Land and Rural Livelihoods in Late Twentieth Century South Africa: The Case of Farm Tenants in the Weenen District circa 1960-1989¶
Chizuko Sato (2012). Land and Rural Livelihoods in Late Twentieth Century South Africa: The Case of Farm Tenants in the Weenen District circa 1960-1989. Paper presented at the XVIth World Economic History Congress, Stellenbosch University, 9-13 July 2012.
| Type | conference paper |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1960–1989 |
| Regions | Weenen district, KwaZulu-Natal, Msinga (KwaZulu), Tugela Estates, Estcourt and Klipriver districts |
| Themes | agriculture land, bantustans removals influx, labour markets wages, resistance social movements, demography urbanisation, inequality poverty unemployment, transition post apartheid |
| Citation key | sato2012 |
Argument¶
Sato argues that the abolition of labour tenancy in Weenen in 1969 sharply depopulated African tenants from white farms but did not end farm tenancy, and the transition to full-time farm labour was uneven from farm to farm. Prolonged evictions raised racial tension between white farmers, remaining tenants and residents of neighbouring Msinga, and this conflict is an important background to post-apartheid land reform. Tenants and the support NGO AFRA pressed for expropriation of specific labour farms so tenants could stay in the district, and defended a multiple-livelihoods strategy combining migrant earnings, pensions, informal activity and livestock. The case is built from newspaper reports, Bantu Affairs Department archives, SPP reports, census tables and a 1989 household survey.
Evidence and method¶
KwaZulu-Natal Archives (Department of Development Aid files, including minutes of quarterly meetings with the Weenen Commissioner), AFRA and Peter Brown papers, contemporary newspapers (Natal Mercury, Daily News, Sunday Tribune, Natal Witness), Surplus People Project reports (1983), Central Statistical Services census data 1946-1980 (Table 1), and the Todes and Krone (1990) survey of 70 households in the Mngwenya valley.
Place in the debates¶
- Land restitution and the meaning of land: homogeneous 'community' and ancestral land claims vs differentiated, livelihood-based interests (see Agricultural policy, productivity, farm size and land reform). Sato extends the critique of 'community' (Walker, James) by showing that farm tenants differed from black-spot communities: their livelihoods were more firmly rural, evictions were driven largely by farmers, and they justified land demands by local residence and rural livelihoods.
- Rural development strategy: urbanisation or resettlement camps vs support for existing landed multiple livelihoods (see Agricultural policy, productivity, farm size and land reform). Sympathetic to the AFRA/WECOP position that development should reinforce tenants' existing survival strategies on the land, against the TBDA camp-upgrading proposal and McIntosh's urbanisation proposal.
- State-driven vs farmer-driven removal of farm labour tenants (see Farm labour: mechanisation, labour shedding, wages and labour control). Holds that tenant evictions were less orchestrated by the state than black-spot removals and were often carried out by individual farmers, especially after the mid-1970s.
Findings¶
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The 1969 abolition of labour tenancy in Weenen forced full-time work on terms tenants found unattractive, and refusers were evicted; SPP estimated 10,000-20,000 people left farms. (p. 4)
Those who refused to work for farmers on a full-time basis were evicted from farms. The SPP estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 people left farms during these three years
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Census data corroborate drastic rural depopulation in Weenen between 1960 and 1970, though less than the SPP estimate. (p. 5)
The rural population in Weenen decreased by 44% from 16,720 to 9,301 between these two periods (Table 1).
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The census undercounted Africans in Weenen, so the official figures are only indicative. (p. 5)
The census figure for 1960 is 19,533 which is more than 5,000 short of the 1964 figure (about 25,000) provided by the Bantu Affairs Commissioner in Weenen.3
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Weenen farmers themselves requested the proclamation, to protect about 18 farmers who had failed to register tenants, but quickly regretted it as labour shortages emerged. (p. 6)
Farmers realised their mistake quickly when the usual six-month employment period for labour tenants ended at the end of June 1969 and many of the latter refused to accept to work for another six-months
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Wages offered to tenants were extremely low and rose only under labour pressure; farmers also paid very little for evicted tenants' cattle. (p. 6)
Others who at first refused to take up permanent work on farms accepted full-time employment when farmers doubled their monthly wages to R12 and agreed to accommodate them on their farms
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The Weenen turmoil led the government to freeze labour tenant contracts nationally and let Natal farmers keep existing contracts, so the experience prolonged labour tenancy elsewhere in the province. (p. 6-7)
In mid-1970 the government announced “a freeze on labour tenant contracts” that applied to the entire country.
