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New Labour Frontiers for Old: Black Migrants to the South African Gold Mines, 1920-85

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David Yudelman; Alan Jeeves (1986). New Labour Frontiers for Old: Black Migrants to the South African Gold Mines, 1920-85. Journal of Southern African Studies 13(1). Taylor & Francis / Oxford University Press.
Type journal article
Scope Economics and economic history of apartheid
Method archival narrative
Period studied 1920–1985
Regions Witwatersrand and Orange Free State gold fields, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Bechuanaland, Southern and Northern Rhodesia, Transkei, Southern Africa
Themes mining migrant labour, labour markets wages, business and state, agriculture land, unions strikes, inequality poverty unemployment
Citation key yudelman1986a

Argument

The authors argue that the 1970s shift in the geographic sourcing of black gold-mine labour from foreign to South African supplies was not mainly a state policy of 'internalisation'. It came from the closing of labour frontiers (Malawi 1974, Mozambique 1975-76) and the loss of the option to expand to others. Since 1920 the Chamber of Mines has pursued a 'ceaseless quest for stability', repeatedly shifting to new frontiers, notably the 'tropicals' from the 1930s, rather than reforming the low-wage migrant system. Because new supply was always found, the industry never had to stabilise labour, mechanise or raise real wages until the 1970s. When the gold price rose and supply security collapsed, the mines could and had to pay more, stabilise workers and turn to local sources. The paper treats this as a study of state-capital relations and of industry-state bargaining, not of the socio-economy of migrancy, and it urges caution about calling the shift permanent.

Evidence and method

Chamber of Mines and WNLA annual reports and internal reports (Human Resources Laboratory, Teba five-year plans), archival files from the Transvaal Archives, Botswana National Archives, Zimbabwe National Archives and the PRO, Chamber-state correspondence of 1961 and 1970, interviews with former recruiting chief Tony Fleischer, secondary literature (Wilson, Johnstone, First, Stahl, Jeeves), and an appendix table of Chamber of Mines data on sources of mine labour 1920-83.

Place in the debates

Findings

  • The industry's own explanation of the 1970s shift is partly right: lost labour frontiers triggered the change, while state-imposed internalisation is rejected. (p. 2)

    While there is very little truth in the second explanation, there is a great deal in the first: the closing of certain labour frontiers

  • Mine labour stability depended on continual expansion into new supply areas, and was shaken when geographic limits were reached in the 1960s-70s. (p. 6)

    Like many empires, the mines' labour system has remained stable only while it has been able to expand.

  • The authors criticise historians for relying on industry-crafted data and arguments about low-grade ore. (p. 7)

    Historians have succumbed to the carefully selected evidence and some of the arguments advanced by the mining industry itself to justify and explain its policies.

  • By 1973 the industry was heavily dependent on foreign migrants because of cost containment under the fixed gold price and rising competition from secondary industry. (p. 13)

    until, in 1973, foreign migrants comprised about 78 per cent of black mineworkers

  • Internal Chamber documents admitted that foreign recruitment with infinitely elastic supply had held down black mine wages. (p. 16)

    the average cash wages paid to black miners had actually fallen off slightly since 1935.

  • The gold price rises of 1971-73 made higher wages affordable but did not alone change sourcing policy; the 1974 shocks did. (p. 17)

    The gold price increases of 1971 and 1972 (11 per cent and 39 per cent in Rand terms)

  • Malawi's 1974 withdrawal after the Francistown air crash cut the Malawian workforce almost to nothing within about a year. (p. 18)

    the result was the decline of the Malawi contingent at the mines from 120,000 to virtually nothing by the end of 1975.

  • Administrative changes in Mozambique after Frelimo took over sharply cut the Mozambican workforce in 1976 despite a record 1975 intake, deepening the industry's anxiety. (p. 18)

    in January 1976 there were 114,385 Mozambicans on the mines; by the end of December of the same year there were only 48,565.

  • In the acute 1975 shortage the industry cut its official labour complement, judging earlier practice profligate. (p. 20)

    In about April 1975, the official labour complement of the entire industry was cut permanently by 10 per cent

  • Trilateral talks between state, mines and farmers showed a symbiotic state-capital relationship in a crisis. (p. 21)

    revealing the fundamentally symbiotic relationship of state and capital in South Africa.

