surplus People, 1985) | secondary literature compilation | 1960-1983 | Supplies the table of estimated numbers removed by category and region to show the scale of forced removals (3.5 million). |
| General Circular No. 25 of 1967, 'Settling of Non-productive Bantu Resident in European areas, in the homelands' | commission or official report | 1967 | Quoted as a clear statement of state intent that Africans are temporary residents of white areas only while productive. |
| 1970 population census (rural area surrounding Bloemfontein) | population census | 1970 | Shows less than 11% of the rural population around Bloemfontein was white, indicating reliance on black farm labour. |
| Random-basis questionnaire survey of Botshabelo residents and life-history testimonies (Mr Z, Mrs C, Mr M, Mr and Mrs M, Mr N) | author survey or fieldwork | c.1984-1987 | Documents farm wages, expulsions from farms and reasons for moving to Botshabelo, supporting claims of extreme farm exploitation. |
| Interview with Mr M.P.D. Spies, former director of SOFSAB, Bloemfontein, 23 July 1986 | interviews oral history | 23 July 1986 | Provides the official/administration board account of the rationale for Botshabelo as a dumping ground and commuter labour pool, and of the Thaba'Nchu violence. |
| Interviews with 12 companies/employers in Onverwacht industrial park, March 1987 | author survey or fieldwork | March 1987 | Establishes wage levels, gender composition, working conditions, and employer attitudes to unions and incentives. |
| Parliamentary question to Deputy Minister Morrison on the Luckhoff removals | parliamentary debates | c.1984-85 | Shows the official justification for removing Luckhoff's black residents and the lack of criteria offered. |
| Department of Co-operation and Development claims on 'voluntary' removal of Luckhoff residents | commission or official report | 1984 | Official claim of voluntariness contrasted with residents' reports of threatened force. |
| Communique of July 1977 Pretoria meeting between central state, Mopeli (QwaQwa) and Mangope (Bophuthatswana) | commission or official report | July 1977 | Used to show that the resettlement of Sotho from Thaba'Nchu was foreshadowed before the violence. |
| The Friend (Bloemfontein) leading article on removals from Thaba'Nchu | newspapers periodicals | c.1979 | Cited as an example of uncritical local press portrayal of the removals as a humane success. |
| Free State Congress of the National Party decision on land swap (September 1978) and April 1979 expropriation of 22 farms | legislation gazette | 1978-1979 | Dates and details the land exchange and expropriation that created Onverwacht. |
| Resident testimonies on Thaba'Nchu/Kromdraai violence | interviews oral history | c.1986-87 | Evidence of police and army violence against non-Tswana squatters, countering the official ethnic-conflict account. |
| State industrial decentralisation incentive package for Onverwacht (wage subsidy up to R100 per worker per month, etc.) | commission or official report | 1987 | Describes the incentives that attract capital to Onverwacht and underpin the cheap-labour argument. |
| Cobbett, Glaser, Hindson and Swilling, 'South Africa's Regional Political Economy', South African Review 3 | secondary literature compilation | 1985/86 | Cited for the regional political economy reform argument and selection of NSC candidates by regions. |
New data¶
Author-collected fieldwork: a random-basis questionnaire and testimonies from Botshabelo residents (farm wages, reasons for leaving) and interviews with 12 factory employers in the Onverwacht industrial park in March 1987; sample sizes for the resident survey are not given.
Inference¶
Quantification: Illustrative figures.
Single case study (Botshabelo/Onverwacht) combining testimonies, interviews with officials and employers, and a few figures, set within a political-economy interpretation of influx control, forced removals and local-government reform; generalisation from case to national urbanisation policy is argued rather than tested.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Forced removals under apartheid displaced over three and a half million people, of which the largest group were from white farms. (p. 33) | Surplus People Project estimates reproduced from Platzky & Walker. | Partial data |
| Farm workers in the Free State received extremely low cash wages (often under R10 a month in 1984) with the balance in kind or land, and were expelled or pushed off farms, feeding Botshabelo. (p. 35) | Authors' random questionnaire and individual testimonies from Botshabelo residents. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Botshabelo was conceived by the Southern OFS Administration Board as a dumping ground for surplus labour and a commuter/migrant labour pool, rather than arising from voluntary flight due to ethnic conflict. (p. 38) | Interview with former SOFSAB director Spies, plus resident testimonies and communique of 1977 meeting. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Violence in Thaba'Nchu was state-orchestrated rather than spontaneous Sotho-Tswana conflict and allowed the state to present itself as mediator. (p. 39) | Resident testimonies set against Spies's official account; inference from timing of Bophuthatswana independence. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Industrial decentralisation to Onverwacht relies on state subsidies and very low wages, mostly paid to women, with poor conditions and anti-union attitudes. (p. 42) | March 1987 interviews with 12 firms; description of state incentive package. | Partial data |
| Onverwacht supplies labour to Bloemfontein (tens of thousands of commuters) and the Free State Goldfields, and houses some 500,000 people. (p. 41) | Asserted by the authors without cited counts; the 500,000 figure and commuter numbers are not sourced. | Asserted |
| Apartheid influx control has been restructured so that 'urban' now means daily access to the urban labour market; Botshabelo-type 'displaced urbanisation' and the RSCs redefine the urban labour market and create a regional proletariat. (p. 45) | Interpretive argument drawing on legislative changes, the Botshabelo case and secondary work, with no systematic data. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
The authors note that on Onverwacht itself 'there is little' published, and that the Free State employers' answers were as far as could be ascertained; otherwise, few explicit caveats about sample size or representativeness are given.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument needs systematic data on the resident survey (sample size, sampling frame, questions) and on commuter flows, employment and population numbers, which are asserted rather than sourced. Census and Department of Development Aid or Administration Board records, bus company and Goldfields recruitment data, and the decentralisation incentive files could test the claims; some of these existed then and may now be in archives. Wider comparison with other bantustan border townships would be needed to support the claim that Botshabelo is the model for future township development.
Replicability: Data poorly documented.