The Consolidated Diamond Mines and the Natives in Colonial Namibia
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THE CONSOLIDATED DIAMOND MINES AND THE NATIVES IN COLONIAL NAMIBIA A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF ILLEGAL DIAMONDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OWAMBOLAND (1908 - 1990) A DISSERTATION IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA BY JOB SHIPULULO KANANDJEMBO AMUPANDA 200614215 MAIN SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR LESLEY BLAAUW UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA CO-SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR ANDRE DU PISANI UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA MARCH 2020 ii Abstract Whilst the ‘natural resource curse’ theory has been an enduring theory in the study of the relationship between natural resources endowment and economic development, the economics approach to this theory, which privileges the economic explanation focusing on the Dutch disease and revenue volatility, has been dominant. The political economy approach has proven to be more useful not only in political science but also in the study of the African political economy and developing countries such as Namibia where the political conditions played an influential role than the Dutch disease and revenue volatility. At the theoretical level, this study aligns and pursued the political economy approach to the ‘natural resource curse’ research and provides further explanations from a decolonial perspective. The decolonial explanations are useful for it is evident that the ‘natural resource curse’, as is the case with other Eurocentric theories, does not dwell on the agency and subjectivity of the natives, in this case those involved in the illegal diamond trade. Because of the political conditions in colonial Namibia, the political economy explanations such as rent-seeking, agency and moral cosmopolitanism are insufficient in explaining the relationship between the natives and CDM in colonial Namibia in general and the role of illegal diamonds in the development of Owamboland in particular. As such, decolonial insights such as alternative epistemology, indigenous resurgence and alternative conceptualization of development are used to provide understanding of the political economy of illegal diamonds in Owamboland. Using a mixed method, the study was exposed to a rich data set ranging from interviews, archival records, court records and secondary data. This allowed for cross pollination and verification of the data thus improving the validity and reliability of the data and findings. The study found, across all four data sets, comprehensive evidence confirming illegal diamond operations at CDM involving the Aawambo workers and the Portuguese masterminds. It is found that illegal diamonds made a contribution in the development of Owamboland in colonial Namibia. It is also found that prominent business personalities credited for the development of Owamboland, referred to in the study as the ‘Diamond Princes’, were involved in the underground diamond economy in Owamboland. Illegal diamonds led to increased iii purchasing power, widespread mercantilism and provided several economic opportunities for the natives in Owamboland including the transformation of Owamboland rural economy. The evidence further suggests that Namibia’s liberation movement and the progenitor of the present-day ruling party, SWAPO, was a direct and indirect beneficiary of the illegal diamond economy rents during the fight against apartheid colonialism. CDM, which maintained a symbiotic relationship with the colonial state and implemented its policies, stands accused of and associated with the death and disappearance of CDM workers who remain unaccounted for to date. In summary, the study responds to a clarion call for decolonial and Afrocentric perspectives on African development. Its end result is a compound that brings together several aspects of Namibian political economy to advance the case for of the role of illegal diamonds in the development of Owamboland. Given that the study took place in ‘unchartered territory’, its greatest contribution, beyond decolonial and Afrocentric pleas, is that of ‘ground-breaking’ research for there has been no record of research, at this level, that looked at the role of illegal diamonds in the development of Owamboland in colonial Namibia. iv Figure 1: Basic illustration of the Sperrgebiet or Diamond Area 1. Source: Geological Survey of Namibia, 2017 v Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................. iii Explanation of terminology as used in this study ................................................... xiii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 1.1 Orientation and background to the study......................................................1 1.2 The CLS and the Aawambo connection .......................................................4 1.3 Man’s inhumanity to man: the degrading, dehumanizing and oppressive nature of the CLS ..................................................................... 12 1.3.1 Contract labourers as a commodity and the constraints of their lifestyle under colonialism .................................................................. 12 1.3.2 The modus operandi of the CLS ......................................................... 14 1.3.3 CLS: culture shock, moral and social dilemmas, and lack of dignity ... 14 1.3.4 The living conditions of the natives under the CLS ............................. 17 1.3.5 Resistance against the CLS: the 1971/2 general strike and the abolishment of SWANLA ............................................................. 20 1.4 CDM in a colonial setting .......................................................................... 25 1.4.1 Early diamond mining activities and the Sperrgebiet .......................... 25 1.4.2 Arrival of Ernest Oppenheimer, the Halbscheid Agreement, and the formation of CDM ........................................................................ 28 1.4.3 De Beers as a warden of the international diamond cartel ................... 31 1.4.4 CDM and the South West African colonial state: a symbiotic relationship ......................................................................................... 33 1.4.5 Racism and oppression at CDM .......................................................... 37 1.4.6 CDM and the Thirion Commission ..................................................... 42 1.5 CDM and the global capitalist system ........................................................ 45 1.6 Statement of the problem ........................................................................... 47 1.7 Research questions .................................................................................... 48 1.7.1 Main research question addressed by the study ................................... 48 1.7.2 Supplementary research questions ...................................................... 49 vi 1.8 Significance of the study ........................................................................... 50 1.9 Limitations of the study ............................................................................. 51 1.10 Delimitation of the study ........................................................................... 52 1.11 Outline of the remaining chapters .............................................................. 52 Chapter 2: THE ‘NATURAL RESOURCE CURSE’ THEORY: Commissions, Omissions and Limitations ......................................................................................55 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 55 2.2 History and basic tenets of the natural resources curse theory .................... 57 2.3 Application and analysis of the natural resources curse: the various approaches .................................................................................... 60 2.3.1 The ‘Dutch disease’ ............................................................................ 60 2.3.2 Revenue volatility .............................................................................. 63 2.3.3 The political conditions ...................................................................... 64 2.3.4 Asymmetric information, agency, and bargaining power .................... 69 2.4 Evolution and the critique of the natural resources curse theory ................. 71 2.4.1 From natural resource-curse inevitability to alternative explanations .. 71 2.4.2 Beyond GDP’s deterministic focus ..................................................... 73 2.5 Alternative perspectives on the political economy of illegal diamonds in Owamboland ......................................................................................... 76 2.5.1 Agency, rent seeking, and morality in a colonial setting...................... 76 2.5.2 Epistemic challenges and an alternative epistemology ........................ 78 2.5.3 Epistemic exclusion, decoloniality, and the native’s subjectivity......... 81 2.5.4 Decolonial insights from the case study .............................................. 93 2.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 98 Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................... 103 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 103 3.2 Justifying the units of analysis ................................................................. 104 3.3 Research design......................................................................................