  • The rising gold price and the threat to supply security together allowed and motivated higher wages across all mining groups in the mid-1970s. (p. 21)

    the steeply rising gold price made it possible for all the mines, even the most marginal which had previously been on state assistance, to pay higher wages.

  • By the mid-1980s the migrant workforce was becoming more stabilised, with longer contract stays. (p. 23)

    the average stay of the workers has been lengthened: to 13.5 months in early 1984 compared to 8 months under the old system.

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source Kind Period How used
Chamber of Mines data on principal sources of mine labour, 1920-83 (WNLA member companies), appendix table chamber of mines or recruiting records 1920-1983 Appendix table of annual black mine labour by geographic origin underpins the long-term shifts in sourcing (58% SA in 1936, 22% in 1973, 60% in 1985).
WNLA Annual Reports, 1902-18, 1928-39, 1934-45, 1970-8, 1974-8 chamber of mines or recruiting records 1902-1978 Used for fluctuations in recruiting levels by source area, tropical recruitment levels, and the 1970s losses of Malawi and Mozambique supplies.
South African Chamber of Mines Annual Reports (CMAR) for 1929 and 1932 chamber of mines or recruiting records 1929-1932 Cited for the Mozambique quota response in 1929 and for the summary of evidence to the Low Grade Ore Commission.
Low Grade Mines Commission 1919-20, Final Report (UG 34-'20), incl. Chamber of Mines evidence commission or official report 1919-1920 Exemplifies industry-crafted data on low-grade mines and endorsement of renewed tropical recruiting.
Low Grade Ore Commission, 1930/1932, Summary of Evidence in CMAR 1932 commission or official report 1930-1932 Used to show the Chamber presenting low-grade-ore data to justify policy.
Native Recruiting Corporation evidence to the Mining Industry Board, 1922 (TAD, GNLB 339, 81/22/243) state archives 1922 Archival evidence of industry argumentation on low-grade mining before the Mining Industry Board.
Report of Witwatersrand Mine Native Wages Commission, 1943 (UG 24-1944) [Lansdown Commission] commission or official report 1943-1944 Cited for the 'pay limit' and low-grade ore reserves as justification for wage rigidity.
Transvaal Archives Depot, Secretary for Mines (MNW) and Native Affairs (NTS) files on tropical recruiting, 1928-36 state archives 1928-1936 Archive documents on Neergaard's 1928 tour, Gold Producers Committee statements, and government meetings underpin the northern recruiting strategy.
Zimbabwe National Archives, CNC S1561 series (Southern Rhodesia Chief Native Commissioner/Prime Minister files), 1936-39 state archives 1936-1939 Documents Gemmill-Huggins negotiations, Rhodesian fears of a 'labour war' and the 1938-39 responses.
Botswana National Archives, Secretariat series S344 (Bechuanaland Protectorate) state archives 1936-1947 Used for WNLA road, depot, airstrip and medical infrastructure in northern Bechuanaland.
Colonial Office file CO 525/166/44053/3, Pt 1 (PRO Kew), minute by J. A. Calder, 1937 state archives 1937 Shows Rand mines' expectation of 70,000 miners a year from the northern territories, judged an over-estimate.
Chamber of Mines internal and correspondence documents of the 1960s-70s (1961 President's letter to Minister of Mines; 1970 Gemmill briefing; July 1970 letter to Koornhof's secretary; 1974 Fleischer report) chamber of mines or recruiting records 1961-1974 Reconstructs Chamber-state debate on foreign sourcing, wage levels and stabilisation before 1974.
J. A. Gemmill, 'Native Labour on the Gold Mines', Seventh Commonwealth Mining and Metallurgical Conference, 1961 company records or reports 1961 Source for the industry's justification of migrant and foreign labour, forming the Chamber's case.
Human Resources Laboratory research reports (Parsons 51/74, 1974; Parsons and Mashaba 22/80, 1980) company records or reports 1974-1980 Assess short-term potential for recruiting South Africans, wage comparisons, and the 1980 view on supplier-country joint action.
Mine Labour Organisations/Teba reports: 'Investigation into the Future of Mine Labour Organisations' Interim Report June 1974; 'Teba Five Year Plan 1978-83' company records or reports 1974-1978 Used for the Chamber's recruiting plans, the two-tier system and the effects of the Malawi withdrawal.
Interviews with Tony Fleischer, former General Manager of the Chamber's recruiting organisation, conducted by D. Yudelman, 8 and 14 March 1984 interviews oral history 1984 Supports accounts of Banda's withdrawal, Frelimo policy, urban recruiting and state bureaucracy positions in the 1970s.
Ruth First, Black Gold: The Mozambican Miner (1983) — Mozambican miner numbers 1975-76 secondary literature compilation 1975-1976 Provides monthly figures for Mozambicans on the mines (114,385 to 48,565 in 1976) and the Chamber's labour-agreement clauses.
C. W. Stahl, 'Migrant Labour Supplies, Past, Present and Future' in Bohning (ed.), Black Migration to South Africa (Geneva, 1981) secondary literature compilation 1970s Evidence for wage increases not raising South African recruitment, rising unemployment, and agricultural employment decline.
Francis Wilson, Labour in the South African Gold Mines (1972) — black real wage series 1889-1969 secondary literature compilation 1889-1969 Evidence that real black wages did not rise 1889-1969 and prompted wage debate in the 1970s.
Financial Mail, 'Recruitment the Teba Way', Gold: A Survey, 19 July 1985 newspapers periodicals 1985 Source for mid-1985 recruitment shares by area (Lesotho 23.4%, Mozambique 10.9%, Transkei 32.6%) out of 436,000.
Toronto Globe and Mail, 30 July and 5 August 1985; S.A. Mining World, December 1983 newspapers periodicals 1983-1985 Document Botha's threat to return foreign migrants, Ramaphosa's response, and SADCC labour commission aims.
W. Gemmill, 'The growing Reservoir of Native Labour for the Mines', Optima (1952) company records or reports 1952 Source for WNLA airstrips, the 1939 agreement and the 150,000 tropical target.

