Democracy, Culture and Removals: The History of 'Black-Spot' Communities in Lydenburg, 1943-1961

Literature › Works

Stefan Schirmer (1994). Democracy, Culture and Removals: The History of 'Black-Spot' Communities in Lydenburg, 1943-1961. History Workshop: Democracy, Popular Precedents, Practice, Culture (University of the Witwatersrand, 13-15 July 1994). University of the Witwatersrand, History Workshop.

Type	conference paper
Scope	Wider apartheid literature
Method	archival narrative
Period studied	1900–1961
Regions	Lydenburg district (eastern Transvaal), Sekhukhuneland
Themes	bantustans removals influx, agriculture land, resistance social movements, mining migrant labour, politics ideology elections, origins segregation
Citation key	schirmer1994

Argument

The paper argues that resistance to rural removals was an important social movement that shaped South African history, and it tests this on four African-occupied 'black-spot' farms in Lydenburg. All the communities had strong material reasons to fight for productive land in a white district. Their forms of resistance differed according to their historical identities and their links to urban political movements (ICU, ANC, Communist Party) and to Sekhukhuneland politics. Democratic ideas from the ANC and ICU were absorbed into local notions of legitimate chiefly authority rather than replacing them, and the movements did not lead the struggle. Only the cautious, isolated Manok community at Aapiesdoorndraai kept its land; the more radical communities were removed by force. The paper also argues that 'collaborators' pursued material interests and modified state policy, so the account avoids cultural determinism.

Evidence and method

Native Affairs Department files in the Central Archives Depot (NTS series), commission evidence (Native Economic Commission 1930, Stubbs 1917, Beaumont 1914, Tomlinson c.1952), Wits Historical Papers (including Edith Jones's notes), the Lydenburg News, the African Studies Institute Oral History Project, and the author's own interviews (1990-93) with residents and chiefs' councils. It also uses a 1951 letter from Micha Dinkwanyane, a Boomplaats petition, and secondary work by Delius, Bradford, Platzky and Walker, and others.

Place in the debates

• Role of rural resistance in the rise and fall of apartheid (see Resistance and liberation movements). Supports Bonner et al. that small-scale acts of non-compliance were decisive. Argues that removal resistance was a social movement that exposed the coercive state and indirectly contributed to apartheid's end.
• Political movements versus rural culture in rural resistance (ANC/CP-led mobilisation vs locally rooted struggle) (see Resistance and liberation movements). Holds that ANC, ICU and Communist Party links radicalised resistance and introduced democratic ideas. These movements did not lead the struggle, and their impact cannot be separated from pre-existing rural cultures and determination to keep land.
• Collaboration versus resistance by chiefs and landowners (see Resistance and liberation movements). Rejects cultural determinism. Collaboration was shaped by material rewards and power, and even collaborators (Thorometsane, James Mabowe Sekhukhune) modified state policy.
• Effectiveness of confrontational versus cautious resistance (see Resistance and liberation movements). Finds that open, radical resistance provoked state force and failed in the short term. The tactful, isolated Manok strategy retained the land by denying the NAD grounds to call the community 'unreasonable'.

Findings

• The paper claims that removal resistance deserves recognition as a significant social movement. (p. 2)

  Resistance to rural removals has, until now, not been analyzed as an important social movement that shaped the history of South Africa.

• Political movements intervened in, but did not direct, local struggles. (p. 2)

  The political movements did not, however, lead the struggle, and their impact can not be separated from the rural contexts and cultures into which they intervened.

• Reserve land was scarce and unproductive, which made Lydenburg farms attractive. (p. 3)

  Every seven out of eight years the district had to import maize.

• Lydenburg farms combined agricultural autonomy with continued access to urban wage work. (p. 6)

  Thus, for rent tenants and land owners, Lydenburg offered the best of both worlds: access to productive fields that provided some autonomy from the 'world of the whites'

• Companies sold land to white farmers rather than remove rent-tenants, and white demand for land intensified pressure on black spots. (p. 14)

  most companies who owned land occupied by rent-tenants sold it to white farmers, thus avoiding the responsibility of removing long-standing clients.

