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19TH CENT. MINING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA.
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Essay Subject:
Examines development of industry as precursor to 20th Cent. racism.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examines development of industry as precursor to 20th Cent. racism.
Paper Introduction:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINING INDUSTRY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AS A PRECURSOR TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF APARTHEID IN TWENTIETH CENTURY SOUTH AFRICA
Introduction
The word apartheid, which was coined in the 1930s in South Africa's intellectual community, is an Afrikaans word meaning apartness, which is interpreted as segregation. Apartheid was not applied as the name of a set of government policies until the 1950s, when the Afrikaaner Nationalist Party government elected in 1948 began to attain success in the pursuit of an agenda that eventually excluded all non whites from effective participation in government, and in the initiation of other policies the principal objective of which was the complete social segregation of whites and non whites in the then Union of South Africa.
Text of the Paper:
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Jeeves, "The Control of Migratory Labour on the South AfricanGold Mines in the Era of Kruger and Milner," Journal of Southern AfricanStudies, 2 (January 1975): 3-29.[19]19John M. History of Southern Africa. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINING INDUSTRY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AS A PRECURSOR TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF APARTHEID IN TWENTIETH CENTURY SOUTH AFRICA Introduction The word apartheid, which was coined in the 193 s in South Africa'sintellectual community, is an Afrikaans word meaning apartness, which isinterpreted as segregation.[1] Apartheid was not applied as the name of aset of government policies until the 195 s, when the Afrikaaner NationalistParty government elected in 1948 began to attain success in the pursuit ofan agenda that eventually excluded all non-whites from effectiveparticipation in government, and in the initiation of other policies theprincipal objective of which was the complete social segregation of whitesand non-whites in the then Union of South Africa.[2] One reasonably may ask why a set of governmental policies initiated inthe last-half of the twentieth century is discussed in relation to thedevelopment of the mining industry that occurred in South Africa during thelast-half of the nineteenth century. It was shown that policies related to the development of themining industry were precursors to apartheid policies. Quite aside from questions of equity andmorality, such an outcome might have been relatively easily attained had itnot been for the fact that the white population was insufficient in numbersto provide the labor demanded for South Africa's industrialization, and thefact that most South African whites refused to perform menial work. Davenport, South Africa: A Modern History, 3rd ed. The short answer to that question, ananswer that is amplified in the subsequent discussions in this paper, isthat the basic economic, political, and social framework upon which thepolicies of apartheid were based in the last-half of the twentieth centurywas itself largely developed in the last-half of the nineteenth century inactions taken by both the mine owners and the colonial government, and thatthe elements of this framework were integral to the development of themining industry in South Africa.[3] Understanding the Relationship Between the Nineteenth Century Development of South African Mining and Twentieth Century Apartheid To understand how the development of the mining industry in SouthAfrica in the last-half of the nineteenth century provided the frameworkfor the policies of apartheid in the last-half of the twentieth century, itis necessary to first understand what apartheid is and how it wasmaintained for more than four decades, first in the Union of South Africaand later in the Republic of South Africa. Knoff,199 . R. D. Turrell, Rob. S. All of these requirements-- searches, restrictedliving areas, and the pass system--were incorporated into the system ofapartheid in the last-half of the twentieth century. The state, played a central role is sustaining the migrant laborpolicies of the mine owners through the enactment of coercivelegislation.[18] The practice of illicit diamond buying, as an example,was used as the pretext for the enactment of pass laws and curfews tocontrol black labor.[19] Both pass laws and curfews for South Africanblacks found their way later into apartheid laws. Class, Race, and Gold. A History of South Africa. (Toronto:McClelland and Stewart, 1987), 356.[2]2Leonard Thompson, A History of South Africa (New Haven, Connecticut:Yale University Press, 199 ), 186-189.[3]3Rob Turrell, "Diamonds and Migrant Labour in South Africa," HistoryToday, 36 (May 1986): 45-49.[4]4J. "Mining Capital, the State, and Unskilled WhiteWorkers in South Africa, 19 1-1913." Journal of South African Studies, 3(January 1976): 41-69. R. The mine owners inSouth Africa in the last-half of the nineteenth century wanted to apply thebody search and compound living requirements to white workers as well as tonon-white workers.[15] This plan, however, was to repugnant to thecolonial white society, and the mine owners relented in the face ofpressures from both the general white society and the white workers who hadthe right to vote.[16] Thus, while policies of the mine owners weresupported for reasons of racial discrimination by the majority of the whitepopulation in nineteenth century South Africa, and while similar apartheidpolicies were supported by the majority of the white population intwentieth century South Africa for similar reasons, racial discriminationagainst black workers was not the primary motivation for South Africa'snineteenth century mine owners. "Diamonds and Migrant Labour in South Africa." HistoryToday, 36 (May 1986): 45-49.-----------------------[1]1T. "North-South Articulation of the Modes ofProduction and the Development of A Labour Reservoir in Southern Africa--1885-1944: The Case of Bechuanaland." Botswana Notes and Records, 15(1983): 49-57. While all of these policieswere initiated in the last-half of the twentieth century, the antecedentsof each facet of apartheid developed in the last-half of the nineteenthcentury. In an attempt to meld economic necessity with social ideology,therefore, the government initiated policies that classified non-whites inSouth Africa's urban areas as aliens of temporary residence who wererequired to possess official passes to move from place to place. Johnstone, Frederick. In the diamond mines first and later in the gold mines, black workers"were subject to summary justice and the indignity of being stripped forintimate body searches" in attempts to control the smuggling of diamondsand gold out of the mines.