Problems in Paradise: The Farm Labour Shortage in the Natal Midlands, 1940-1951¶
Benjamin Mazower (1990). Problems in Paradise: The Farm Labour Shortage in the Natal Midlands, 1940-1951. History Workshop: Structure and Experience in the Making of Apartheid, University of the Witwatersrand, 6-10 February 1990. University of the Witwatersrand, History Workshop.
| Type | conference paper |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1940–1951 |
| Regions | Natal Midlands, Natal, South Africa (national policy) |
| Themes | agriculture land, labour markets wages, resistance social movements, business and state, bantustans removals influx, demography urbanisation, politics ideology elections |
| Citation key | mazower1990 |
Argument¶
The paper argues that the severe farm labour shortage of the 1940s resulted largely from the actions of farmworkers themselves, especially young members of labour-tenant families who left for towns, industry, government work and plantations. This was a form of everyday resistance. It was driven by the large wage gap with urban work and by conflict inside the tenant family, since only the kraalhead contracted and was paid. Farmers responded with labour farms, conversion of rent-paying tenants to labour tenancy, uniform contract proposals and calls for state control. The state, led by the Native Affairs Department and constrained by industry and mining interests, largely refused compulsion and relied on weak advisory boards. The paper therefore shifts attention from state policy (Morris) to local dynamics and tenant agency, and suggests that the Nationalists took a firmer line only in the early 1950s.
Evidence and method¶
Natal and Central Archives Depot files (magistrates' and Native Commissioners' reports, advisory board minutes, CNC conference papers, court cases), the Fagan Commission minutes, Natal Agricultural Union minutes and letter books, the farmers' press (Farmer and Home Companion), government reports, an oral history interview (V.W. Zwane), and secondary works and theses (Morris, Posel, Hindson, Edwards, Bonner, Loudon). Evidence on destinations of migrants is acknowledged to be impressionistic.
Place in the debates¶
- Why did farmworkers leave the farms: liberal 'pull' of towns vs class struggle/resistance (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Builds on Morris's reading of urban migration as a form of class struggle rather than an impersonal urban pull. It differentiates what is being resisted (landlord exploitation, intra-family exploitation) while also stressing real urban wage and job opportunities.
- Statist vs local/agency-centred accounts of farm labour policy (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Criticises Morris's state-centred approach for glossing over farmworker actions and local variation. It argues that analysing local enforcement shows relatively little state action in the 1940s.
- Everyday resistance and the need to specify what is resisted (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Adopts the 'hidden struggles' literature (following White) but insists on differentiating targets of resistance, and treats migration as an ambiguous form of resistance.
- Agricultural vs industrial/mining interests in state labour policy (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Argues that the Smuts government did not intervene because agriculture's weight waned relative to manufacturing and mining and because the NAD favoured better wages, whereas the Nationalists, who had strong agrarian interests, only gradually moved towards organised agriculture's demands.
Findings¶
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The farm labour shortage of the 1940s and 1950s is recognised in the literature, but its causes and nature had not been explored. (p. 2)
The critical shortage of farm labour during the 1940s and 1950s has been clearly recognised by several scholars.
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Labour tenancy remained the dominant farm labour system in the Natal Midlands. (p. 3)
In 1941 all Lions River farmers had labour tenants on their farms while two years later the "majority" of New Hanover farmers carried labour tenants.
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Within tenant families, the kraalheads contracted but did not do most of the work; this created intra-family exploitation of the young. (p. 4)
In Weenen and New Hanover only forty to forty-five per cent of kraalheads actually worked
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The shortage of regular workers was mainly caused by the permanent departure of young Africans. (p. 6)
was due largely to the permanent migration of young Africans from the farms
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Urban and rural-town wages greatly exceeded farm wages, drawing workers off farms. (p. 7)
workers at the Estcourt factories and electricity works received from 45-67s per month.
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Migration to towns was a way of resisting farm exploitation and was a fundamental cause of the shortage. (p. 8)
Trekking townwards was a thus major escape route for workers resisting exploitation on the farms.
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The author gives an impressionistic estimate of migrants' destinations, with Johannesburg the main one. (p. 8)
around half of those leaving settled in Johannesberg, around a third in Durban
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One son's desertion put the whole tenant family at risk of eviction, which shows the precarious link to the land. (p. 9)
one son's desertion could lead to the whole family's eviction.
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Labour farms had a market value that reflected control over human labour rather than agricultural land value. (p. 13)
witness pointed out what was of value was not merely the land, "but the right to use human beings."