• Mosterthoek's lack of urban political links left it unable to resist its 1944 removal. (p. 15)

  Although the Mosterthoek community brought in Basner in 1944, they were unable to link up with urban political movements, because they mainly went no further afield in search of wages than Lydenburg town.

• Masha migrants used dual ANC and ICU membership instrumentally as a resource in the land struggle. (p. 20)

  What we wanted was to build a concrete defence which would protect us from both sides.

• The state used overwhelming police force for the second Kalkfontein removal despite the community's resolve to resist. (p. 20)

  On the 27th of June 1949 the second removal was undertaken with the assistance of sixty armed policemen.

• Land shortage in Sekhukhuneland made the Lydenburg farms regionally significant. (p. 22)

  In 1952 the Native Commissioner estimated that about 10,000 families could make a 'reasonable' (although not secure) living in the area.

• Migrants in the ANC and Communist Party led Sekhukhuneland opposition to Bantu Authorities, which shaped the Boomplaats resistance. (p. 23)

  Their opposition was led by migrants who had become ANC and Communist Party members in the towns.

• Boomplaats resistance ended in forced removal in 1961. (p. 31)

  in 1961 the remaining residents were forced into trucks and their houses were bulldozed.

• The Manok community's tactful cooperation denied the NAD the 'unreasonable' label and let it keep its land. (p. 33)

  In the cases of Kalkfontein and Boomplaats the NAD had declared that the resisting inhabitants were 'unreasonable' and thus undeserving of the provisions of the law.

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source	Kind	Period	How used
Central Archives Depot, Native Affairs Department (NTS) files, e.g. NTS 444/323 Vol. 7120 (Kalkfontein), NTS 2331/308 Vol. 3778 (Boomplaats), NTS 936/308 Vol. 3464 (Aapiesdoorndraai)	state archives	1921-1959	Main documentary basis for reconstructing the removal sequence, state decisions, affidavits and statements by residents, farmers and officials on each black-spot farm.
CAD, Native Affairs Department Memo, 31 January 1946 (NTS 222/280, Vol. 2096) on Sekhukhuneland land conditions and the Sub-Native Commissioner's description	commission or official report	1946	Establishes land shortage in Sekhukhuneland and why Africans sought Lydenburg land.
Native Economic Commission 1930, Lydenburg evidence (WHPL AD 438/AD1438), including Isaac Twale and Major D.R. Hunt	commission or official report	1930	Testimony that reserves were full and land in Lydenburg was attractive.
Stubbs Commission evidence, Lydenburg, 15 October 1917 (Dinkwanyane, Abel Dimpejane, Dirk Kana, Salomon Sipube)	commission or official report	1917-1918	Contrasts how Dinkwanyane's and Manok's communities articulated land claims.
Beaumont Commission, Lydenburg, 30 May 1914: Evidence of Chief Manok	commission or official report	1914	Shows Manok's cautious stance towards the Land Act.
Tomlinson Commission evidence (CAD NK No. 2 Vol. 65; K No. 20 Vol. 54, Chief Maserumule), c1952	commission or official report	c1952	Documents regional land shortage (families vs land) and African views on need for land.
Oral interviews by the author with residents and chiefs' councils (Masha, Manok, Boomplaats, Mosterthoek), 1990-1993	interviews oral history	1990-1993	Evidence on productivity, migrancy, identity, ICU/ANC membership and memories of removals and conflicts.
African Studies Institute Oral History Project, Tape 46 A/B, Interview with Kotana Stefaans Modipa, 1979	interviews oral history	1979	Supports description of Boomplaats irrigation and farming.
Interview by P. Delius with James Mabowe Sekhukhune, 1987 (and Delius's other papers/ unpublished paper)	interviews oral history	1987	Used for the search for the Sterkspruit farm and Thorometsane's role.
Edith Jones' notes on visit to Aapiesdoorndraai, February 1941 and interview with Chief Christian Manok (WHPL AD843)	other	1941	Describes the farm's soil/erosion condition and Manok history.
WHPL AD843/RJ 2.2.6, List of African Occupied Farms in Lydenburg Sekhukhuneland Region, 1938	other	1938	Supports claim that few farms remained for African settlement on the eastern side of the Steelpoort.
Lydenburg News, 14 January 1949; 20 January 1950	newspapers periodicals	1949-1950	Source for Boomplaats farm values and land prices (cited with NAD Agricultural Officer estimate).
Letter from Micha Dinkwanyane to Go Bapedi Tribe, 14 December 1951 (handed to author by Samuel Modipa)	other	1951	Shows Micha urged followers to resist removal.
Petition of Dinkwanyane-Bapedi Tribe, c1956 (drawn up by Mandela and Tambo), CAD NTS 2331/308	state archives	1956	Evidence of ANC lawyers' involvement and community's stated attachment to the farm.
Secondary studies relied on for data and context (Delius on Sebatakgomo, Delius unpublished 1994 paper, Bradford, Platzky & Walker, Mokgatle, Monnig)	secondary literature compilation	1930s-1950s	Context for migrant organisation, ANC/Communist Party radicalisation and ICU history.

