TRANSFORMATION IN LATE COWNIAL NGQIKA SOCIETY: A POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF AFRICAN COMMUNITIES IN THE DISTRIcr OF STUTTERHEIM (EASTERN CAPE), c.1870-1910 THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS of RHODES UNIVERSITY by LUVUYO ELLWOOD WOTSHELA JANUARY 1994 Abstract This study analyses the methods and policies of the colonial government which shaped Stutterheim's African communities between c.1870 and 1910. In 1870 the Stutterheim magisterial district had not yet been officially established. However, creation of the British Kaffrarian administration (1847-1865) had already ensured the entrenchment of colonial rule over the humiliated Xhosa chiefdoms west of the Kei. This work studies transformations in late colonial Ngqika society and the development of Stutterheim as a magisterial district. It analyses the entrenchment of colonial bureaucracy and changes in indigenous social, economic and political structures. In the period c.1860-1877, direct administration of the Ngqika was first attempted. While recovering from the 1856-57 cattle killing, the Ngqika were brought under colonial administration by the annexation of British Kaffraria to the Cape Colony in 1865. The thesis also examines the process and implications of the breakup and resettlement of the Ngqika location after the 1877-1878 war and the mechanisms and complications in forming a new postwar settlement. The focus then narrows to Stutterheim magisterial district (finalised in 1880), where, after the removal of the main Ngqika population to the Transke~ formal structures of quitrent settlement were established around mission stations. A new form of social behaviour underpinned by principles of individualism evolved under missionary influence. Urged on by legislation that sought to intensify implementation of individual tenure, this social behaviour predominat.ed under the new administration. Attention is also given to the allocation of farm land in the district. On part of what had once been communally owned land, an immigrant farming community originally intended strictly for whites emerged. Numerous Africans later managed to hold property in this area. An urban area with a mixed African and white population resulted where allotments initially allocated to the German Legion were later auctioned. On crown lands, leasing and purchasing was initiated. By the early twentieth century, settlement patterns were in chaos: on the mission settlements, quitrenters disobeyed settlement regulations, farms were overpopulated by tenants and interracial urban settlements faced imminent segregationist policies. By 1910 local administration was in difficulties and the Africans were becoming politically mobilised against local and colonial policies. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCfION, mSTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY 1 PART I FROM BRITISH KAFFRARIA TO COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION, EARLY MISSION SOCIO­ ECONOMIC WORKS AND THE HUMILIATED CHIEFDOM CHAPTER 2: TRADmONALISM UNDER STRESS: THE MANlFBSTATION OF A NEW IDEOLOGICAL ORDER 16 CHAPTER 3: THE PERIOD OF RESURGENCE: NEW ECONOMIC FORCES: PRAcnsED AGRICULTURE, LOCAL TRADE AND COMMERCE c.1862-1876 45 PARTn DISCONTINUlTY- THE BREAKUP AND RESETrLEMENT OF THE NGQlKA-LOCATlON, 1877-1890 CHAPTER 4: THE EFFEcrs OF THE WAR OF NGCA YECmI (l1m-78) AND THE EMERGENCE OF DIREcr COLONIAL RULE 63 CHAPTER 5: THE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION, BmUCAL UGHT AND COLONIAL LAW: MISSION QUITRENTS, TECHNICALITIES OF THE REORGANISATION OF SPACFJLAND, c.188O-189O 86 CHAPTER 6: COMMUNAL TENURE PERISHES: GROWTH OF AFRICAN AND WHITE PRIVATE LANDOWNERS, THE STATE OBTAINS LEVERAGE c.l880-1890 114 PARTID THE PROBLEMS OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION, c.1890-1910 CHAPTER 7: THE RURAL LANDOWNERS AND THE COLONIAL lAND ADMINISTRATION POUCY: A LOOK AT PRIVATE LANDOWNERS, MISSION QUITRENTERS AND TENANCY, c.1892-1910 136 CHAPTER 8: URBAN SEGREGATION POUCIES, POLmCAL MOBILIZATION AND TRADmON REVIVAL IN THE MISSION STATIONS 161 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY 185 BmUOGRAPHY 192 MAPS MAP 1 THE CAPE COWNY FROM 1779 TO 1865 WITH THE POLmCAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES OF THE BRITISH KAFFRARIA, 1847-1865. 5 MAP 2 THE PROLIFERATION OF MGWAU MISSION ACTIVITY DURING THE 1860S AND EARLY 1870s. 27 MAP 3 THE CROWN RESERVE SETTLEMENT OF UPPER KUBUSI AND ISIDENGE, VILLAGE OF STUTTERHEIM AND NGQIKA WCATION WITH MGWALI AND WARTBURG MISSION STATIONS BEFORE 1877-78. 44 MAP 4 THE MAIN SETTLEMENTS OF THE NEWLY CREATED MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT OF STUTTERHEIM AFTER 1880. 113 FIGURES TABLE 1 LEWIS'S FIGURES ON ACCUMULATION OF CATTLE, SHEEP, WAGON AND PLOUGHS IN SANDILE's KAMA's, PHATO's, OBA's AND ANTA's LOCATIONS. 