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The state's attempt to regulate labour tenancy under Chapter IV of the 1936 Act was enforced only once and was abandoned after tenants fled. (p. 15)
Chapter four was enforced only once. In 1937 it was applied in Lydenburg where the raising of the minimum period of service provoked massive tenant migration
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The Native Affairs Department favoured better pay and conditions rather than compulsion to retain farm labour. (p. 15)
While the NAU sought measures to prevent labourers leaving the farms the NAD argued that farmers had to attract workers through better pay and conditions.
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The Native Labour Advisory Boards, set up in 1941 without enforcement powers, failed in the face of farmer hostility. (p. 17)
By 1945 the Native Affairs Department admitted "with regret that they have achieved very little and in many cases have already ceased to function."
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Industry and mining competed with agriculture for labour, which helps explain the government's refusal to intervene. (p. 17)
Both industry and mining's labour demands were at odds with those of organised agriculture.
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The Nationalists initially fell short of organised agriculture's demands, which were met more fully only in the early 1950s. (p. 19)
It was not until the early fifties that the Nationalists were in a strong enough position to adhere more closely to the demands of organised agriculture.
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The conclusion frames the exodus as large-scale everyday resistance. (p. 20)
It was an act of everyday resistance, uncordinated and individualistic, carried out on a remarkably large scale not merely in the Natal Midlands but nationally as well.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fagan Commission (Native Laws Commission of Enquiry) Minutes of Evidence, UCT Manuscripts BC 630 | commission or official report | 1946-1948 | Supplies farmer testimony on labour shortage, failed attempts at full-time service, and views on pass control and identification. |
| Natal Archive Depot (Pietermaritzburg) magistrates' and Native Commissioners' files, e.g. 1\EST 3\1\2\6, 1\NHR 3\2\2\7, 1\HWK 3\2\2\1, 1\RMD 3\3\1\8, 1\WEN 3\3\2\1 | state archives | 1940-1950 | Main evidence for district-level labour shortages, tenant complaints, eviction cases, advisory board functioning and magistrates' local policy. |
| Central Archives Depot, Pretoria: JUS 1013 21\280 Weenen Inspection Reports 1944; NTS 1779 Chief Native Commissioners Conference 1943 and 1944; LDB 1758 R2989 | state archives | 1943-1950 | Shows prevalence of labour tenancy, Native Affairs Department views on compulsion, and farm vs government wage comparisons. |
| Natal Agricultural Union (NAU) Archives, Minutes, Resolutions, Letter Book, NAUNLU | employer association records | 1940-1953 | Documents farmers' repeated resolutions on labour shortage and the NAU's labour control and full-time service policy. |
| The Farmer and Home Companion (FHC) | newspapers periodicals | 1946-1950 | Quotations of farmer complaints about labour loss, dairy farming unpopularity, uniform contract proposals and calls for control. |
| Report of the Native Farm Labour Committee 1937-39 | commission or official report | 1937-1939 | Cited for causes of farm labour desertion (young kraal members, domestic employment) and state policy placing onus on farmers. |
| Second Report of the Commission of Enquiry into Agriculture (Marais Commission), RP 84/1970 | commission or official report | 1970 (on wartime developments) | Used to characterise the wartime agricultural expansion. |
| Report of the Native Affairs Department for the Years 1944-45 | official statistical series | 1944-45 | Shows the department's admission that the advisory boards achieved little. |
| Native Affairs Department General Circulars (No. 20 of 1941; No. 25 of 1942) | legislation gazette | 1941-1942 | Establishes the structure and non-compulsory character of Native Labour Advisory Boards and the restriction on Native Military Corps enlistment. |
| The Native Policy of the Union of South Africa, statement by Dr E.G. Jansen, G.P. S4279, 1950-51 | commission or official report | 1950-51 | Shows the Nationalist government's cautious stance on compulsion for farm labour. |
| Native Land and Trust Act 1936 (Chapter IV) and 1913 Land Act; Native Service Contract Act | legislation gazette | 1913-1940 | Frames the legal basis for rent-paying versus labour tenancy and attempts at labour tenant control. |
| Court case records: 1\CPD 1\1\1\1Y1 Case 1015 of 1947, Meyer v. Hlengwa; 1/WEN 3/3/2/2 Govt. v Estate John Geekie 1947 | state archives | 1947-1950 | Case evidence of conversion of rent-paying tenants to labour tenancy and the market value of labour farms. |
| Pietermaritzburg Commissioner for Cooperation and Development (PCCD) Correspondence, Boxes 3, 4, 6 (N2\10\3 etc.) | state archives | 1942-1946 | Letters from Africans and lawyers seeking land and the Local Health Commission survey of blackspots. |