Inference

Quantification: Illustrative figures.

Qualitative comparative case study of four to five black-spot communities in Lydenburg, built from NAD archival correspondence and the author's oral interviews, interpreting resistance through identity, migrancy links and political affiliation; comparison across communities and over time.

Key claims

Claim	Basis	Strength
The black-spot farms were productive, giving communities strong material reasons to resist removal. (p. 4)	NAD Agricultural Officer estimates, newspapers, oral interviews and NAD memos; no systematic output data.	Partial data
Different communal identities and external links (urban ICU/ANC, Pedi paramountcy) explain why communities resisted differently. (p. 7)	Stubbs Commission testimony, NAD correspondence, oral interviews comparing communities.	Partial data
Kalkfontein residents' resistance to removal was driven by migrants' links to the ICU and ANC, which served as an alternative broker to chiefs. (p. 15)	NAD files with declarations, police and Sheriff reports; interviews with the Masha council.	Partial data
On Boomplaats, ANC and Sebatakgomo ideas of democratic accountability reshaped local notions of chiefly authority, splitting the community over Chieftainess Thorometsane. (p. 28)	NAD files (affidavits, memos), interviews, Delius's work.	Partial data
Aapiesdoorndraai's cautious, cooperative, isolated strategy let the Manok community keep their land, while more militant communities were forcibly removed. (p. 33)	NAD correspondence quoting Hendrik Manok and the Native Commissioner; oral testimony.	Illustrative or anecdotal
Collaboration by chiefs and landowners was driven by material considerations, not only culture, and itself modified state policy. (p. 26)	NAD correspondence on Sterkspruit and testimony on rewards offered to Thorometsane.	Partial data
Land pressure in Sekhukhuneland sharpened in the 1950s, making Lydenburg struggles resonate regionally. (p. 21)	Native Commissioner's 1952 estimate to Tomlinson Commission and Maserumule's testimony.	Partial data

The author's caveats

Acknowledges limited evidence in places, e.g. 'Not a lot of evidence exists' on the Manok-Neethling relationship; notes that histories and identities were 'interpreted and manufactured', and relies on remembered accounts and unspecified lawyer outcomes.

Gaps in the evidence

The argument rests on NAD files that reflect official perspectives and on retrospective interviews conducted 40 years later, so there is little independent data on farm output, rents, migrant earnings or membership numbers of ICU/ANC. Court records, Lydenburg farmers' association minutes, ICU/ANC branch records, and farm-level agricultural or population surveys would better test the claims. Some of these (court files, Native Affairs Department and Department of Lands files) existed then and survive in archives today.

Replicability: Data described but not public.