Inference

Quantification: Descriptive tables.

Historical narrative based on archival, Chamber of Mines, and secondary sources, with an appended time series of source-area shares; argument is by chronological comparison and interpretation of state-capital relations, not statistical testing.

Key claims

Claim Basis Strength
The South African share of black mine labour fell from 58% in 1936 to 22% in 1973 and rose to about 60% by mid-1985, as foreign supply shifted rather than via a state 'internalisation' policy. (p. 102) Chamber of Mines/WNLA series in appendix table plus WNLA reports; mid-1985 figure from Financial Mail. Systematic data
The Chamber and WNLA invested heavily in the 1930s-40s in infrastructure and negotiations to open tropical labour sources, which sustained the low-wage migrant system for three decades. (p. 112) WNLA Annual Reports, archival files from Zimbabwe, Botswana and Transvaal archives, Gemmill's writings. Partial data
Industry data on low-grade ore and labour shortage were presented selectively, so historians relying on them have been misled about the necessity of cheap migrant labour. (p. 106) Chamber evidence to the Low Grade Mines and Ore Commissions and other commission reports; critique rather than counter-dataset. Illustrative or anecdotal
Before 1974 the Chamber and state knew foreign recruitment kept black wages low, but chose to continue; an infinite elasticity of foreign supply had held cash wages flat since 1935. (p. 115) Internal Chamber documents and Gemmill's 1970 briefing as recounted by the authors, plus Wilson's wage series. Partial data
The April 1974 Malawi withdrawal and the Mozambique upheaval triggered a policy shift toward local sourcing and higher wages, supported by rising gold prices and unemployment. (p. 117) Fleischer interviews, Chamber reports (Parsons, Main, Teba), First on Mozambique numbers, WNLA reports, appendix table. Partial data
The shift is not a fundamental transformation to a settled industrial labour force; the mines still rely on diversified sourcing, with Lesotho increasingly important, and stabilisation is partial. (p. 122) 1985 Financial Mail shares, Teba plans, Lemon and Fleischer on length of stay. Partial data

The author's caveats

The authors caution that industry data must be treated 'critically and with caution' because the Chamber presented it to justify its policies, and note that forecasting is hazardous. They do not discuss the limits of the appendix series.

Gaps in the evidence

The argument relies on Chamber-produced figures and internal documents with no independent check of the supply and wage data. Mine-by-mine and group-level recruitment and wage records (e.g. Anglo American vs Gold Fields) would test the claims about differing group strategies; some of these exist in company archives. The motives of Banda, Frelimo and state departments rest on interviews with a single Chamber official, and supplier-country archives would test them further.

Replicability: Data described but not public.