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Resettlement of evicted tenants on the Tugela Estates produced overcrowding, scarce local employment, dependence on migrant work and social grants, and violent clan conflict. (p. 7)
Nearly 40 percent of the male population was away for the majority of their time working as migrant workers.
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Evictions escalated border conflict, with farmers shooting African-owned livestock and threatening stock thieves. (p. 8)
More farmers, realising the ineffectiveness of their verbal reprimands to African trespassers, started to simply shoot livestock belonging to Africans without informing the owners.9
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Tenancy was not eradicated: about 3,000 tenant families remained in 1977, and later evictions were mostly private decisions by farmers. (p. 9)
The Weenen Commissioner estimated in 1977 that there were still about 3,000 tenant families living in the district.
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Tenants rejected resettlement in an emergency camp and pressed for expropriation of specific labour farms; about 600 tenants rejected the NPA plan at a meeting. (p. 10-11)
about 600 farm tenants present at the meeting rejected it and instead requested to be allowed to stay on farms.
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A 1989 survey found household economies strongly rural and multi-sourced, with livestock holding near universal. (p. 11)
Almost all households (91%) in the survey kept some kind of livestock and more than half (47 households) owned cows.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population Census 1985: Geographical Distribution with a Review for 1960-1985, Report No. 02-85-01 (African population of Weenen, Estcourt, Klipriver districts, 1946-1980) | population census | 1946-1980 | Table 1 compares rural/urban African population trends across the three districts to quantify depopulation in Weenen after abolition of labour tenancy. |
| Surplus People Project, Forced Removals in South Africa, Volume IV, Natal (incl. 1980 survey at Tugela Estates) | commission or official report | 1983 (covering 1960s-1980) | Supplies estimates of 10,000-20,000 people leaving farms, accounts of the chaotic transition, and a survey of Tugela Estates conditions. |
| Surplus People Project, Forced Removals in South Africa, Volume I, General Overview | secondary literature compilation | 1960-1983 | Source of the estimate that more than 3.5 million people were relocated 1960-1983. |
| Bantu Affairs Commissioner, Weenen to Chief BAC, 21 October 1964, N2/11/3/1, Vol. 766, DDA file, NAB | state archives | 1964-1965 | Provides a 1964 official estimate of about 25,000 Africans, used to show census undercount in Weenen. |
| DDA files, NAB: Quarterly meetings minutes (Kwartaallikse vergaderings) N1/15/4, Vols 770-772, 1972-1983 | state archives | 1972-1983 | Documents African tenants' grievances, requests to stay in Weenen, farmer-tenant violence, and the 1981 Sosibo letter on '24 farms'. |
| DDA files, NAB: correspondence on border conflicts and stock theft (N2/10/2 Vol.770; N2/1/2 Vol.771), 1971-1978 | state archives | 1971-1978 | Shows border farmers' complaints, chief's policing and farmers shooting African livestock. |
| DDA files, NAB: BAD memos and CBAC notes on Tugela Estates purchase, 1965 (N2/11/3/1, Vol.766); BAC Weenen to CBAC 28 July 1977 (N1/15/4 Vol.771) | state archives | 1965-1977 | Establishes plans for resettlement land and the 1977 estimate of about 3,000 remaining tenant families. |
| AFRA Weenen File (AWF), AFRA Resource Centre, Pietermaritzburg (Sosibo papers, TBDA minutes and report, AFRA reports) | union or movement records | 1982-1989 | Documents the WECOP/Sosibo leadership, the TBDA vs AFRA proposals and the 1988 NPA meeting. |
| Peter Brown Papers (PC16/3 AFRA collection), Alan Paton Centre and Struggle Archives, UKZN | state archives | 1987-1989 | Provides AFRA correspondence and the Weenen Evictions Dossier on the expropriation proposal. |
| Todes and Krone [1990], The Case for a Landed Development Strategy for Weenen Households Affected by Removals (survey of 70 households, Mngwenya valley, 1989) | author survey or fieldwork | 1989 | Supplies household survey findings on multiple income sources and livestock holdings, supporting the livelihoods argument. |
| Natal Mercury (1967-1971) | newspapers periodicals | 1967-1988 | Reports farmers' reasons for requesting abolition, evictions, wage levels, cattle buying 'ring', and NAU congress comments. |
| Other newspapers: Daily News, Sunday Tribune, Sunday Times, Natal Witness, Estcourt News, Echo, Sowetan (1967-1990) | newspapers periodicals | 1967-1990 | Document the 2,796 people removed by government lorries, labour recruitment, clan clashes, farmer violence, tent towns and the 1988 debate. |
| Du Toit Commission (1960) and Nel Committee (1961) reports, as cited via Davenport and Hunt and Williams | commission or official report | 1960-1961 | Establishes the shift in state policy toward abolishing labour tenancy. |
| Legislation: Land Acts 1913/1936, Native Laws Amendment Act 1952, 1954 and 1964 amendments to the Natives Trust and Land Act, Act 43 of 1983, Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act 52 of 1951 | legislation gazette | 1913-1983 | Provides the legal framework for labour tenancy abolition, evictions and conservation pressure. |
Inference¶
Quantification: Descriptive tables.
