Differential access to the state: White farmers in the Natal Midlands, 1900-1930¶
Robert Morrell (1990). Differential access to the state: White farmers in the Natal Midlands, 1900-1930. Paper to the Fifth Triennial History Workshop Conference, Structure and Experience in the Making of Apartheid. University of the Witwatersrand, History Workshop.
| Type | conference paper |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1900–1930 |
| Regions | Natal Midlands, Natal, Transvaal (comparative), Orange Free State (comparative) |
| Themes | agriculture land, origins segregation, business and state, labour markets wages, politics ideology elections |
| Citation key | morrell1990 |
Argument¶
Morrell examines how white farmers in the Natal Midlands related to the local state, above all the Resident Magistrate, and how this relationship sustained farmer power over Africans. Against Keegan's picture of a distant, unobtrusive rural state, he argues that rurally based officials had a real presence and impact. A thinly staffed, cash-strapped state relied on farmers as part of its outermost apparatus (JPs, crop reporters, farmers' association links), while farmers relied on magistrates and the Master and Servants Act to secure labour and discipline. Social, kinship and organisational overlaps between magistrates and farmers confirmed class and race power. The relationship was not seamless: the Native Affairs Department (NAD) and some magistrates resisted farmer demands, and farmers were divided among themselves. The paper is explicitly tentative, being part of ongoing doctoral research.
Evidence and method¶
Central Archives Depot and Natal Archives Depot files (NAU resolutions, Native Affairs, Justice, Agriculture correspondence), farmers' association minute books, the Natal Agricultural Journal, museum transcripts and a few interviews, and secondary literature (Keegan, Welsh, Burton-Clark, Louden, Delius, Trapido).
Place in the debates¶
- Role of the state vs white populism and struggle in shaping rural relations of production (Keegan thesis) (see Agrarian transition to capitalism and the fate of the African peasantry). Disputes Keegan's view of the state as a distant, unobtrusive actor; argues that local officials, especially magistrates, had real impact and were intertwined with farmers.
- Origins of racism and segregation in Natal (liberal frontier thesis vs mineral revolution/economic explanations) (see Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War). Rejects Welsh's frontier/liberal explanation as 'off the mark'. Stresses continuities in white views of Zulus and the role of labour-hungry farmers, alongside Zulu resistance shaping settler ethnic perceptions.
- Strength and autonomy of the South African state vs farmer power (see The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital). Argues the state was responsive to white farmer pressure and incapacity-ridden, so it drew farmers into its apparatus. Yet the NAD retained some autonomy and often frustrated farmers.
Findings¶
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Morrell characterises Keegan's rural state as minimal, and sets out to counter this. (p. 4)
In Keegan's analysis the state becomes a distant and almost unobtrusive actor in the countryside.
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Central thesis: rural state officials, especially magistrates, were consequential actors. (p. 4)
In this paper it will be shown that the state through its rurally based officials (particularly the Resident Magistrate (RM)) had a presence and impact in the countryside.
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Settler labour hunger drove racial policy in Natal despite scholarly unfashionability of economic explanations. (p. 10)
this was in Natal a theme constantly echoed by frustrated, labour-hungry farmers.
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Scarcity of officials gave magistrates outsized local influence. (p. 14)
Paradoxically, their scarcity gave local state officials great influence.
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Rural white domination depended on coercion, both judicial and extra-judicial. (p. 16)
White power in the countryside rested on brute force (both judicial and informal) and on the potential of coercive sanction.
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Justices of the Peace, drawn from leading farmers, fused state authority with farmer power. (p. 20)
In his person the awesome authority of the state and the real on-the-ground power of farmers and landowners converged.
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Boston periodical court was reinstated on a tiny white petition without consulting the African majority, illustrating state machinery serving white farmers. (p. 27)
This is a classic example of state judicial machinery being made available to whites without reference to demography or justice.
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The NAD refused farmer demands to revive isibalo labour, showing limits on farmer influence. (p. 28)
This resolution practically means a reversion to Isibalo which the Government has already decided not to re-introduce.
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As the ICU grew in the 1920s, farmers resorted to evictions, which police sometimes declined to enforce. (p. 28)
As the ICU gathered momentum in the Natal countryside, white farmers began evicting tenants.
