African Strategies and Ideologies in a White Farming District: Lydenburg, 1930-1970¶
Stefan Schirmer (1995). African Strategies and Ideologies in a White Farming District: Lydenburg, 1930-1970. Journal of Southern African Studies, 21(3). Taylor & Francis.
| Type | journal article |
| Scope | Economics and economic history of apartheid |
| Method | archival narrative |
| Period studied | 1930–1970 |
| Regions | Lydenburg district, Eastern Transvaal, Sekhukhuneland, South Africa (national context) |
| Themes | agriculture land, labour markets wages, resistance social movements, bantustans removals influx, mining migrant labour, demography urbanisation, politics ideology elections |
| Citation key | schirmer1995 |
Argument¶
African labour tenants in Lydenburg resisted white farmers' rising labour demands and state regulation, aiming to keep land, cattle and a measure of autonomy. This everyday resistance, along with a determined 1938 mass refusal of Chapter Four of the 1936 Land Act, frustrated state attempts to control farm labour. Family struggles over generation and gender shaped tenants' strategies, and from the 1940s parents became more willing to let youths migrate to towns. The 1950s labour bureaux and the 1957 extension of Chapter Four also failed, so the state chose to abolish labour tenancy rather than regulate it. Schirmer argues that class analysis alone is inadequate and that the end of labour tenancy came from racial state coercion, not an inevitable capitalist transformation.
Evidence and method¶
Oral history interviews with dozens of former Lydenburg residents (1990-93). Archival material: Native Economic Commission evidence (1930), Native Farm Labour Committee (1937), Native Affairs Department files, Native Commissioner reports, Standard Bank inspection reports, House of Assembly debates, Agricultural Censuses, Justice Department pass statistics, the Nel Commission (1960), and Rheinallt Jones papers at Wits Historical Papers.
Place in the debates¶
- Transition to agrarian capitalism and the role of resistance (teleological class-based revisionism) (see Agrarian transition to capitalism and the fate of the African peasantry). Rejects the view that rural South Africa moved towards a developed capitalist mode of production, in which resistance only drives change between predetermined stages. Argues that African resistance shaped the distinctive path of change.
- Class analysis vs race, culture and consciousness in explaining farm relations (see Agrarian transition to capitalism and the fate of the African peasantry). Class analysis is 'helpful but inadequate'. Racial domination, patriarchal family structures and ideas of autonomy and slavery explain tenant behaviour, and racial solidarity often overrode class divisions.
- Why labour tenancy was abolished (see Agrarian transition to capitalism and the fate of the African peasantry). Abolition came mainly from the failure of state regulation in the face of African resistance, together with massive racial coercion by the apartheid state, rather than a fully developed capitalist transformation of the countryside.
Findings¶
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Small-scale, persistent tenant resistance blocked the aims of apartheid farm labour policy. (p. 2)
The persistence of this small scale resistance prevented Apartheid labour policies from achieving their objectives.
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The 1938 Lydenburg-only proclamation of Chapter Four of the 1936 Land Act imposed registration and a six-month labour period on labour tenants. (p. 7)
all labour tenant contracts had to be registered at the Native Commissioner's office, and had to include a 6-month labour period, to be performed by the tenant or a 'grown up' member of his family.
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Tenants mass-refused registration, so Chapter Four was a failure and was later withdrawn. (p. 8)
By October 587 out of a total 6185 labour tenants had been registered.
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Tenants' conflict with farmers was less about wages than about preserving independence from the capitalist economy. (p. 8)
the conflict on the farms was not so much about limiting economic exploitation (getting more pay for less work) as it was about maintaining elements of independence that allowed African families to avoid wholesale participation in the emerging capitalist economy.
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Net movement off white farms reversed after 1936, as the national migration trend cited from Simkins shows. (p. 12)
until 1936, slightly more Africans moved to white farming districts than those who left. This trend was 'sharply reversed' after 1936, and until 1951.
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Travel passes issued in Lydenburg rose sharply in the 1940s, showing growing migrancy from the farms. (p. 13)
In 1942, 1147; in 1943, 1380; and in 1944, 1000 passes were issued.
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Mine recruiters widened local recruiting in the 1940s because of foreign labour shortages and manufacturing growth, which probably drew in farm youths. (p. 13)
in the 1940s the gold mines started expanding their local recruiting net because 'foreign' recruits were initially not available in sufficient numbers to replace those South Africans who were increasingly finding employment in the booming manufacturing sector.
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The 1953 labour bureau failed in its early years because Africans refused to be channelled through it. (p. 16)
The state regulations did not work as effectively as hoped, mostly because of the tenacity of African resistance.
