Labour, capital, class struggle and the origins of residential segregation in Kimberley, 1880-1920¶
Alan Mabin (1986). Labour, capital, class struggle and the origins of residential segregation in Kimberley, 1880-1920. Journal of Historical Geography 12(1). Academic Press.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1869–1924 |
| Regions | Kimberley, Griqualand West, Cape Colony, Witwatersrand |
| Themes | origins segregation, mining migrant labour, labour markets wages, unions strikes, business and state, demography urbanisation, resistance social movements |
| Citation key | mabin1986a |
Argument¶
Mabin argues that the compound, a residential form missing from models of the 'apartheid city', originated in the class struggle between capital and labour in Kimberley in the 1880s, not in colonial racism or planners' ideology. The 1883-84 depression and strikes, including a rare joint strike by black and white workers, led the diamond companies to separate workers strictly by race in both the hierarchy of work and in residence. Black workers were confined in closed compounds and white workers were housed in a company village at Kenilworth. The compound was a means of controlling labour: it prevented desertion, held a reserve labour pool on site, raised productivity and drew on convict-labour precedents. State-planned townships followed later, after 1920, and built on this earlier experience. Segregated South African urban form is therefore tied to outcomes of specific struggles within capitalist development, not to a long colonial inheritance.
Evidence and method¶
Cape parliamentary papers (Votes and Proceedings, Reports of Inspectors of Diamond Mines, commissions), Cape Archives, Standard Bank Archive reports, De Beers and Kimberley Central minute books (Smalberger Papers), Kimberley municipal dossiers, contemporary newspapers, the Cape census and Cape trade statistics, plus the doctoral theses of Turrell and Worger. Photographs and maps are also used.
Place in the debates¶
- Colonial-city vs political-economy explanations of the apartheid city's origins (see Urban segregation, Group Areas and the apartheid city). Rejects Christopher, Davies and Western's view that apartheid cities are a more systematic version of the colonial city. Argues that residential segregation arose from capitalist class struggle, following Simon's call to address the political economy.
- Why closed compounds were introduced (theft control vs labour control) (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Follows Turrell against the orthodox Smalberger view that illicit diamond buying explains compounds. Stresses labour discipline, anti-desertion, an on-site labour reserve and productivity.
- Whether black and white workers were hostile before 1884 (Worger) (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Disputes Worger's claim that white workers feared black workers. Argues the racial separation was not yet fixed and was imposed by the companies after the 1883-84 strikes.
- Compounds as characteristic of colonialism vs capitalist development (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Says compounds were influenced by coercive labour models elsewhere but were generated by capitalist development in South Africa rather than being typically colonial.
Findings¶
-
Models of apartheid cities leave out the compound, which predates the state-planned township. (p. 5)
They emerged well before the officially designed and regulated “townships” which house the majority of urban South Africans today.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape of Good Hope Blue Book and Statistical Register 1880-1887 (colonial exports, Table 1) | official statistical series | 1880-1887 | Documents the 1883-85 depression through colonial export values of wool, ostrich feathers and diamonds. |
| Turrell, Capital, class and monopoly: the Kimberley diamond fields 1871-1889 (unpubl. PhD thesis, London 1982), appendices and chapters | secondary literature compilation | 1871-1889 | Supplies diamond production figures, price series, De Beers death rates and the account of company formation, which Mabin relies on. |
| Worger, The making of a monopoly: Kimberley and the South African diamond industry, 1870-1895 (unpubl. PhD thesis, Yale 1982) | secondary literature compilation | 1870-1895 | Used for the concentration of claims and the 1884 strike, and criticised on white-black worker relations. |
| Cape of Good Hope Votes and Proceedings of Parliament, Annexures: Reports of Inspectors of Diamond Mines (RIDM) 1882-1889 | commission or official report | 1882-1889 | Evidence on searching, white and black worker numbers, compound adoption and the Kenilworth village. |
| Commission on Diamond Mining 1882, Replies to Questionnaires (Cape V&P, Ann. G.86-82) | commission or official report | 1882 | Shows company managers wanting employees, especially natives, to live and board on company premises. |
| Select Committee on Illicit Diamond Buying (Cape V&P, Ann. A.9-'82), evidence | parliamentary debates | 1882 | Evidence on the search system and mine labour conditions. |
| Report of the Commission on the Diamond Trade Act, the Detective or Searching Department, the compound system... (Cape V&P, Ann. G.3-88), Evidence | commission or official report | 1888 | Evidence on the compound system and on resistance to and opposition over compounds. |
| Report of the Labour Commission (Cape V&P, Ann. G.39-94) and Evidence | commission or official report | 1894 | Cited for the early identification of segregated locations adjacent to white towns. |
