LABOUR MIGRATION FROM MOZAMBIQUE TO SOUTH AFRICA; with special reference to the Delagoa Bay hinterland, c. 1862 to 1897 Patrick Harries Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London February, 1983 ProQuest Number: 11010583 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010583 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 ABSTRACT Numerous studies have portrayed migrant labour in South Africa as a mechanism of super-exploitation whereby capital, in alliance with the state, had only to pay the worker a bachelor wage because of his subsistence base in the rural areas. Migrant labour was thus synonymous with underdevelopment. This thesis postulates that the origins of migrant labour cannot be sought in these terms. Because of the highly competitive nature of the labour market during the 19th century, employers were concerned only with securing an adequate supply of labour. Much of this labour was drawn frcm geographically distant areas because the local population was able to market the product of its labour rather than the labour itself. Weak and impecunious colonial and republican states were hesitant to intervene directly in the labour market and did so only during times of economic expansion or when a non-interventionist policy threatened the stability of the state. In the second part of the thesis, which deals with the Delagoa Bay hinterland of Mozambique, it is argued that a migrant form of labour arose out of the needs of the rural community rather than those of mining capital. Wages became the nutrient for survival in a harsh environment and compensated in seme measure for the dissolution of old forms of livelihood such as hunting and trading. Migrant labour and rural production were intimately linked and the ability of migrants to determine their wage level and the incidence of migrancy was dependent on the viability of the rural economy. It was only cifter the colonial conquest of southern Mozambique in 1895-97 that workers were partially alienated frcm their means of production - a move that brought dewn the cost of Mozambican mine labour and that furnished the Portuguese with a highly marketable ccnmodity. 3 Acknowledgements My thanks go to a number of institutions without whose help this thesis would not have been completed. To my old high school for a Rondebosch Overseas Scholarship. To the University of Cape Town for a three year grant and a years leave in which to complete the final draft. My special thanks must go to the University's Centre for African Studies which has provided me with both financial assistance and a stimulating intellectual environment. I was also the recipient of a Human Sciences Research Council grant. Numerous people have helped this thesis at various stages.David Killick collected oral evidence for me when I was refused entry into Gazankulu by the Department of Co­ operation and Development. Richard Mendelsohn, Andrew Spiegel, Sheila Meintjies and Christopher Saunders kindly battled through draft chapters. Marcia Wright helped with advice and friendship. Patricia Davison made me aware of the importance of material culture and Susan Newton-King was always ready to offer advice and assistance. Mariette Ouwerhand and Pierre Cuenod of the Swiss Mission were particularly helpful. David Birmingham supervised the thesis from its inception and provided me with guidance, encouragement and friendship. Shula Marks and her students at the School of Oriental and African Studies were a constant source of inspiration. Robin Hallett first made me, and many others, aware of Africa's history.He has become a father,friend and teacher to me and it is to him that this thesis is dedicated. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 List of Figures 7 List of Maps 7 Abbreviations 8 PART I: CAPITAL, THE STATE AND THE ORIGINS OF MIGRANT LABOUR IN SOUTH AFRICA 12 Introduction 13 Chapter 1: The Ecananic Development of Southern Africa and the Ehiergence of a Migratory Labour Force fron Mozambique: 1858 to 1875 15 African dominance of the cereals market and the genesis of the Natal planters' labour problem 17 Pressures on the Natal colonial state to abandon its neutrality and intervene directly in the labour market 21 Natal government-assisted labour immigration schemes as a means of alleviating the planters' labour problem 37 Maritime migration 40 Mozambican labour in the western, eastern and north-western Cape 47 Chapter 2: Mozambican Irrenigrants in Kimberley, the Cape and Natal 51 Natal government labour importation schemes 1877-1879 60 labour frcm areas under Zulu control and the end of the Dunn feeding scheme 67 Economic depression and the end of Natal's dependence on amatcnga labour 