53 TABLE 2 FIGURES FURNISHED IN THE 1865 COMMISSION ON NATIVE AFFAIRS PERTAINING TO STOCK/PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN THE NGQIKA DISTRICT. 53 TABLE 3 CENSUS AND ACCUMULATION OF STOCK IN THE NGQIKA DISTRICT DURING THE YEAR 1875. 59 TABLE 4 NUMBER OF STOCK/PROPERTY IN THE CROWN RESERVE DISTRICT IN THE YEAR 1876. 60 TABLE 5 DEMOGRAPHIC AND STOCK NUMBER CHANGES IN THE FORMER NGQIKA LOCATION IN THE YEAR 1880. 81 ACKNOWLBDGBMBHTS Apart from the special financial assistance from the Dean of Students which I received during the last phase of this project, I also received generous funding for most of my field work trips from the Stutterheim Historical Society. The main source of my financial support however has been the First National Bank Student Loan System which Basil Durandt efficiently arranged and my parents to whom lowe many thanks. Richard Bouch supervised this thesis, providing penetrating and constructive criticism. Without his influence it would undoubtedly have lacked strength and exactitude. I happen to be amongst the last (if not the very last) candidate supervised by him during a period of great change in his life. His well supported opinions and openness to new perspectives were of benefit to this thesis. A special word of appreciation and thanks goes to him and best wishes in his new vocation. A word of thanks must go to the staff members of Rhodes University History Department. Not only were they interested in my work but they also took an active part in the seminar based on one of the chapters of the thesis. Throughout the duration of this research, I shared ideas with my fellow students who are too many to enumerate. Special thanks should go to Ashley Westaway with whom I spent interesting times discussing Keiskammahoek and Stutterheim history, and Cathy Gorham with whom I shared ideas about some complications of colonial administration. I appreciate the hospitable cooperation I received from the staff of the Cory library at Rhodes University. The staff of the South African Library and Cape Archives in Cape Town, the Kaffraria Museum in King William's Town and Stutterheim Public Library also helped me to locate sources of various kinds. Many thanks also to Mr C L Rycroft of Constantia in Cape Town who welcomed me into his home for the duration of my archival work and also to Mr S MacLachlan of Hazeldean Computers in Stutterheim who gave me access to his computers. Although I typed the whole thesis myself, I would like to thank particularly Mrs Charteris of the History Department for formating my disks, Miss Cecilia Blight for proofreading most chapters of this thesis and Ms Sandy Rowoldt for double-checking my bibliography. Namhla Wotshela, my great aunt, and Mary Jane Pamla, my grandmother, who were anxious to see this work finished unfortunately passed away before it could be completed. Finally, special thanks to Ntsiki Majola for her motivation, critical suggestions and companionship. Key to the list of abbreviations. AG. Archives of the Attorney General. AGRI. Archives of the Department of Agriculture. BK. Archives of British Kaffraria Government. BBCC. Blue Books of the Cape Colony. BBNA. Blue Books for Native Affairs. BFA. Bolo Farmers Association. BPP. British Parliamentary Papers. CA. Cape Archives. CMP. Cape Mounted Police. CO. Archives of the Colonial Office. CPP. Cape Printed Annexures/Papers. FCE. Archives of the Forest Department. GH. Archives of Government House. LMS. London Missionary Society. LND. Archives of the Department of Lands. MVMB. Mgwali Village Management Board. NA. Archives of the Secretary for Native Affairs. NEA. National Education Association. PWD. Archive§ of the Department of Public Works. SAL. South African Library. SANC. South African Native Congress. SANNC. South African National Native Congress. SFFGA. Stutterheim Farmers and Fruit Growers Association. T. Archives of the Treasury Department. UG. Union Government Papers. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION, HISTORIOGRAPHY, SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY Geographical and Historical background Stutterheim is a district in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. The principal town of the district bears the same name. The district lies about 90 kilometres north of East London, 110 kilometres south of Queenstown and 30 kilometres north east of Keiskammahoek. It covers about 1634 square kilometres of mostly plain terrain, with mainly grassveld and valley bushveld vegetation. The region is suitable for trees and extensive plantations have been established on the slopes of the Amathole range. It experiences a humid subtropical climate with moderate rainfalls and cold, frosty winters.' With an undulating landscape, some areas aTe carved out by the winding Kubusi river and its tributaries Toise and Gqolonci. Against a background of altered geographical settlement, some sections of the district have high population density and some very low.2 Between 1880 and 1910, Stutterheim district