Aran Stuart Mackinnon Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University
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^5°! LAND, LABOUR AND CATTLE: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ZULULAND, C. 1930-1950 Aran Stuart MacKinnon Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in history, November 1995. ProQuest Number: 11010325 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 11010325 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 (C)Copyright Aran S. MacKinnon 1995 TABLE OF CONTENTS page PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 ABBREVIATIONS 4 LIST OF MAPS AND APPENDIX TABLES 6 INTRODUCTION 7 - Geography, Climate and Settlement Patterns 8 - Zululand Around the Turn of the Century 10 - Methodology and Themes 16 - Endnotes 35 CHAPTER ONE THE DELIMITATION AND EXPROPRIATION OF ZULULAND 4 6 - White Settlement 63 - The Zululand 'Trust' 68 - The Reserves and 'National' Land Policy 69 - Endnotes 81 CHAPTER TWO CHIEFLY AUTHORITY 95 - The Background to Chiefly Authority 96 - Chiefs and the Administration 98 - Local Councils and Segregation 108 - Administrative Powers and Legal Jurisdiction 114 - Chiefs and Recruitment for the War 116 - Chiefs, 'Radical' Politics and the Land 121 - Chiefs vs Headmen 126 - Endnotes 138 CHAPTER THREE THE CATTLE ECONOMY 151 CHAPTER THREE (continued) page - The Environment and Disease 153 - Nagana 163 - Accumulation and Distribution 169 - Sisa 179 - Cattle Sales 184 - Cattle Auctions 190 - Endnotes 200 CHAPTER FOUR LABOUR 215 - 'Zulu' Labour 216 - Differentiation, Ethnicity and Labour Migration 220 - Labour in Zululand 222 - Uneven Development in the Sugar Belt 225 - The Struggle for Zulu Labour 230 - Alternative Labour Supplies 236 - Ethnicity, Differentiation and Friction in the Cane Fields 243 - Endnotes 256 CHAPTER FIVE THE DECLINE OF AFRICAN AGRICULTURE IN THE RESERVES 272 - African Peasant Production 280 - Endnotes 293 CHAPTER SIX FAMINE IN ZULULAND 301 - Famine Relief and Market Mechanisms 303 - The Threat of Famine Before 1930 304 - The 'Dumping' Controversy 308 ii CHAPTER SIX (continued) page - Stores, State Relief and the Course of Famines 313 - African Traders 323 - The Crisis of the Early 1930s and Relief Works 325 - Differentiation and Relief Supplies 329 - Relief, Debts and Differentiation 338 - Food Scarcity and Famine in the 1940s 340 - Endnotes 345 CHAPTER SEVEN RECLAMATION AND vBETTERMENT' IN THE ZULULAND RESERVES 359 - Infrastructural Development 364 - Agricultural "Improvement1 368 - Drought and Water Supplies 371 - Reclamation and Erosion Control 37 6 - 'Betterment' Schemes 387 - Wooled Sheep and 'Betterment' in Nquthu 38 9 - Resistance to 'Betterment' 400 - Endnotes 406 CONCLUSION 420 - Endnotes 436 APPENDIX 438 - Population, Land Areas and Labour Statistics 438 - Agricultural Statistics 445 - Cattle Statistics 448 BIBLIOGRAPHY 44 9 iii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis grew out of research I conducted on the land and people of Zululand during 1990-91 when I was at the University of Natal in Durban completing an M.A. I would like to thank the faculty, particularly Paul Maylam who first suggested a study of twentieth century Zululand to me and Philip Warhurst who supervised my M.A., and also fellow students of the Department of History at Natal for support and advice on my research. Material for this thesis was collected in Durban, Eshowe, Johannesburg, London, Melmoth, Nongoma, Oxford, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria and Ulundi. To all the staff of the various archives and libraries listed in the bibliography, I extend my gratitude. I spent most of 1993 in South Africa conducting research during a period of severe drought and rapid political change. These two features of that period were constant reminders to me of the forces which shaped society in Zululand during the 193 0s and 1940s. My insights into the people of Zululand were enhanced by oral research field trips taken in Nquthu, Nkandhla, Eshowe, Melmoth, Mahlabatini and Nongoma at the height of the 1993 drought in June, July and September. I would like to thank my hosts in Zululand, C. and N. Wilkinson, for their generous hospitality and for the contacts they made. I could not have conducted the interviews without the advice and work of R. Kleinknecht and especially Ntombi 1 Mkhize of the KwaZulu Monuments Council in Ulundi. Ntombi was an invaluable interpreter and she patiently guided me through the complexities of conducting interviews in polarised areas of Zululand. I would also like to give special thanks to the people