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Urban labour bureaux and influx control slowed urbanisation and swelled the district's African population, easing farmers' labour anxieties. (p. 17)
The number of Africans resident in the district grew from 40,000 in 1955 to 47,000 at the end of 1956.
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The state extended Chapter Four nationally in 1957 and set up a Labour Tenant Control Board, which threatened tenants' bargaining power. (p. 17)
In 1957 the state turned the screw further by applying Chapter Four, in an adapted form, throughout South Africa, and by establishing a Labour Tenant Control Board in Lydenburg.
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The state abandoned regulation and decided to abolish labour tenancy nationally around 1960. (p. 18)
the state, after consulting most farmers' organisations, decided to abolish labour tenancy throughout South Africa.
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Labour tenancy was ultimately destroyed by apartheid state coercion rather than capitalist transformation. (p. 20)
In the end it was, in fact, the massive, racial coercion of the Apartheid state, not a fully-developed capitalist transformation of the countryside, that destroyed labour tenancy in Lydenburg.
Evidence ledger¶
Sources used¶
| Source | Kind | Period | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oral history interviews with ex-residents of Lydenburg (dozens, 1990-1993; e.g. Sekwati Hlatswayo, Rose Masilela, Letta Mabuza, Monica Letsoane) | interviews oral history | interviews 1990-1993, recalling 1930s-1960s | Supplies evidence of African consciousness, family struggles, motives for resisting Chapter Four, and decisions to migrate or stay. |
| Native Economic Commission evidence from Lydenburg, 18 and 21 August 1930 (WHPL AD 1438/AD/438) | commission or official report | 1930 | Testimonies of farmers and tenants establish that labour tenancy was almost the only labour relationship, its variety, and tenant grievances. |
| Department of Agriculture, 'Memoranda issued by the Department of Agriculture', ca. 1930 (CAD, Department of Agriculture (R), 3633) | state archives | c.1930 | Shows that outside the Cape farm labour depended on squatter/tenant labour tied to land and grazing. |
| Agricultural Census Nos. 12 (U.G. 35-30), 15 (U.G. 54-36), 16 (U.G. 59-37), 19, 20, 24, 29 (U.G. 49/1958), 32 (U.G. 70/1960) and 37 (1962) | agricultural census | 1929-1962 | Gives farm numbers and sizes, tractor numbers, farm size distribution and income bands, and Lydenburg's productivity rank. |
| Standard Bank Archives, Lydenburg Inspection Reports (INSP 1/1/313, 1/1/362, 1/1/373), 1931-1938 | company records or reports | 1931-1938 | Evidence on crop prices, production growth and uneven farm performance in the 1930s. |
| Farming in South Africa (periodical), December 1936 and June 1956 | newspapers periodicals | 1936, 1956 | Supports claims of production and price recovery after 1933 and record maize output in 1955. |
| House of Assembly Debates, 1925 (Nieuwenhuize) and 17 March 1932 | parliamentary debates | 1925, 1932 | Shows farmers' low profit margins and the labour shortage in Lydenburg. |
| Native Farm Labour Committee evidence from Lydenburg, 19 November 1937 (CAD K 356) | commission or official report | 1937 | Shows tenants moving to large farms and the views of Sabi location board, and Nathan Modipa's representations. |
| Native Affairs Department files NTS 97/362 (Vols 8835, 8837, 8838): Native Commissioner and Chief Native Commissioner reports on Chapter Four, 1938-1958 | state archives | 1938-1958 | Documents implementation of and opposition to Chapter Four (registrations, departures, meetings, Jacobsz complaint) and later Control Board evictions. |
| NAD labour bureau files NTS 289/280 (Vol. 2167), 436/280 (Vol. 2223), 32/280 (Vol. 2214), 897/280A (Vol. 2316) | state archives | 1938-1959 | Traces the labour bureau's ineffectiveness, farmer and African attitudes, and local population growth in the 1950s. |
| CAD Department of Justice file JUS 552/29 Vol. 462: inspector and magistrate reports on travel passes issued in Lydenburg, 1927-1953 | state archives | 1927-1953 | Supplies counts of travel passes used as an index of migrancy, rising in the 1940s and falling in the early 1950s. |
| Rheinallt Jones and related papers at Wits Historical Papers (AD 843: RJ 101.27, RJ 2.2.6, RJ/C6.1, B53.7; B44/3 SAIRR) | union or movement records | 1938-1941 | Letters from Africans (Mnisi, Modipa, Morena) and Rheinallt Jones's report document the 1938 opposition and later conditions. |
| Minutes of Evidence of the Eastern Transvaal Native Land Committee (Stubbs), U.G. 32-18, 1918 | commission or official report | 1917-1918 | Testimony illustrates long-standing African claims to land against white claims. |
| African Studies Institute Oral History Project interview with T. R. Molotsi | interviews oral history | n.d. | Quoted to show African rejection of white land claims. |
