Up Against the Fences: Poverty, Passes and Privilege in South Africa¶
Hermann Giliomee; Lawrence Schlemmer (1985). Up Against the Fences: Poverty, Passes and Privilege in South Africa. David Philip (Cape Town) / St Martin's Press (New York).
| Type | book |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | mixed |
| Period studied | 1900–1985 |
| Regions | South Africa, Homelands (Transkei, Ciskei, KwaZulu, Bophuthatswana, Venda, Lebowa, Gazankulu), Durban-Pinetown, Witwatersrand/PWV, Lesotho/Mozambique |
| Themes | bantustans removals influx, demography urbanisation, inequality poverty unemployment, mining migrant labour, agriculture land, manufacturing industrial policy, business and state, labour markets wages, politics ideology elections, transition post apartheid |
| Citation key | giliomee1985 |
Argument¶
This edited collection argues that influx control and the pass laws, backed by the homelands and migrant labour, are a failing, costly mechanism for managing the contradiction between white political exclusion of blacks and white economic reliance on black labour. Contributors show that the homelands can no longer support their populations, have become dumping grounds for surplus people and live on migrant remittances, and that influx control has not stopped urbanisation but displaced it to squatter and border settlements. Survey data show blacks across groups reject influx control, while industrial decentralisation and homeland agriculture cannot absorb the labour surplus. The editors conclude that the evidence overwhelmingly favours replacing influx control with a planned urbanisation strategy (site-and-service housing, informal-settlement upgrading, freer labour movement) to avoid a deepening crisis.
Evidence and method¶
Field interviews with labour bureau, TEBA, magistrate and Administration Board officials in the homelands (April 1982); Centre for Applied Social Sciences attitude surveys of migrants, squatters, factory workers and Soweto 'middle-class' men; Urban Foundation interviews with employers, unions and community councillors; Buthelezi Commission data; census and HSRC data; Surplus People Project reports; homeland GDP/GNI area studies; international literature on migration policy; business leaders' speeches.
Place in the debates¶
- Homelands as cheap-labour reservoirs vs. changed functions (Wolpe/radical thesis) (see Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals). Greenberg and Giliomee argue the homelands no longer 'cheapen' labour via subsistence but serve as dumping grounds and underbelly of a stratified order of privilege; Nattrass and Giliomee acknowledge the earlier reservoir role and the radical challenge.
- Dualist vs. integrated/dependent view of South African economy (see Liberal vs revisionist: was apartheid functional or dysfunctional for capitalist growth?). Nattrass proposes a three-sector interlinked model (modern, white commercial farming, black subsistence) in which political institutions and migrant labour drive rural poverty, rejecting simple dualism.
- Efficacy and cost of influx control; liberal vs. revisionist on apartheid and growth (see Influx control, pass laws and African urbanisation). Bernstein, Schlemmer, Relly, Oppenheimer and Rosholt argue influx control is ineffective, costly and contrary to free-market growth; business is portrayed as no longer supporting it, though Schlemmer notes industrialists hesitate to demand its abolition.
- Effectiveness of industrial decentralisation (see Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals). McCarthy, Maasdorp and Oppenheimer argue decentralisation is politically motivated, costs jobs overall and cannot stop metropolitan growth; the Good Hope proposals modestly better but limited.
- Will rural crisis produce revolt, and can urban insiders be co-opted? (see Homelands, separate development, decentralisation and removals). Giliomee judges rural revolt unlikely (migrancy, cleavages, state control) but sees rural misery being exported to cities, with squatters and unions as potential destabilisers.
Findings¶
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Mass prosecution under pass laws is the scale indicator of influx control. (p. 9)
One of the most startling figures in South African history is the 17½ million Africans who were arrested between 1916 and 1981 for contravening pass law regulations
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The homelands' capacity to support their inhabitants collapsed over time; remittance dependence rose sharply. (p. 15)
Charles Simkins (1981a) estimates that since 1918 the black homelands never supported more than a third of their inhabitants, and by 1970 were supporting fewer than 20 per cent.