listed in the bibliography who gave their time and faced possible reprisals to share some of their life stories and insights into the history of Zululand. I am grateful for the support and hospitality given by many friends in South Africa, particularly T. Preston-Davis, The Fenners, The Horlocks and the Howies. For support in London my greatest thanks goes to Shula and Isaac Marks and Gregor and Wendy MacKinnon for providing me with safe havens from the indifference of the city. I would also like to thank Professor Henry Bartel for office space. And, as always, my greatest appreciation goes to my family for their wonderful understanding, love and support throughout. The always cheerful and helpful faculty and staff at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London provided an ideal place to study. I am also grateful to the University of London Central Research Fund and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies for financial support. I could not have written the thesis without the important scholarly advice and insights given generously by David Anderson, Peter Alexander, Nicholas Cope, David Duncan, Dax Driver, Iain Edwards, Bill Freund, Rob Gordon, Alan Jeeves, Paul la Hausse, Shaun Milton, Martin Murray, Nicholas 2 Norman, John Saul, Bob Stock and Elaine Unterhalter. My greatest gratitude goes to Professor Shula Marks, my supervisor, for her patience, encouragement and tireless efforts in support of my work. She has been an invaluable resource and friend. The responsibility for any errors in the thesis, however, remains with me. Unless noted otherwise specifically in the text, the thesis is my own original work. 3 ABBREVIATIONS The following abbreviations have been used in the text and citations: AA African Affairs. AE American Ethnologist. AEH African Economic History. AHS African History Seminar series, SOAS. {gv) AS African Studies Journal. ASR African Studies Review . CAAS Canadian Association of African Studies. CAD Central Archives Depot, Pretoria. CJSA Canadian Journal of African Studies. CRCSA Canadian Research Consortium on Southern Africa. DAJ Union of South Africa, Department of Agriculture Journal. FSA Farming in South Africa. GES Union Department of Health, Pretoria. GNLB Government Native Labour Bureau, Pretoria. ICS SSA Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, Collected Seminar Papers, The Societies of Southern Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries. IESHR Indian Economic and Social History Review. UAHS International Journal of African Historical Studies. ILO International Labour Organisation. ILR International Labour Review Journal. ISJ International Sugar Journal. JAL Journal of African Law. JSAS Journal of Southern African Studies. JAH Journal of African History. JNZH Journal of Natal and Zulu History. JUS Department of Justice, Pretoria. KCAL Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban. LDE-N Union Department of [White] Lands, Natal Section, Pretoria. MJSA Medical Journal of South Africa. NAD Native Affairs Department, Natal. NAP Natal Archives, Pietermaritzburg. NAU Natal Agriculture Union. NCP Natal Colonial Papers. NEC Report of Evidence of the Native Economic Commission, 1930-32. NFLC Native Farm Labour Committee, Report of Evidence, 1937-39, CAD K-356, Boxes 1-5. 4 ABBREVIATIONS (continued) NNAC Natal Native Affairs Commission, Report of Evidence, (Pietermaritzburg, 1908). NRC Native Recruiting Corporation, Johannesburg. NTS Native Affairs Department Files, Pretoria. OJVSAI Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Industry. PEA Portuguese East Africa(n), [Mozambique]. SAHJ South African Historical Journal. SAIRR South African Institute of Race Relations. SAIMR South African Institute for Medical Research Publications. SAJE South African Journal of Economics. SAJEH South African Journal of Economic History. SAJS South African Journal of Science. SANAC South African Native Affairs Commission, Report of Evidence, (Cape Town, 1905), Vol.s 1-3. SAP South African Police. SASJ South African Sugar Journal. SEPC U.G. 32-'46, Report of the Social and Economic Planning Council, No. 9, The Native Reserves and their place in the Union of South Africa, (Pretoria, 1946). SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. TEBA The Employment Bureau of Africa, Ulundi office. U.G. Union Government of South Africa publications. ZCC Zululand Chamber of Commerce. ZFLC Zululand Farm Labour Committee. ZFU Zululand Farmers' Union. ZPU Zululand Planters' Union. OFFICIALS CNC Chief Native Commissioner, Natal. DNC District Native Commissioner, Zululand.