"The Long-Averted Clash": Farm Labour Competition in the South African Countryside¶
Jonathan Crush (1993). "The Long-Averted Clash": Farm Labour Competition in the South African Countryside. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 27, No. 3. Canadian Association of African Studies.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1960–1986 |
| Regions | Transvaal, Orange Free State, Natal, Cape, bantustans (Lebowa, Gazankulu, KwaZulu, QwaQwa) |
| Themes | mining migrant labour, agriculture land, bantustans removals influx, labour markets wages, business and state, politics ideology elections |
| Citation key | crush1993 |
Argument¶
After the 1974 collapse of the mines' foreign labour supply, the Chamber of Mines tried to tap black farmworkers in white farming districts. It asked the state to withdraw its legal protection of the farm labour supply, which closed those districts to mine recruiters. Using Native Recruiting Corporation records, Crush shows that the farmers' unions and the Department of Bantu Administration blocked this. The mines got only a tightly controlled four-district experiment that yielded 1,053 recruits. This overturns accounts (Lemon, Greenberg, Lipton) that treat farmers as relaxed about mine recruiting because farming was shedding labour, or that see the 'progressive' SAAU as favouring free labour markets. Even with farm labour in surplus and the state publicly favouring a free market, the state remained hamstrung by farmer pressure.
Evidence and method¶
Mainly the records of the mines' Native Recruiting Corporation (NRC, Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg), including memoranda, meeting reports, correspondence and committee minutes, plus some interviews with NRC personnel. Also NRC district recruiting figures, a 1970 table of mineworkers' districts of origin, and secondary literature. State and farmers' union records were unavailable, so the account is one-sided.
Place in the debates¶
- Did farmers still resist mine recruiting in the 1970s as farm labour turned from shortage to surplus? (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Yes. Against Lemon, Greenberg and Lipton, Crush argues that farmers' unions, progressive and unprogressive alike, fiercely defended the protected labour supply, partly out of fear of losing skilled workers and of mine wage competition.
- Progressive vs unprogressive farmers and the SAAU (Lipton) (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Qualifies Lipton. The progressive-dominated SAAU was unwilling to override the unprogressives or to accept mine demands, so the progressive/unprogressive split does not explain the state's response.
- Timing and scale of farm labour displacement from mechanization (Wilson, Morris, Nattrass, Lipton, Marcus) (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Treats the timing as secondary to the general shift from labour shortage to oversupply across the 1960s-80s. Notes Marcus's two-phase view and does not settle the dispute.
- State autonomy and bureaucratic divisions over labour policy (see The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital). The state was 'hamstrung' by farmer pressure on this issue. Internal bureaucratic divisions were shallower than on foreign labour, where Foreign Affairs and Native Affairs split.
Findings¶
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In the 1960s mines raised their dependence on cheaper foreign labour, with cost containment as their top priority, so they did not intrude on the domestic farm labour market. (p. 5)
Because labour from outside South Africa was less costly and more readily available, the mining industry's dependence on it grew rapidly.
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Mine reliance on Malawian labour grew rapidly before the 1974 shock, which prompted the turn to domestic sources. (p. 6)
Indeed, the number of Malawians on the mines increased sixfold from 21 934 in I960 to 119 141 in 1973.
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The Chamber saw white farm districts as a large potential labour pool locked away by state protection. (p. 6)
The Chamber calculated that eighty-five percent of the potential labour pool in white farm areas resided in districts closed to mining industry recruiters.
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In 1970 few South African mineworkers came from closed districts, so the closure was a binding constraint on recruiting. (p. 10)
In 1970, only thirteen percent of the South African component of the mine workforce came from districts closed to mine recruiting (Table I).
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The Minister of Bantu Affairs publicly argued that farm labour protection should be dismantled, yet the state did not act when the mines asked. (p. 10)
The present artificial protection given to the agricultural sector by the provision of prescribed and non-prescribed areas therefore serves no purpose other than frightening the aspirant farm labourer away from the rural area.
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The SAAU backed away from an informal understanding with the Chamber, showing the farm lobby's veto power. (p. 12)
The SAAU quickly reneged on its informal agreement with the Chamber, refused to name any districts for experimental mine
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After two years of negotiation the state granted only a small fraction of the access the Chamber requested. (p. 13)
The Chamber asked for at least eight farming districts to be opened to mine recruiting. It got two: Letaba in the northern
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The experiment drew almost no workers from white farms. (p. 17)
Of the I 053 workers recruited from May 1976 to December 1977 less than five percent came from white farms
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Protection of the farm labour supply persisted until the abolition of influx controls in 1986. (p. 18)
direct mine recruiting continued to be forbidden in most white farm districts until the repeal of influx controls in 1986.
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Farm lobby pressure outweighed the state's declared preference for a competitive farm labour market. (p. 19)
on this issue at least the politicians and the bureaucrats showed inordinate sensitivity to farmers' demands.
