Holding 'a just balance between white and black': The Native Affairs Department in South Africa c.1920-33¶

Literature › Works

Saul Dubow (1986). Holding 'a just balance between white and black': The Native Affairs Department in South Africa c.1920-33. Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2. Taylor & Francis / Oxford University Press.


Type	journal article
Scope	Wider apartheid literature
Method	archival narrative
Period studied	1920–1933
Regions	Transkei, Ciskei, Natal, Transvaal, Witwatersrand, Pretoria (Union)
Themes	origins segregation, business and state, politics ideology elections, agriculture land, mining migrant labour
Citation key	`dubow1986`

Argument¶

Dubow argues that the Native Affairs Department (NAD) was neither a blunt instrument of capital nor a monolithic state actor. Its development and its segregationist ideology were shaped by inter- and intra-departmental struggles over resources and jurisdiction, especially with the Justice Department, the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Lands Department. After the 1922-3 PSC reorganisation, the NAD rebuilt its authority through a technocratic language of 'efficiency' and 'uniformity'. It did so through the 1927 Native Administration Act, which centralised power in Pretoria and eroded the Transkei's autonomy. The NAD also kept a protective, paternalist self-image inherited from the 'Transkeian tradition'. This led it to resist some coercive tasks, such as the Native Service Contract Act and farm labour recruitment. The paper treats administrative ideology as a material force within the state, not a gloss on policy.

Evidence and method¶

Archival material from the Pretoria State Archives (NTS, JUS, PM, SDK series, Hertzog papers), the Church of the Province Archives (Stubbs, SAIRR and Hunt papers), and the Herbst papers at UCT. Also official reports (NAD, Native Affairs Commission, PSC, Official Year Book), Native Economic Commission evidence, contemporary press (Cape Times, Rand Daily Mail), parliamentary debates, and published and unpublished work by contemporaries and historians.

Place in the debates¶

Capital- and state-centric (functionalist) interpretations of segregation (see The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital). Argues against a static functionalism in which the state acts as 'a sentient being organising capital's hegemony'. The NAD, though receptive to capital, had its own internal ideology and interests, and segregation was modified by struggles within the state. The paper claims to be a complement to, not a replacement for, existing explanations.
Origins of the NAD's liberal continuity (Kallaway on F. S. Malan) (see The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital). Doubts Kallaway's view that Malan sustained Cape liberal policy in the NAD after 1910. Dubow locates the continuity within the Department's own dynamics and the Transkeian tradition.
Victorian civilising mission in Transkeian administration (Schreuder, Martin) (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Holds that Martin and especially Schreuder overstate early Transkeian administrators' commitment to classic Victorian values, because they take contemporary rhetoric uncritically. What matters for him is the mythology propagated in the 1920s.

Findings¶

The NAD was a small, weak and low-status department in the decade after Union, with a tiny budget share. (p. 4)

Between 1912 and 1936 expenditure on the NAD constituted only some 1-2 per cent
The NAD sought to reproduce capitalist relations and curb urban proletarianisation, but was not simply capital's tool and had its own protective ideology. (p. 3)

Though receptive to the needs of capital, the NAD was not its blunt instrument.
The PSC's 1922-3 economy drive substantially cut NAD staff. (p. 11)

reduced from 528 whites and 929 Africans (total 1457) to 419 whites and 792 Africans
The 1927 Native Administration Act is explained both as segregationist legislation and as a bureaucratic effort by the NAD to regain its authority. (p. 15)

Although the Administration Act was a cardinal aspect of the segregationist edifice it can also be explained - somewhat more narrowly - in bureaucratic terms.
The Act gave the NAD sweeping powers to rule the reserves by proclamation, modelled on the Shepstonian system. (p. 15)

This throwback to the Shepstonian system of nineteenth century Natal effectively granted the NAD unrestricted powers to govern the reserves by proclamation.
Within a year of the Act, the NAD took over magisterial districts and staff from Justice, which confirms its jurisdictional motive. (p. 18)

By 1928 it was reported that the staff of 17 magisterial districts, comprising some 100 officers, had been taken over by the NAD.
Protectionist vestiges survived even as segregation hardened under Hertzog. (p. 19)