[14] The mine owners also compelled all Africanworkers to live in compounds next to the mining operations. Both mine owners and theoperators of other industrial enterprises soon found that neither the poolof white workers nor the pool of non-white workers within the territoriescontrolled by whites were sufficient to meet the labor demands of miningand other industry.[8] Thus, the initial policies of recruiting migrantlabor African-occupied areas were initiated. The Mind of South Africa. The first diamond discovery by Europeans in South Africa occurred in1867.[4] By 1871, an estimated 75, persons-- two-thirds of whom werenon-white were working in the diamond fields.[5] Some 15 years later, in1886, gold was discovered in South Africa, and the pace of miningdevelopment accelerated.[6] Mining development was economicallysignificant for South Africa beyond the realm of the exploitation of thecountry's diamond and god resources because mining activity sparked ageneral industrialization of the South African economy.[7] Mining development and general industrialization had dramatic impactson the country's labor pool and social structure. Omer-Cooper, J. D. H. Thus, to obtain the labor necessary to staff industry and performmenial work non-whites had to be brought into the urban areas where mostSouth African whites lived, an action that contradicted the objective ofapartheid. Initially, migrant workersleft their families behind by choice because they intended to return home.Later, migrant workers were compelled by industry and South Africangovernment policies to leave their families behind.[9] Another economic problem affecting the mining industry-- particularlygold mining--was the cost of labor.[1 ] The bulk of the gold in SouthAfrica was deep underground and mining was a labor-intensive activity.Similar conditions in North American and Australia would have dictatedleaving the ore in the ground because of relatively high labor costs. The primary motivation of the mine owners in the implementation of theabove policies was economic control as opposed to racial control which isusually credited as the motivation for these policies. Thompson, Leonard. Bibliography Davenport, T. Summary This research examined the relationship between the development of themining industry in South Africa in the last-half of the nineteenth centuryand the implementation of apartheid laws in the last-half of the twentiethcentury. "The role of the Diamond-Mining Industry in theDevelopment of the Pass-Law System in South Africa." International Journalof African Historical Studies, 9 (March 1976): 419-434. "The Control of Migratory Labour on the South AfricanGold Mines in the Era of Kruger and Milner." Journal of Southern AfricanStudies, 2 (January 1975): 3-29. Davies, Robert. New Haven, Connecticut:Yale University Press, 199 . Knoff,199 ), 12 -121.[7]7Omer-Cooper, 1 1, 1 3, 1 5.[8]8Omer-Cooper, 1 3.[9]9Ibid.[1 ]1 Sparks, 139.[11]11Ibid.[12]12Robert Davies, "Mining Capital, the State, and Unskilled WhiteWorkers in South Africa, 19 1-1913," Journal of South African Studies, 3(January 1976): 41-69.[13]13Frederick Johnstone, Class, Race, and Gold (London: Routledge &Kegan, Paul Publishers, 1976), 182.[14]14Thompson, 119.[15]15Thompson, 119.[16]16Ibid.[17]17N. S. Conceptually, apartheid is thetotal separation--economically, politically, socially, and territorially--of whites and non-whites. The SouthAfrican government required the black workers to possess passes to travelbetween the compounds and their home lands at the beginning and end oftheir labor contracts. South Africa: A Modern History, 3rd ed. Smallberger, John M. London: Routledge &Kegan, Paul Publishers, 1976. Smallberger, "The role of the Diamond-Mining Industry in theDevelopment of the Pass-Law System in South Africa," International Journalof African Historical Studies, 9 (March 1976): 419-434. Toronto:McClelland and Stewart, 1987. H. Omer-Cooper, History of Southern Africa (Claremont, New Zealand:David Philip Publisher, 1987), 1 1.[5]5Ibid.[6]6Allister Sparks, The Mind of South Africa (New York: Alfred A. Sparks, Allister. New York: Alfred A. Mudzinganyama, N. Thus, whites who in South Africa could command higherwages were excluded from unskilled work in the mines, which was reservedfor blacks, and blacks were kept in an alien, temporary resident statusthat enabled the mine owners to keep black wages low.[12] The vast pool ofpotential migrant workers residing in the surrounding African areas andeager to earn an economic wage facilitated the manipulation andexploitation of black workers by the mine owners.[13] Similar policieswere applied in the provision of non-white labor to other industrialenterprises in South Africa in the last-half of the nineteenth century.The migrant labor system established to serve early mining industrydevelopment is South Africa, thus, acted as a precursor for the denial ofnon-white citizenship and economic equity under apartheid policies in thelast-half of the twentieth century. Thissystem eventually created black townships located adjacent to the country'smajor cities whose populations were often equal to or larger than those ofthe cities they abutted. Claremont, New Zealand:David Philip Publisher, 1987. Mudzinganyama, "North-South Articulation of the Modes ofProduction and the Development of A Labour Reservoir in Southern Africa--1885-1944: The Case of Bechuanaland," Botswana Notes and Records, 15(1983): 49-57.[18]18Alan H. Within this framework of apartheid, non-whiteshad limited freedom of movement and action, virtually no rights, and weresubject to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. Jeeves, Alan H. The South African government, through British colonial policysubsequent to 1885, transformed independent African villages in tocommunities of dependent laborers to support mining and other industrialactivity by subordinating the chiefs to colonial officials.[17] Thisaction provided a model for the creation of the homelands system underapartheid policies in the last-half of the twentieth century. InSouth Africa, however, an abundance of cheap, black labor wasavailable.[11] The mine owners had a vested interest in maintain thisstate of affairs.
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