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Marcus suggests a two-phase decline in farm employment, with 1960s losses in full-time jobs offset by migrant, casual and female labour. (p. 4)
a first phase (the I96os) with a decline in full-time, on-farm jobs being more than compensated for by increased employment of migrant, casual, female labour.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native Recruiting Corporation (NRC) Records, Johannesburg (files NRC 1132, 1145, 1157, 1221 etc.) | chamber of mines or recruiting records | 1974-1978 | Primary source for the Chamber's negotiations with ministers, the DBA and farmers' unions, and for the experimental recruiting scheme. |
| Native Recruiting Corporation Records, Pietermaritzburg (NRC Natal) | chamber of mines or recruiting records | 1970-1978 | Source for the district-of-origin table of mineworkers (1970), monthly experimental recruiting figures, and committee meeting minutes. |
| Table 1: District of origin of South African mineworkers, 1970 (NRC Natal) | chamber of mines or recruiting records | 1970 | Shows that only 12.2% of South African mineworkers came from districts closed to mine recruiting. |
| Chamber of Mines research reports (Parsons 1974; Parsons and Beadle 1975) and government statistics on farm labour | company records or reports | 1974-1975 | Basis for the Chamber's claim that farm labour was under-employed and 85% of the potential pool lay in closed districts. |
| Chamber of Mines Figure 1 map of prohibited recruiting zones and high/low mine labour potential, 1970 | maps spatial data | 1970-1974 | Maps districts closed to mine recruiting and areas of high labour potential. |
| Native Labour Regulation Act 1911 and Bantu Labour Regulations 1965 | legislation gazette | 1911, 1965 | Legal basis for the exclusion of private and mine recruiting from magisterial districts with white farms. |
| Bantu Affairs Administration Act (1971) and farm labour registration campaign | legislation gazette | 1971 | Shows state efforts to register farm labour through Bantu Administration Boards. |
| Froneman Commission report on foreign labour (South Africa 1962) | commission or official report | 1962 | Background to the state's pressure on the mines to reduce reliance on foreign workers. |
| Address by Minister M.C. Botha to Labour Conference, Pretoria, October 1975 (NRC 1157) | state archives | October 1975 | Shows the state's stated rationale for withdrawing protection of the farm labour supply. |
| Natal Mercury, 18 February 1975 | newspapers periodicals | 1975 | Source for Minister Botha's statement that mine recruitment must stay within existing labour controls. |
| Interview with Trevor Nel, Pietermaritzburg, April 1984 | interviews oral history | 1984 | Oral source on the experimental recruiting districts. |
| Ault and Rutman survey of mineworkers, 1976 (Ault and Rutman 1985) | household or labour survey microdata | 1976 | Used to show that about a quarter of the mine workforce had previous commercial agricultural employment. |
| Crush, Jeeves and Yudelman (1991, 1992) South Africa's Labor Empire | secondary literature compilation | 1960s-1970s | Supplies figures on foreign labour share, Malawian recruitment and NRC licence applications. |
| SAAU annual report 1983/4 | employer association records | 1983/84 | Shows the SAAU's continued opposition to non-farm recruitment on farms. |
New data¶
Two tables compiled from NRC Natal records: district of origin of 90,322 South African mineworkers in 1970, and monthly recruits (1,053 total) in the four experimental districts, May 1976 to December 1977. Also a map of prohibited recruiting zones.
Inference¶
Quantification: Descriptive tables.
Archival case study based on Chamber of Mines/NRC internal records, reconstructing negotiations chronologically and testing the Lipton, Lemon and Greenberg interpretations against the outcome of the experiment. Small descriptive tables and circumstantial recruitment trends support the argument, with no formal statistical analysis.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| The mines' attempt to gain access to farm labour in the 1970s met sustained resistance from farmers' unions, and the state made only minimal concessions. (p. 415) | NRC file notes of meetings with ministers, the DBA, the SAAU and the TAU, and Cabinet discussion. | Partial data |
| Before the 1970s drive, only a small share of South African mineworkers came from districts closed to recruiting. (p. 412) | Table 1 from NRC Natal records, 1970 district of origin. | Systematic data |
| The experimental recruiting districts produced negligible recruits, and less than 5% came from white farms. (p. 419) | Table 2 of monthly recruits in four districts and NRC local reports. | Systematic data |
| The state's public support for liberalizing the farm labour market contradicted its response when the mines challenged farm labour protection, so the Lipton/Lemon/Greenberg accounts need revising. (p. 421) | Comparison of Botha's speech and Chamber/NRC records of ministerial and DBA responses. | Partial data |
| Mines likely obtained farmworkers from closed districts indirectly, by signing them on at bantustan depots or mine gates. (p. 421) | Rising NRC recruit totals by province, the Ault and Rutman survey and an anecdote about Free State tractor drivers. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| The mines' 1970s labour crisis arose from the collapse of the foreign labour supply (Mozambique, Malawi) in 1974, prompting the turn to internal sources. (p. 408) | Malawian recruitment figures and Crush, Jeeves and Yudelman's account. | Partial data |
The author's caveats¶
The author notes that the mining-industry sources are one-sided because state documentation and farming union records are unavailable. They give little insight into the inner workings of the state bureaucracy or the farmers' unions, and the district-level recruiting statistics are still under analysis.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument lacks the state's side (DBA, Cabinet and Department of Mines files) and the SAAU/TAU records, so farmer and bureaucratic motives are inferred from Chamber accounts. District-level recruiting statistics linking farm origin to mine recruitment would test whether closed-district workers reached the mines indirectly; these existed in NRC records and could be analysed now. Farm employment and wage data (agricultural censuses) are not used to test the farm labour surplus claim.
Replicability: Data described but not public.