| Farm Labour Advisory Board, Tabulated Results of Questionnaires (1\HWK 3\2\2\1 2\16\5) | author survey or fieldwork | c.1941-1942 | Used to estimate share of kraalheads obliged to work in Lions River. |
| Oral History Project interview with V.W. Zwane, KCAV 363, Killie Campbell Library | interviews oral history | interview 18.11.1986 | Illustrates intra-family exploitation of young men under labour tenancy. |
| Author interview with T Turton, Durban, March 1989 | interviews oral history | 1989 | Cited for Chief Native Commissioner's comment that no Zulu would go to Pretoria. |
| Umvoti Agricultural Society Minutes, KCL KCM 33662 | employer association records | 1944 | Evidence on seasonal labour shortage in Umvoti. |
| Fifty years of Progress - The Development of Industry in Natal 1905-55 (Natal Chambers of Industries) | secondary literature compilation | 1936-1953 | Provides figures for growth of industrial establishments and employment in Natal. |
| N. Huruwitz, Agriculture in Natal 1860-1950, Natal Regional Survey vol. 12 (1957) | secondary literature compilation | 1860-1950 | Source for estimate that 75 per cent of Natal's farm labour outside coastal areas was labour tenants. |
| I. Edwards, 'Mkhumbane Our Home' (PhD, Natal 1989), incl. 1948 Cato Manor survey of 780 Africans | secondary literature compilation | 1946-1960 (survey 1948) | Used for survey data on rural-urban migration, domestic service and migrant destinations. |
| Magistrates' criminal case records containing labour tenant contracts (calculated by the author) | state archives | 1940s | Basis for the calculation that only 40-45% of kraalheads actually worked. |
| Benoni council investigation 1951 (quoted in Bonner) | secondary literature compilation | 1951 | Indicates employer preference for rural youths in domestic service. |
New data¶
Author-calculated percentage of kraalheads working in Weenen and New Hanover from labour tenant contracts in magistrates' criminal cases, and an impressionistic estimate of migrant destinations from archival sources; no systematic dataset built.
Inference¶
Quantification: Illustrative figures.
Qualitative regional case study of the Natal Midlands built on district-level archival correspondence, farmer association minutes, press and individual case histories, interpreted through the framework of everyday resistance and compared against existing state-centred analyses.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Labour tenancy remained the dominant farm labour system in the Natal Midlands during the 1940s. (p. 3) | Magistrates' reports and advisory board minutes from several districts, plus a secondary estimate (Huruwitz) of 75 per cent labour tenants. | Partial data |
| The shortage of regular farm labour was largely due to young Africans permanently leaving farms, as labour tenancy involved double exploitation by farmers and by the kraalhead. (p. 6) | Native Farm Labour Committee report, farmer complaints, magistrates' letters, Zwane interview and Morris's thesis. | Partial data |
| Higher urban and non-farm wages and expanding industrial and government employment pulled workers from farms. (p. 7) | Natal Chambers of Industries figures, archival comparisons of Estcourt wages, farmer testimony and railway/bush-clearing pay. | Partial data |
| The exact patterns and destinations of off-farm migration are poorly documented and the author's destination estimates are impressionistic. (p. 8) | Scattered archival references to Johannesburg, Durban and other destinations. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Farmers responded by converting rent-paying tenants to labour tenants, using labour farms and drafting uniform contracts, with limited success. (p. 10) | Court cases, magistrates' letters, tenant complaints and Farmer and Home Companion reports of association proposals. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| The state, led by the NAD, refused compulsion and its Advisory Boards failed under farmer opposition, leaving farm labour policy largely non-interventionist in the 1940s. (p. 16) | NAD circulars and reports, magistrates' correspondence, NAU minutes, Duncan's mimeo. | Partial data |
| Industry and mining interests outweighed agriculture in wartime state policy, and Fagan and Sauer commissions and the 1949 NLA Bill reflected a growing consensus for control of African labour, though the Nationalists stayed cautious before the 1950s. (p. 17) | Secondary works (Innes, Hindson, Posel, Morris), Fagan minutes, Jansen statement and Hansard-type quotes. | Partial data |
The author's caveats¶
Author notes there is little evidence on exact off-farm migration patterns and describes his destination estimates as purely impressionistic from archival sources.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument rests on selective quotations from magistrates' files and farmer press with no systematic counts of tenant departures, evictions or wage series by district. Agricultural census data, magistrates' annual returns and farm-level wage and contract data compiled across districts would allow testing of the timing and scale of the shortage and of the claim of 'large scale' resistance. The voices of farmworkers themselves come from a few complaints and one oral interview; more oral histories could have been collected. Many of these records exist in archives now.
Replicability: Data described but not public.