Despite these changes, it is notable that vestiges of the NAD's ethic of 'protection' survive throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s.
The NAD declined to enforce the Justice-led Native Service Contract Act, which aimed to stop rural-urban labour migration and push squatters into tenancy. (p. 20)

In effect, the NAD refused to administer the provisions of the Contract Act.
Farmers lobbied hard for state help with labour supply. The Department of Agriculture estimated a 25 per cent shortfall in requirements. (p. 21)

estimated that farmers' labour requirements fell short by 25 per cent
The NAD attributed mining's labour advantage to higher wages and efficient recruiting, not to state favouritism. (p. 21)

real advantage of the Mining Industry is that it can offer wages which are beyond the means of agriculture, and that it can afford a highly efficient recruiting organisation.
The Head Office blamed poor farm working conditions for the farm labour shortage and refused to act as a labour recruiter for farmers. (p. 21)

Within the NAD Head Office there was consensus that the poor conditions of farm workers were above all responsible for the labour shortage.
Segregation's ambiguity between liberal protection and racial exclusivism was its ideological strength, with the latter gaining ascendancy under Hertzog. (p. 23)

As an ideology, the essential strength of segregation was its ambiguity.

Evidence ledger¶

Sources used¶

Source	Kind	Period	How used
Pretoria State Archives, NTS series (Archives of the Department of Native Affairs), e.g. NTS 1695 35/276, NTS 1700 45/276, NTS 8633 61/362, NTS 2009 9/280, NTS 2093 222/280	state archives	1920s-1935	Internal NAD correspondence and memoranda on the Native Administration Bill, criminal jurisdiction, the Service Contract Act and farm labour recruitment, showing departmental positions and conflicts.
Pretoria State Archives, SDK series (Public Service Commission), e.g. SDK 112 4/15/1, SDK 113 4/15/1 part IV, SDK 119 4/15/44	state archives	1922-1928	PSC memoranda and reports on the reorganisation of the NAD and Barrett's retirement, and on later transfers of magistracies to the NAD.
Pretoria State Archives, PM series (Prime Minister's Office), e.g. PM 1/2/61 18/1 and PM 1/2/32 7/15	state archives	1922-1926	Barrett's letters, Welsh's memorandum, protest telegrams and press cuttings on the 1923 NAD reorganisation; Agriculture Department and NAD correspondence on farm labour.
Pretoria State Archives, JUS series (Justice Department), e.g. JUS 750 1/683/22/1 and JUS 1607 1/53/44	state archives	1920s-1931	Evidence of Justice-NAD rivalry, magistrates' resentment at transfers, and a report on the 1925 Transkeian magistrates' conference.
Hertzog Papers A32 vol. 115 (Pretoria State Archives)	state archives	1926	Justice Law Adviser Matthews' dismissive comment on the 'curious' Native Administration Bill.
Evidence of F. Brownlee to the Native Economic Commission, Kokstad 4/11/30, K26 box 5 (PSA)	commission or official report	1930	Brownlee's testimony that native administration is a specialised vocation based on personal experience.
Church of the Province Archives, Witwatersrand University: Stubbs Papers A954, SAIRR papers AD 843, Hunt Papers AD 1655	state archives	1923-1934	Private views of NAD officials and sympathisers on the reorganisation and on native administration as a vocation.
Herbst papers BC 79 A1.1 (Jagger Library, UCT), memorandum 'Native Administration Bill, 1927'	state archives	1927	NAD Head Office memorandum explaining the Administration Bill, showing the language of uniformity and elasticity used to legitimise it.
Report of the Native Affairs Department for the Years 1919-21, U.G.34-1922	commission or official report	1919-1921	Barrett's remarks on race consciousness and NAD fears over the Native Affairs Commission.
Report of the NAD for the Years 1922-26, U.G. 14-1927	commission or official report	1922-1926	Staff numbers before and after the PSC reorganisation (1457 to 1211).
Tenth Annual Report of the Public Service Commission (1921), U.G.18-1922	commission or official report	1921	Establishes the PSC's remit of effecting economies and promoting efficiency.
Reports of the Native Affairs Commission (1921 U.G.15-1922; 1924 U.G.40-1925; 1925-26 U.G.17-1927)	commission or official report	1921-1926	Evidence of the Commission's role as expert adviser and of NAD rhetoric on uniformity and protection.
Contemporary newspapers and periodicals (Cape Times, Rand Daily Mail, Umteteli wa Bantu, South African Quarterly, The S.A. Farmer)	newspapers periodicals	1922-1935	Public reaction to the NAD reorganisation and Barrett's dismissal, the Service Contract Act, and farm labour debates.
Statutes: Native Affairs Act 1920, Native Administration Act 1927, Native Service Contract Act 1932, Urban Areas Act 1923, Taxation Act 1925	legislation gazette	1920-1932	Legislative context establishing the NAD's expanding powers and its relationship to coercive measures.
Contemporary published accounts by officials and observers (Rogers 1933; Brookes 1924, 1934; Herbst 1930; Brownlee 1937; Sullivan 1928)	secondary literature compilation	1924-1937	Used as contemporary sources for the NAD's organisation and its self-image as protector, rather than as scholarship.
Unpublished theses: A. D. Mcloughlin MA thesis, UNISA (1936); R. Martin MA thesis, UCT (1978); D. C. Hindson DPhil, Sussex (1983)	secondary literature compilation	1936-1983	Mcloughlin's thesis is quoted as an insider critique of the Administration Act; Hindson on the Contract Act's enforcement.

