BASOTHO AND THE MINES= TOW.A.RDS A HISTORY OF LABOUR MIGRANCY~ ~-1B90-1940 EDWARD TSHIDISO MALOKA Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN UniversitySeptember of Cape1995 Town The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town TABLR OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii SOURCES .. V GLOSSARY . viii INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE 1. COLONIALISM, CHIEFTAINCY AND LABOUR MIGRATION, 1884-1940 . 11 2. MIGRANTS AND MIGRANCY, c.1890-1930s . 61 3. DEEPENING DEPENDENCY 120 PART TWO 4. COMPOUNDS AS HOME AND GRAVE .. 148 5. RELIGION AND CONVERSION ... 216 6. "FACTION FIGHTS": "FIXED BAYONETS" AGAINST STICKS AND STONES ................ 260 PART THREE 7. DISEASES, BEERSHOPS AND BROTHELS 290 CONCLUSION 338 APPENDICES I. MAPS 344 II. TRAVELLING TO THE MINES 348 III. SAKE AND MAINYATSO: THE CASE OF TWO WOMEN PROSTITUTES . 362 BIBLIOGRAPHY 368 LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Number of Ploughs and Wagons in Lesotho for Selected Years 19 Table 1.2: Number and Size of Missionary Schools, 1901 and 1933 39 Table 1.3: Pim~s Interview of Three Categories of 100 Taxpayers Each in Quthing 53 Table 1.4: Interview of 84 Thembu and 120 Sotho Taxpayers in Quthing by Pim 54 Table 2.1: Numbers Recruited by WNLA in Lesotho and the Orange River Colony, 1901-06 73 Table 2.2: Number of Easotho employed in the Transvaal 78 Table 2.3: Territorial Analysis of Easotho employed in Transvaal, July 1903 78 Table 2.4: Number of African Workers Employed on Orange River Colony Diamond Mines, 1905-08 83 Table 2.5: Average Number of Easotho Employed on Selected Diamond Mines 83 Table 2.6: Easotho in Selected Mines and Works, 1911 85 Table 2.7: Average Number of Easotho on the Gold Mines 99 Table 2.8: Percentage of African Labour in the Transvaal Gold and Coal Mines 99 Table 2.9: Number of Passes Issued in Lesotho, 1905 to 1913 100 Table 2.10: Number of Passes Issued in Lesotho for Labour Purposes, 1921 to 1938 100 Table 3.1: Mabille~s Remittances, 19 August 1896 to 6 January 1897 122 Table 3.2: Number of Easotho Recruited by the NRC during 1918-21 and the Number and Percentage who availed themselves for the VDP 126 Table 3.3: Tax Collected from Easotho by the Johannesburg Agency 140 Table 4.1: Numbers of Deaths and Death Rate per 1000 from certain Causes among Basotho and Union African Gold Miners 165 Table 4.2: Compensated TB Cases among Basotho, Shangaan, and Miners from the Cape Colony, 1924-25 168 Table 4.3: Compensation in L to Black (B) and White (W) Miners Compared 177 Table 7.1: Cases of Syphilis Treated in Government Dispensaries, 1925-1936 301 Table 7.2: Number of Cases of Gonorrhoea Treated, 1925- 1936 302 Table 7.3: Syphilis Test of 1 200 New Gold Mine Recruits. 1928 304 Table 7.4: TB Cases Among Cases Treated in Hospitals, 1927-1937 309 Table 7.5: The Marital Status of Basotho Women, 1911-1946 317 Table 7.6: Occupations of Basotho Women in Basutoland, 1936 320 i ABSTRACT This thesis examines how Lesotho came to depend on the export of its men to South African mines; what the experiences of these men were; and how all this impacted on Basotho society during the years between c.1890 and 1940. The thesis is divided into three parts. Part I focuses on the context and dynamics of labour migration and recruitment in Lesotho during the late 1880s to the late 1930s. This Part lays the basis for subsequent sections by showing which sections of Basotho opted for labour migrancy; and why it was men and not women who, initially at least, became migrants. In discussing the decline of the Basotho economy in the 1920s and 1930s, this section also shows how this was characterised not only by dependence on migrantsJ earnings, but also by the orientation to and concentration of Basotho labour on the Witwatersrand gold mines. Part II discusses various themes relating to life and conditions on the mines and in the compounds during the period up to c.1940. While specific note is taken of the African minersJ death and accident rate, most attention is devoted to the various ways which Basotho miners developed for dealing with the sickness, death and destitution befalling their compatriots in the compounds and on the mines. Conversion to Christianity was an important part of some miners experience, as church forums and the bible could be used for recreational purposes, while literacy classes imparted many with essential skills which could lead to promotion on the mine. But competition for promotion and favours, as well as conflicting survival strategies, often resulted in violent conflict among African miners. Although some scholars have mistakenly attributed such conflict to ethnic factors alone, this