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Remittances leak back to the modern sector, so migration does not stimulate homeland development. (p. 31)
the remittances sent home from the migrant to his family leak back to the modern sector almost immediately, as they are exchanged for manufactured goods produced there.
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Forced removals massively swelled homeland populations 1960-1980. (p. 58)
In 1960 about 39 per cent of the black population was resident in the homeland; by 1980 this figure had risen to 53 per cent.
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Labour surplus is so large that mine recruiting has effectively stopped. (p. 71)
There are sufficient numbers calling at our doors to fill our needs
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Employers' attitudes: a majority favoured phased abolition of influx control. (p. 104)
In the national employers' survey, 55 per cent of the respondents favoured the phased removal of influx control; 36 per cent would retain it in a more flexible manner
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Decentralisation reduces total job creation compared with metropolitan investment. (p. 215)
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Migrant rural resources are limited and insufficient for subsistence, contrary to the assumptions underlying the migrant system. (p. 172)
some two-thirds to three-quarters of migrant workers will gain access to land in late life, while only half of this proportion will be able to feed themselves and their families from this land.
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The editors judge costs of influx control to outweigh benefits; evidence on swamping fears is weak. (p. 341)
if influx control were lifted, substantially fewer than one million additional people would at present move to the cities on a permanent basis.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field research on rural labour bureaux, TEBA offices and Administration Boards (Lebowa, Gazankulu, KwaZulu, Transkei), 13-24 April 1982 | interviews oral history | April 1982 | Official interviews document labour surpluses, the collapse of tribal labour bureaux and growing Administration Board control of rural labour. |
| Buthelezi Commission Report, The Requirements for Stability and Development in KwaZulu and Natal (2 vols, 1982), including its 1981 socio-political survey | commission or official report | 1960-1981 | Supplies data on KwaZulu's income dependence on migrant remittances, expenditure leakage, attitude survey results and the analysis of migrant labour's economic effects. |
| Centre for Applied Social Sciences (University of Natal) attitude surveys with IMSA interviewers: Durban factory workers 1982 (n=532), national migrant study 1982 (n=676), Soweto middle-class men 1978, Buthelezi Commission samples | household or labour survey microdata | 1978-1982 | Establishes that pass laws rank among the most salient grievances and measures rural-urban preferences of migrants. |
| Nationwide quota survey of non-acquiescent and control migrant contract workers (n=478 plus control n=198), 1982 | author survey or fieldwork | 1982 | Provides data on migrants' living conditions, family separation, anxiety and demoralisation and political consciousness by residential type. |
| Studies underlying the migrant rural-resource profiles (Durban contract workers 1976-9, Ciskei Commission 1979, Buthelezi Commission 1981, 1982 national stress study, 1982 cane-industry study, ex-migrant sample) | author survey or fieldwork | 1976-1982 | Compiles tables on migrants' access to land, cattle, harvests and dependants to show that rural resources are limited. |
| Squatter studies around Durban: Buthelezi Commission squatter sample (n=152), Umbogintwini study (64 interviews), Inkatha Institute study (670 shacks), quality-of-life study (138 shacks), KwaMgaga anthropological study | author survey or fieldwork | 1980-1984 | Characterises squatter populations (origins, rural ties, occupations, incomes, attitudes) and builds a typology. |
| Urban Foundation research on influx control: interviews with 13 trade unions, 33 community councillors (24 PWV councils), national survey of 200 companies, Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce survey of 180 members, Black Sash Advice Office investigation | author survey or fieldwork | 1983 | Documents perceptions and operation of influx control among employers, unions and councillors, and the size of the undocumented urban community. |
| Urban Foundation survey of 200 rural-urban migrants (PWV) | author survey or fieldwork | c.1983 | Cited as confirming that migrants fare better than commonly supposed in the PWV area. |
| KwaZulu rural survey of eight districts (n=320) and Transkei research (Haines et al. 1984) | author survey or fieldwork | c.1983-4 | Shows payments for land, pensions and dues to chiefs and indunas and low community participation. |