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Conclusion: farmers had direct power over their own labourers but needed the state to secure labour as agriculture commercialised. (p. 30)
farmers in the Natal Midlands were not able to act like raiders in a lawless land, seizing what they would and bringing Africans directly under their control.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natal Agricultural Union (NAU) Congress resolutions, 1911-1926 (CAD, BNS 241, 1/71; CAD, NTS 9252, 1/371 Part 1; CAD, SAS 1315, RG 19/9) | employer association records | 1911-1926 | Used to show farmer racial attitudes and demands on labour, JPs and evictions. |
| Native Affairs Department correspondence files (CAD, NTS 9252, 1/371, Part 1): CNC/SNA letters and NAD responses to NAU resolutions, 1914-1928 | state archives | 1914-1928 | Shows NAD refusal of isibalo, response on police evictions in Estcourt, and NAD views of Africans and farmers. |
| Department of Justice files (CAD, JUS 328, 548, 553, 566, 638) | state archives | 1921-1931 | Evidences the SAP house-hire complaint, the Boston periodical court petition, the Impendhle border dispute, Vigilance Committees and magistrate overload. |
| Department of Agriculture crop reporting files (CAD, LDB 921, 924, 926: R1074/3/1, /3, /16, /32) | state archives | 1915-1926 | Shows how magistrates selected progressive white farmers as crop reporters and how the system changed in 1921. |
| Natal Archives Depot files (NAD, SNA 208, 1134/1895; SNA 1/1/325; SNA 1/1/380; CSO 1772; NHC 11/11/16) | state archives | 1892-1907 | Gives magistrate's office budget, 1890s magistrate behaviour, and evictions to Zululand under the Native Law Code. |
| The Natal Agricultural Journal (1903, 1904, 1909) | newspapers periodicals | 1903-1909 | Source for farmer views on labour discipline and whipping and for biographical details of JPs and magistrates' families. |
| Impendhle District Farmers Association Minute Book; Minutes of the Donnybrook Farmers Association | employer association records | 1911-1913 | Shows FAs inviting magistrates onto executives and endorsing continued evictions practice. |
| Baynesfield Museum transcripts of interviews (1978, 1980-81) and Baynesfield Estate | interviews oral history | 1978-1981 | Describes Joseph Baynes's private punishments and neighbours' resentment. |
| Greytown Museum, 'Greytown People', files on Fannin and Giles | other | 19th century | Documents overlap between magistrates, farmers and the armed forces. |
| Author's interviews (Ms M Mingay, 1988; Frank Isaac, 1989) | interviews oral history | 1988-1989 | Supports present-day farmer views of African virility and paperwork burdens. |
| Burton-Clark, 'Land and Labour in Weenen County, Natal, c1880-1910' (MSocSci thesis, 1988) | secondary literature compilation | c1880-1910 | Relied on for magistrate-farmer cooperation on labour supply and divergent magistrates' conduct. |
| J B Louden, White Farmers Black Labour-tenants (1970) | secondary literature compilation | 1960s | Used for farmer ethnicity ideas, whipping practices and the gap between farmers and outsider magistrates. |
| Morrell, Padayachee and Vawda, 'Banking, Credit and Capital in Colonial Natal' (1989) | secondary literature compilation | c1850-1910 | Supports the claim that government relied on local banks for tax collection. |
| Colonial legislation: Ordinance 3 of 1849, Law 22 of 1883, Act 47 of 1903, Master and Servants Act, Natives Taxation and Development Act 1925 | legislation gazette | 1849-1925 | Establishes the legal powers of magistrates, the grants to agricultural organisations and eviction mechanisms. |
| The Advertizer (26 April 1912) and Ilanga (letter of J Ray Msimang, 29 June 1921) | newspapers periodicals | 1912, 1921 | Reports of NAU resolutions and an African critique of NAD silence. |
Inference¶
Quantification: None.
Qualitative local case study of the Natal Midlands (c.1900-1930) built from archival correspondence, association minutes, periodicals and interviews, with illustrative episodes, and comparison with Transvaal and OFS secondary literature. The author states that the conclusions are tentative.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Resident magistrates were the key local state presence, and farmers harnessed them through social, family and organisational ties. (p. 15) | Family and military anecdotes (Leslie, Giles, Fannin), FA constitutions and Burton-Clark; no systematic survey of magistrates. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Periodical courts were reestablished for farmers' convenience on a petition of a small white minority, without consulting Africans. (p. 26) | CAD JUS 566, 2957/30 on the Boston court, with the petition signatures and the magistrate's argument. | Partial data |
| Farmers and magistrates worked an informal eviction system via FAs, and farmers feared its end after Union. (p. 25) | Impendhle FA minutes, CNC/SNA correspondence and Native Law Code references. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Magistrates relied on local progressive farmers as JPs and crop reporters, confirming class and race divisions. (p. 21) | LDB crop reporting files and NAU resolutions; named examples (Comrie, Winter, E B Morrell, W J Fly). | Partial data |
| The NAD was not an amenable instrument of farmers, refusing isibalo and defending police over evictions, though it shared their racial attitudes. (p. 28) | NAD responses to NAU resolutions and CNC/SNA memos in CAD NTS 9252. | Partial data |
| Farmer organisations expressed white supremacist and racially exclusive views across many issues beyond labour. (p. 9) | NAU Congress resolutions of 1911-1926 and the Nottingham Road police house-hire complaint. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| State officials shared farmer racial attitudes but translated them into trusteeship language, and the gap widened with central policy and outside appointments. (p. 10-11) | Quoted NAD officials (Wheelwright, Godley as reported by Msimang) and Louden; the author calls it a cursory look. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
The author says the research is part of ongoing doctoral work and that the conclusions are tentative. He admits he cannot yet identify what benefits crop reportage gave farmers, cannot yet analyse changes in the state's rural agenda, and that it is too early to make firm pronouncements about the NAD. He calls the look at racial attitudes cursory.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument rests on selected archival episodes and does not systematically trace magistrates' decisions, such as case registers of Master and Servants prosecutions, eviction orders or periodical court records. These would test how far farmers actually obtained favourable outcomes. Magistrates' biographical and kinship data and farm-level data on farmer wealth and labour would permit quantification and comparison with other districts or provinces; such records existed in the Natal and Central Archives and could be built into a prosopographic dataset now. African voices and a counterfactual comparison (for example other regions) are largely absent.
Replicability: Data described but not public.