thesis argues for an approach which is simultaneously historically and materially grounded. Part III, by using the case of infectious and occupational diseases, and prostitution and commercial beer-brewing, traces ii and analyses the impact of the migrant labour system on Lesotho. The thesis shows how the spread to Lesotho of such diseases as syphilis and tuberculosis was directly linked to contact with South African towns and mining centres through wage labour. Beer canteens and brothels emerged and flourished in colonial Lesotho not only because of the decline of the countryJs economy and the breakdown of Basotho social structures, but also because these establishments serviced the migrant labour traffic itself. The significance of this study lies in two areas. Historiographically, this study seeks to contribute to migrant labour studies in Lesotho in particular and Southern Africa in general. Its approach stands between economism which attributes the causes of labour migrancy solely to economic factors, and those paradigms which privilege ideas and culture over material factors. There is a dialectical interplay between material factors and ideas, although the former ultimately determines the latter. Secondly, the significance of this study lies in the fact that many of the issues raised, especially those in Part III, continue to pose serious problems for Basotho people and their government to this day. Knowing something about the origins and history of these problems may contribute to finding lasting solutions. This study, therefore, is about Lesotho, Basotho, and the mines. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several people have been of great help in various ways at different stages of my research. I especially want to thank Patrick Harries, Andrew Spiegel, Anne Mager, Christopher Saunders, Bill Nasson, Helen Bradford, Shula Marks and Rick Elphick. I am, however, most indebted to Ian Phimister for his thorough, resourceful and incisive supervision. And without the emotional support of my wife, Ruth, I might not have derived so much pleasure from working on this thesis. My research and visits to Lesotho were facilitated by several individuals. Phillip Phamotse guided me to remote parts of Lesotho to locate old miners. Motlatsi Thabane and David Coplan put their experience with oral interviews at my disposal. David Ambrose and Stephen Gill were of great help in locating some scattered material. The staff of the Lesotho National Archives and the National University of Lesotho gave all that they could despite the problems that face their institutions. I also wish to thank the staff of the University of Cape Town African Studies Library for their patience and assistance. Maureen Gallon and Sheila Neumann, the secretaries in the History Department at the University of Cape Town, were equally helpful. Susan Sayers drew my four maps. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the financial support of the History Department Post-Graduate Fund and the Oppenheimer Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town. The Mellon Research Fellowship at the University of Cape Town made it possible for me to concentrate on my research. Most of my writing was done in London, thanks to the Ernest Oppenheimer Fellowship I was offered by the Centre of African Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. I also acknowledge the assistance of the CSD by incorporating the following declaration as required: "The financial assistance of the Centre for Science Development (HSRC, South Africa) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions iv expressed in this work, or conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not to be attributed to the Centre for Science Development". V SOURCES Most historians are acutely aware of the limitations of their source material, but in the case of this thesis, critical comment about its sources is particularly necessary. Firstly and most importantly, the extremely poor state of the government archives housed at the National University of Lesotho in Roma is a matter of grave concern, not least because they lack a trained archivist. Most of the files for the 1920s and subsequent years are missing, except for those of Leribe which were found by chance in the 1970s by David Ambrose. Researchers have to work in these archives without any professional assistance whatsoever. Furthermore, large parts of the archives are not well referenced, and files mentioned in the catalogue are missing on the shelves. Where files do exist, their contents are often damaged and already incomplete. On some documents dates are missing, while on others, reference tags have been removed.