| Population censuses 1970 and 1980 (via Smit and Kok 1981, HSRC), Eastern Cape/Ciskei districts | population census | 1970-1980 | Net migration estimates by district show outflow from white areas and inflow to Ciskei. |
| 1980 population census (urban-rural distribution and metropolitan area populations) | population census | 1980 | Establishes the extent of black urbanisation and metropolitan concentration. |
| Simkins's population distribution estimates (Four Essays, 1983b; 1984 papers) | secondary literature compilation | 1918-1980 | Provides figures on the share of blacks in the homelands, density and out-migration from white rural areas, and productivity. |
| Chamber of Mines, Ninety-third Annual Report, 1982 | chamber of mines or recruiting records | 1973-1982 | Gives the geographic origins of black gold-mine labour, showing the shift from foreign to South African recruits. |
| F. Wilson, International migration in southern Africa (1976), source for Table 1 on black mine labour 1906-73 | secondary literature compilation | 1906-1973 | Shows where black mine labour came from over time. |
| BENSO Statistical Survey of Black Development (1978, 1980) | official statistical series | 1979-1980 | Provides land-man ratios, land utilisation rates and agricultural contribution estimates by homeland. |
| Area studies of five homelands (Transkei, Ciskei, KwaZulu, Bophuthatswana, Venda) and homeland national accounts | author survey or fieldwork | 1960s-1981 | Documents GDP and GNI growth, dependence on outside earnings, unemployment and urban-rural gaps. |
| Surplus People Project Report (1983, 6 vols) | secondary literature compilation | 1960-1983 | Source for scale of forced removals and for conditions in Ciskei resettlement areas. |
| Tomlinson Commission Report (1955; government White Paper 1956) | commission or official report | 1955-1956 | Cited as the origin of the strategy for developing the reserves and later industrial decentralisation. |
| Native Economic Commission (1932), South African Native Affairs Commission (1903-5), Stallard Commission (1922), Beaumont Commission (1916) | commission or official report | 1903-1932 | Shows the evolving state view of the reserves' functions and their deteriorating capacity. |
| Ciskei Commission (Quail Report, 1980) | commission or official report | 1980 | Source for illegal urban dwellers and for apathy towards agriculture. |
| Prime Minister's Economic Development Programme for the Republic of South Africa 1978-87 (1979) | official statistical series | 1977-1987 | Projections of unemployment under 3.6 and 5 per cent growth. |
| Regional Development Policy Manual (1982) and Multilateral Co-operation in Southern Africa (1983) | commission or official report | 1982-1983 | Describes the 1982 decentralisation incentives and regional structure assessed by Maasdorp. |
| House of Assembly Debates (1959 Verwoerd; 1978 Mulder) | parliamentary debates | 1959, 1978 | Quotations establish the political purposes of separate development and denationalisation. |
| Statute law: Natives Land Act 1913, Native Trust and Land Act 1936, Natives (Urban Areas) Act 1923, Bantu Laws Amendment Act 1952, Black Urban Areas Act 1968, Act 102 of 1983, Rikhoto judgment | legislation gazette | 1913-1983 | Frames the legal mechanics of influx control and residence rights. |
| Newspapers and periodicals (The Citizen 1984, The Star 1984, Daily News 1984, Financial Mail 1980, Christian Express 1914, Sunday Times 1984, Cape Times 1984, Rapport) | newspapers periodicals | 1914-1984 | Used for ministerial statements, press releases and cost and estimate figures. |
| Homeland and Eastern Cape secondary data (Bekker et al. 1982 socio-economic studies of Ciskei; Cook 1980; Daniel 1980) | secondary literature compilation | 1976-1982 | Supports Ciskei income, unemployment and urban-rural gap figures and evaluation of resettlement. |
| Select committee of the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly on displaced citizens, 1978 (26 resettlement areas) | commission or official report | 1978 | Documents evictions, forced stock sales and conditions in resettlement areas. |
| Maasdorp and Lenta 1983 survey of leading Durban industrialists | interviews oral history | 1983 | Establishes locational preferences and industrialists' views on decentralisation. |
New data¶
Original surveys and interviews by the contributors. Greenberg and Giliomee: 2-week April 1982 field interviews with labour and TEBA officials in four homelands. Schlemmer and Moller: surveys of 676 migrants, 532 Durban factory workers and several hundred squatters. Bernstein: Urban Foundation interviews with 13 unions, 33 councillors and a 200-company survey. Zulu: KwaZulu survey (n=320). No consolidated dataset is published.