| Cape V&P Annexures: Superintendent of Telegraphs report 1879; Blue Book on Native Affairs 1885; Select Committee on Trade and Business in Griqualand West 1891; Manager of Vooruitzicht Estate report 1883 | commission or official report | 1879-1891 | Evidence on telegraph links, locations, Malay Camp and debris washers. |
| Cape Hansard 20.5.1884 | parliamentary debates | 1884 | Source for Rhodes's remark on white men supported by natives in struggle against whites. |
| Statute Law of Griqualand West (government notices, proclamations, ordinances) | legislation gazette | 1878-1882 | Shows Cape location law proclaimed in Griqualand West after the 1878 rebellion. |
| Cape Archives (CA): NA, GLW, AG, LND, PAS series correspondence of Resident Magistrates and Civil Commissioners, Kimberley | state archives | 1875-1913 | Evidence on locations, location populations, pass laws and removal of Africans to locations. |
| Standard Bank Archive, Johannesburg: Inspection Reports and General Manager letters, Kimberley 1881-1882 | company records or reports | 1881-1882 | Evidence on the 1881 share mania, bank lending and the 1882 stagnation of trade. |
| Smalberger Papers (UCT BC 635): Kimberley Central and De Beers Daily Minutes Books, Kitto report | company records or reports | 1879-1886 | Directors' minutes on searching, convict labour and compound construction, plus the Kitto 1879 proposal for barracks. |
| Kimberley Public Library: Kimberley Borough/City Council dossiers (KBC, KCC) and Council minutes; Sanitary Inspector reports | state archives | 1900-1924 | Evidence on the Council's motives and the sanitary inspector's pressure for removal of Africans to locations and housing. |
| Kimberley newspapers: Diamond News, Daily Independent, Diamond Fields Advertiser, Diamond Field Herald, Argus | newspapers periodicals | 1875-1888 | Evidence on strikes of 1883-84, the 1885 compound opening, location conditions and joint black-white political action. |
| De Beers Consolidated Mines, 18th Annual Report, 30.6.1906 | company records or reports | 1906 | Cited for Kenilworth village for white workers. |
| Census of the Cape of Good Hope 1904 (and 1891) | population census | 1891, 1904 | Wesselton compound population and African population growth. |
| 1881 census of buildings and population in the Kimberley locations | population census | 1881 | Documents 777 huts and 2380 people in the locations. |
| Native (Urban Areas) Act 1923 and Kimberley Public Notice of 10.9.1924 | legislation gazette | 1923-1924 | Shows enforcement of compulsory residence in locations from October 1924. |
Inference¶
Quantification: Illustrative figures.
Historical case study of Kimberley that reads archival, parliamentary and press evidence within a class-struggle framework, tracing sequence and timing (depression, strikes, restructuring, compounds, locations), with one table of colonial exports and no statistical testing.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| The 1883-85 depression was sharp and hit Kimberley, and it prompted employers to cut costs by restructuring labour. (p. 8) | Cape Blue Book export series and Turrell's price series (Table 1), plus Standard Bank archive letters. | Partial data |
| White mine employment fell from about 3900 in 1881 to 1210 in 1884 as Africans were substituted, raising the African-to-white ratio. (p. 10) | Mine inspectors' reports and secondary sources; figures given without a systematic series. | Partial data |
| The 1883 and 1884 strikes, and the 1884 killings by police, led owners to formalise black-white separation, including closed compounds for Africans only. (p. 11) | Kimberley newspapers, Hansard, company minutes and inspectors' reports, read narratively. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Closed compounds served labour control, preventing desertion and holding an on-site labour reserve, not merely preventing diamond theft. (p. 13) | De Beers minutes, 1888 Commission evidence, Inspectors' reports and Turrell's thesis. | Partial data |
| White workers were housed in a company village (Kenilworth) outside compounds, reinforcing the residential hierarchy. (p. 15) | Inspector of Mines 1889 report, De Beers annual report, plans and photographs. | Partial data |
| Location segregation of non-mining Africans developed slowly and was driven by sanitary and moral discourse and capital's wish for a controlled labour pool, becoming effective only after 1920 housing and the 1923 Act. (p. 21) | Borough Council dossiers, sanitary inspector reports, Cape Archives correspondence and the 1924 public notice. | Partial data |
| Compounds were the first rigid form of residential segregation and preceded and shaped later state-planned townships and the model spread across southern Africa. (p. 22) | Kimberley case sequence plus secondary literature on the Witwatersrand and Rhodesia; generalisation beyond Kimberley is not tested. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
The author notes that Turrell's location population figures contain numerous inaccuracies, and that the 1892 African population is only an estimate. He also says the sources do not support Worger's claims about white worker hostility to black workers, which he attributes to the company-supporting Diamond Fields Advertiser.
Gaps in the evidence¶
There is no systematic series of mine employment, wages or compound population by race, so the substitution and segregation claims rest on a few isolated figures. Company records and municipal housing data could test causation more systematically and exist in the cited archives. Evidence that the Kimberley model diffused to the Witwatersrand and township planning rests on the secondary literature rather than primary comparison.
Replicability: Data described but not public.