| Simkins, 'African Population, Employment and Incomes on Farms Outside the Reserves, 1923-1969', Carnegie Conference Paper No. 25 | secondary literature compilation | 1923-1969 | National estimates of net migration to and from white farms used to benchmark Lydenburg's pass trends. |
| Report into Agricultural Credit (De Swardt), U.G. 16-61 | commission or official report | 1961 | Supports claim of expanded credit to cooperatives promoting mechanisation after the war. |
| Inter-departmental Commission of Enquiry into the Labour Tenant System (Nel Commission), 3 vols, 1960 | commission or official report | 1960 | Cited for the state's decision to abolish labour tenancy nationally. |
| Boomplaats removal files (CAD NTS 2331/308 Vol. 3778) and letter from Micha Dinkwanyane, 1951 | state archives | 1951-1960 | Documents state plans for and resistance to removal of Boomplaats residents and settlement of tenants there. |
| Lydenburg District Farmers Union to Transvaal Agricultural Union, 1 July 1968 (CAD BAO 23/1396 Vol. 2116) | employer association records | 1968 | Shows farmer opposition in 1968 to proclaiming abolition of labour tenancy because of African objections. |
| Rheinallt Jones, 'Farm Labour in the Transvaal', Race Relations, 12, 1 (1943) | newspapers periodicals | 1943 | Contemporary statement that labour tenancy was the basis of Transvaal farm labour. |
New data¶
Dozens of oral history interviews with former Lydenburg farm residents conducted by the author 1990-1993, plus pass-issue counts and farm statistics compiled from archival and census sources; no formal dataset is released.
Inference¶
Quantification: Illustrative figures.
Qualitative local case study combining oral testimony with state archival correspondence and commission evidence, tracing change over time (1930, 1938, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s). Scattered statistics (census farm counts, pass numbers, registrations) illustrate trends; causal claims about the impact of resistance rest on interpretive reading of official records and recollections.
Key claims¶
| Claim | Basis | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Labour tenants in 1938 overwhelmingly resisted Chapter Four of the 1936 Land Act, refusing to register or leaving the district, and thereby forced its withdrawal. (p. 515) | Native Commissioner and Chief Native Commissioner reports (NTS 97/362), registration figures, Rheinallt Jones's letters, and interviews. | Partial data |
| Tenants' resistance was driven less by wages than by a desire to keep land, cattle and autonomy and avoid wholesale incorporation into the wage economy. (p. 515) | Interviews with former tenants, the Native Economic Commission testimony (Twale), and Native Commissioner reports. | Illustrative or anecdotal |
| During and after World War Two, deteriorating farm conditions and mechanisation led many young men to leave the farms permanently or as migrants, with parents increasingly supporting this. (p. 520) | Travel pass counts from Justice Department reports, Simkins's national trends, tractor numbers from agricultural censuses, interviews (Mapanga, Masilela, Mabuza). | Partial data |
| The 1950s labour bureaux and influx controls slowed urbanisation, but the bureaux achieved little at first because Africans avoided being channelled through them. (p. 523) | NAD correspondence (NTS 289/280) and interviews. | Partial data |
| Lydenburg's farming remained unevenly capitalised and poor, which allowed tenants to exploit divisions among farmers. (p. 524) | Agricultural Census figures on farm sizes and income, Standard Bank inspection reports. | Systematic data |
| African resistance contributed to the failure of Chapter Four and the labour bureaux, leading the state to abolish labour tenancy rather than regulate it. (p. 526) | Inference from state files and the Nel Commission citation, with no direct documentary statement of the causal link. | Asserted |
| The absence of unified opposition in the 1950s is explained by a more determined state, lack of sympathetic white intermediaries and weaker tenant determination. (p. 524) | Interpretive reading of NAD and Rheinallt Jones records and secondary literature. | Asserted |
The author's caveats¶
Archival sources are said to have failed to yield an adequate picture of African consciousness, which is why interviews were used. The pass figures are acknowledged to be inconsistent: some include Sekhukhuneland passes, a few are rounded estimates, and figures for the 1930s are unavailable.
Gaps in the evidence¶
Interviews were conducted 50-60 years after the events with survivors, without information on how interviewees were selected, so representativeness and recall bias are untested. Causal claims that resistance forced the abolition of labour tenancy would need national-level departmental and Nel Commission records on policy deliberations. Annual series on pass issues, labour tenant numbers and farm wages by district, which exist in archives, would allow a firmer test of migration trends.
Replicability: Data described but not public.