Inference¶
Quantification: Descriptive tables.
Edited collection of essays rather than a single design. Inference rests on policy and historical narrative, comparison across homelands, regions and migrant groups, cross-tabulated attitude surveys, official interviews, international comparison from the literature, and a qualitative social cost-benefit assessment. Little formal modelling or causal identification is used.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| The homelands can no longer support their populations; subsistence has collapsed and household income depends overwhelmingly on migrant remittances, and remittances leak back to the core economy. (p. 72) | Buthelezi Commission figures on KwaZulu GNP and income shares, BENSO land-man ratios, Simkins density and productivity estimates, and Greenberg and Giliomee interview evidence. | Partial data |
| Influx control fails to stop urbanisation; it relocates it to peri-urban and homeland border settlements and leaves millions of illegal residents. (p. 99) | Urban Foundation interviews, Black Sash advice-office sample, Riekert Commission remark, arrest statistics, Simkins and Smit estimates of border settlements. | Partial data |
| Most migrants and rural blacks do not want permanent urbanisation but strongly reject influx control as a barrier to job mobility and dignity; pass laws are among the most salient grievances. (p. 112) | Centre for Applied Social Sciences surveys (676 migrants, Durban factory workers, Buthelezi Commission samples). | Systematic data |
| Migrant workers' rural resources are limited, so social security is not guaranteed by rural land; only about half of eventual land-holders could feed their families from it. (p. 164) | Compiled profile from seven CASS studies (n of several hundred each), rough estimates, quota samples. | Partial data |
| Rural labour bureaux and tribal structures have collapsed, with labour surplus and growing Administration Board control; the homelands now serve to stratify the black population into privileged insiders and excluded outsiders. (p. 78) | Interviews with labour, TEBA, magistrate and Board officials in April 1982. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Forced resettlement (about 2 to 3.5 million people) has increased homeland density, impoverished and disrupted communities, and channelled urbanisation to the poorest regions such as Ciskei. (p. 259) | Census district tables (Smit and Kok), Surplus People Project, KwaZulu select committee, Ciskei studies, with different totals offered by the Minister and the SPP. | Partial data |
| Industrial decentralisation has largely failed and raises job-creation costs; metropolitan areas offer agglomeration and cheaper jobs. (p. 215) | Government policy documents, Durban industrialist survey, location-theory literature, Tomlinson and Brand citations. | Partial data |
| Influx control costs outweigh its benefits, and lifting it would add only about two million blacks to white metropolitan areas by 2000, not a flood. (p. 350) | CASS survey proportions wanting urban residence, Simkins projections, Rikhoto dependant estimates, Durban squatter case, and the editors' argument. | Partial data |
The author's caveats¶
Authors concede that the surveys are not exhaustive and use quota samples without sampling frames; estimates are 'indicative' not precise (Schlemmer and Moller). Rural resource tables rely on rough estimates and non-comparable studies. Van der Berg notes that homeland national-accounts figures are suspect. Smit admits that the census undercounts blacks in urban areas. Schlemmer says the squatter analysis is speculative. The editors acknowledge the risk of selective evidence in the final chapter.
Gaps in the evidence¶
Most claims rest on small, non-random and mostly cross-sectional attitudinal samples, with no longitudinal migration data or individual-level pass-law prosecution records, so the effect of influx control on urbanisation is inferred rather than measured. Projections of urban growth and the effect of lifting controls depend on assumptions rather than tested models. Systematic archival work on Administration Board records, census micro-data and labour bureau registers, which existed in the 1980s but were not public, would test the claims better.
Replicability: Data poorly documented.