Local case study combining a district-level census comparison (Weenen vs Estcourt and Klipriver) with qualitative reading of Bantu Affairs Department archives, NGO papers and newspapers, plus one commissioned household survey, to narrate the effects of labour tenancy abolition and the emergence of tenant land demands.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Abolition of labour tenancy in 1969 caused drastic depopulation of African farm residents in Weenen, unlike neighbouring districts. (p. 5) | CSS 1985 census Table 1 (rural population fell 44% 1960-70) and the SPP estimate of 10,000-20,000 evicted; contrasted with Estcourt and Klipriver. | Partial data |
| The official census undercounted Africans in Weenen, so census figures are only a rough guide to the scale of eviction. (p. 5) | Comparison of the 1960 census figure with the 1964 Bantu Affairs Commissioner estimate from DDA archives. | Partial data |
| The 1969 turmoil in Weenen led the government to freeze labour tenant contracts nationally and allowed labour tenancy to persist in Natal. (p. 6) | Natal Mercury and Daily News reports plus SPP Vol. IV account. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Evictions and resettlement on the Tugela Estates and in Msinga intensified resource competition and violent racial and intra-African conflict, including farmers shooting livestock. (p. 7) | SPP 1980 Tugela Estates survey, DDA archive correspondence and quarterly meeting minutes, and Sunday Tribune/Times reports. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| Labour tenancy was not fully eradicated; about 3,000 tenant families remained in 1977 and evictions continued through private farmer decisions and the 1983 conservation Act. (p. 9) | Weenen Commissioner's 1977 estimate (DDA file), Sosibo and AFRA papers, and the Act of 1983. | Partial data |
| Tenants combined several income sources and depended on land and livestock, supporting a demand to stay on specific labour farms rather than be urbanised or placed in emergency camps. (p. 11) | Todes and Krone 1989 survey of 70 households, plus Sosibo and AFRA documents and the 1988 meeting of 600 tenants. | Partial data |
| Weenen farmers requested abolition of labour tenancy because about 18 farmers failed to register tenants and feared losing labour. (p. 5-6) | Single Natal Mercury article of 15 October 1969 citing farmers' comments. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
The author's caveats¶
The author notes the generally unsatisfactory nature of the national census of the black population and that the Weenen census significantly undercounts Africans. Boundary changes between 1960 and 1970 (with the creation of KwaZulu) make direct district comparisons problematic. The SPP eviction estimates are described as estimates larger than the census implies, and the Todes and Krone report was not widely circulated.
Gaps in the evidence¶
The argument rests on a single census table with known undercount and boundary changes, plus an unverifiable SPP estimate; farm-level registers of labour tenants (the 1968 registration lists) or magistrate eviction and squatting-charge records could test the scale and timing of evictions, and these appear to survive in the archives. Evidence on farmer-tenant violence comes mostly from newspapers and the Bantu Affairs Commissioner's meeting minutes, with no systematic count of incidents, impoundings or shootings. Tenant livelihoods are documented by one 70-household survey from 1989; earlier household-level data on income, wages and livestock for the 1960s-80s would be needed to assess change over time.
Replicability: Data described but not public.