77 Mozambican labour and the Kimberley diamond fields 86 Chapter 3: The Effect of the Witwatersrand Mines on the Pattern of Migrant Labour frcm Mozambique 94 The decline in the number of Mozambicans working on Natal plantations 94 The emergence of a "labour problem" in the Transvaal 97 Labour on the Witwatersrand goldfields 101 5 Competing labour markets: Agriculture in the Transvaal 114 Labour and the Transvaal state 120 Hie Jameson Raid and state intervention in the labour market 122 The Chamber of Mines and the drive towards monopsonistic recruiting in Mozambique 127 Conclusion 142 PART II: THE DELAGOA BAY HINTERLAND 146 Section One: Political Disruptions and Population Movements 148 Introduction 148 Chapter 4: Immigrants and Bnigrants: The Delagoa Bay Hinterland to c. 1875 153 The Nguni incursions to 1838 153 Large-scale emigration frcm the central and northern Delagoa Bay hinterland 161 The southern Delagoa Bay hinterland: African polities and Imperial rivalries 175 Chapter 5: The Ccrrmoditizatian of Labour and the Breakdown of the Luso-African Alliance 184 Political developments in the southern Delagoa Bay hinterland 184 Political developments in the northern Delagoa Bay hinterland 194 The expansion of Portuguese rule in the central Delagoa Bay hinterland 199 The Luso-Gaza war and its aftermath 206 Conclusion 213 Section Two: The Economic and Social Origins of Tahour Migration 214 Introduction 214 Chapter 6: Life and Death: Food and Disease 216 The ecological framework 216 The precariousness of food production 222 Famine, disease and mortality 233 New crops for consumption and the market 239 The effect of market and demographic changes on agricultural production 245 Migrant labour and agricultural production 250 6 Chapter 7: The Hunting Economy: Closing the Economic Options 258 The importance of hunting for subsistence and exchange 258 The closing of the western hunting grounds 263 The decline of the hunting economy 265 The response of commoners and chiefs to the declining hunting economy 274 Chapter 8: Patterns of Trade and Consumption and Their Effect upon Migrant Labour 278 The structure of merchant capital 278 The monetization of the economy and the boon in retail trading 287 New consumer patterns and the emergence of sterling as a bridewealth medium 293 Chapter 9: The Social Origins of Migrant Labour 305 Kinship and the structure of production and accumulation 305 Wage labour and new forms of accumulation: The social pressures encouraging a migratory form of labour movement 319 Epilogue 329 Appendix I: Ethnographers and the Ethnic Characterization of the Peoples of the Delagoa Bay Hinterland 333 Appendix II: The, Major Chief dans in the Delagoa Bay Hinterland at the Time of the Luso-Gaza War of 1894-95 341 Appendix III: Cloth and Liquor Imports into Louren<j?o Marques 342 Bibliography 343 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure No. 1: Fluctuations in the Production and Price of Sugar and in African Wages, Natal 1863 - 1897 78 Figure No. 2: African and European Maize Production in Natal, 1867-1897 83 Figure No. 3: African and Settler Millet and Sorghum Production in Natal, 1867-1897 84 Figure No. 4: Rainfall Deviation in Millimetres 230 Figure No. 5: Monkey and Civet Cat Skin Exports to Durban 273 Figure No. 6: Hoe Inports into Lourengo Marques 299 Figure No. 7: Hoe Exports frcm Durban to Lourengo Marques 299 Figure No. 8: Gun and Ammunition Inports into Lourengo Marques 302 Figure No. 9: The Pattern of Bridewealth Indebtedness 311 LIST OF MAPS Map No. 1: Major Labour Routes from Southern Mozambique to South Africa 11 Map No. 2: Ihe Maputo-Zulu Frontier c. 1885 72 Map No. 3: The Delagoa Bay Hinterland 147 Map No. 4: Areas West of the Lebanbo Mountains Settled by East Coast Immigrants 162 8 ABBREVIATIONS ABB Albasini letterbook, Transvaal archives ABM American Board of Ccirniissianers for Foreign Missions M J Annaes do Conselho Ultramarino AHU International Journal of African Historical Studies BMB Berliner Missionsberichte BMSAS Bulletin de la Mission Suisse en Afrique du Sud BO Boletim Oficial de Mozambique Bol. Soc. Boletim da Sociedade de Estudos de Mozambique Estudos Moz- BPP British Parliamentary Papers BSGL Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa BSNG Bulletin de la Societe Neuchdteloise de Geographie CA Cape Archives CCL (Cape) Canmissicner for Crown Lands GCM Chambre de Gonmerce, Marseilles CG Correspondencia de Govemadors CGP Consulate-General of Portugal, Pretoria Ch Chamber (of Mines) CMAR Chamber of Mines, Annual Reports Col. Sec. Colonial Secretary , Natal CPC Consulate-General of Portugal, Cape Tcwn CPWD Cape Public Works department CSO Colonial Secretary's office, Natal encl.