Inference¶

Quantification: Illustrative figures.

Archival case study of one state department, using close reading of internal correspondence, reports and press to trace inter- and intra-departmental conflict and the department's administrative ideology over time. Claims rest on qualitative interpretation of selected quotations, with a few figures on staffing and expenditure.

Key claims¶

Claim	Basis	Strength
The PSC's 1921-23 economy-driven reorganisation cut the NAD's staff by roughly a fifth and forced out SNA Barrett, while the Transkei largely escaped. (p. 226)	NAD report U.G.14-1927 staffing totals, SDK and PM archive files, press and protest letters.	Partial data
The 1927 Native Administration Act was driven in part by the NAD's bureaucratic wish to recover jurisdiction lost to Justice, and was legitimised by appeals to the Transkeian tradition and to 'uniformity'. (p. 230)	NTS and JUS files, Herbst papers memorandum, comments from officials such as Hunt, Matthews and Bok.	Illustrative or anecdotal
After the Act the NAD gained jurisdiction, with 17 magisterial districts and about 100 officers transferred by 1928, over Justice Department resistance. (p. 233)	PSC Inspection Report on NAD Head Office, 1928, and Bok's correspondence.	Partial data
The NAD retained a protectionist ideology that led it to resist some coercive tasks, including criminal jurisdiction, the 1932 Service Contract Act and farm labour recruitment. (p. 235)	NTS correspondence (Smit, Lugg, Herbst), Transkeian magistrates' conference motion, Herbst's article in The S.A. Farmer.	Illustrative or anecdotal
The Department's protective self-image was a prudent effort to defuse social conflict and was credible to some African leaders, not mere cant. (p. 237)	Pirow's Hansard remark, NAC reports citing Jabavu, and official reports on race consciousness.	Illustrative or anecdotal
The NAD's centralisation and technocratic turn under Herbst eroded the 'Transkeian tradition' even as the Department invoked it, provoking Transkeian and Ciskeian resistance. (p. 238)	Welsh and Norton correspondence in NTS, Mcloughlin thesis, Herbst's writings, Macmillan's memoir.	Illustrative or anecdotal

The author's caveats¶

Notes that the inner workings of the NAD were obscured from view and that memoranda were often unsigned, making it hard to locate power. Concedes it is difficult to prove any Smuts-PSC conspiracy over Barrett's dismissal, and that Herbst's obituary source could not be traced. Says space limits the examples and that the paper draws on a forthcoming thesis.

Gaps in the evidence¶

The argument rests on selected quotations from senior officials' correspondence, with little systematic evidence on how district officers actually behaved or on administrative outcomes such as prosecutions, transfers, budgets and staffing by region. Series data on NAD budgets, personnel and criminal-jurisdiction grants, and on African responses (petitions, Native Conference records), would test claims of 'protection' versus coercion. Most of this material existed in the NAD, Justice and PSC archives and is available now, so a more systematic sampling of files is possible.

Replicability: Data described but not public.