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ýlKiINIC3 1N 1,11 A(11ARýt'[1li -,ý(1) GTlý,<\ý - ýlKiINIC3 1N 1,11 A(11ARýt'[1li -,ý(1) GTlý,<\ý NVIO ,Rýllý17 R SfRtuC.VICIL', ìlq iDUil13AtN,19-5 1) , 19,/ ,,1 13 li 3.,/\ t\,, ý, i 3 U ý,\ì WORKING IN THE APARTHEID CITY: WORKER STRUGGLES IN DURBAN, 1959-1979 by Nelson Tozivaripi Sambureni Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History University of Natal, Durban December 1994 ii DECLARATION Unless otherwise acknowledged in the text, this dissertation is an original work by the author and has not been submitted in any form to another university. ABSTRACT Politically, socially and economically, the 1960s and 1970s constitute a crucial period in the history of South Africa in general and that of Durban in particular. It was a period of economic boom, a period of intensive state repression, a period of social engineering unparalleled by any previous government, and a period in which the state intervened in the shaping of the African community and increasingly integrated African workers and their families into the urban economy. This thesis examines the contradictions, conflicts, complexities, failures and successes of the apartheid state's intervention in the economy and in urban African society. The state's intervention in all spheres of life created a more complex society - a society which was structurally far too complex to be effectively managed by the apartheid state. On the whole, the apartheid state failed to achieve its objects and by the mid-1970s, began to show signs of collapse. On the economic front, the apartheid state faced enormous challenges from both African workers and employers of African labour, who resisted the state's influx control measures. Furthermore, the state also faced iv challenges from the wave of strikes beginning in Durban in 1973 which spread throughout the country. Politically, the state lost the control which it assumed in the 1960s and began to institute reforms. The greatest challenge facing the apartheid state and its structures were the African workers who developed various strategies for confronting day to day problems at the workplace, the market and the residence. Such forms of struggle were both hidden and open: they were not expressed solely through trade unions, strikes, boycotts, stay-aways and riots, but were expressed in all facets of life. Consequently, conflicts emerged between African workers and the state, between African workers and employers, between employers and the state, and between the state and local authorities. This thesis argues that the apartheid state was not always successful in achieving its goals; since apartheid was contradictory and conflictual, it was more complex than a simple success story of the state mowing down all its opponents. Apartheid shone and waned, and throughout its --istence was often marked by contradictions and conflicts in both content and implementation of its policies; it failed to withstand resistance which began during the 1970s. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis owes a great deal to the input of several scholars. Among those who have supported and helped to shape my thesis in various ways, I wish to thank the following academics and colleagues, all of whom have read and commented on one or more of my chapters: Dr David Hemson, Professor W.B. Freund, and Dr Yonah Seleti. There are two scholars who have contributed much to the shaping of this thesis: Dr Iain Edwards, my co- supervisor, who inspired me, provided guidance throughout the period of its composition, and was extraordinarily generous with his time in repeated conversations; and Professor P.R. Warhurst, my supervisor, who proved not only a great supervisor, but also a wonderful teacher and a great friend. Professor Warhurst had encouraged me to come to South Africa when I met him in Zimbabwe in 1991. He made it his highest priority to see to it that my research and writing proceeded well. I shall be very glad if he regards this thesis as evidence of his success, especially since he has unfailingly shown confidence in me and my work. Three draft chapters of the thesis were presented as seminar papers at the Department of History, University of Natal. I am grateful to various staff members of the His- vi tory Department for their critical comments. The collection of material for this thesis was made easier and more manageable through the assistance of archivists and librarians at the Natal Archives, the Killie Campbell Africana Library, the Don Africana Library, the William Cullen Library of the University of the Witwatersrand, the Durban Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Library, the University of Natal, Natal Room, and the Durban Municipal Local History Museum. I am very grateful for financial assistance from the University of Natal, the Centre for Science Development, the South African National Society, the South African Department of National Education, and for a grant from the Zimbabwean government. I am also indebted to Dr Harold Maltz who took pains reading and making suggestions on the first draft of this thesis, and to Karin Pampallis for editing and type-setting the final draft. To you all, my profound and heartfelt thankfulness for having shown an interest in my thesis. This thesis is dedicated to my son, Blessing Takudzwa, and to my wife Verna for her support and encouragement. Opinions expressed in this thesis and the conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not to be attributed to the Centre for Science Development. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ANC - African National Congress ANCWL - African National Congress Women's League BAC - Bantu Affairs Commissioner BAD - Bantu Administration and Development BF - Benefit Fund BWP - Black Workers' Project CASS - Centre for Applied Social Sciences DCC - Durban Chamber of Commerce DSLSC - Durban Stevedoring Labour Supply Company FAWIU - Furniture and Allied Workers' Union GFWBF - General Factory Workers' Benefit Fund GWIU - Garment Workers' Industrial Union ICA - Industrial Conciliation Act ICU - Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union IDC - Industrial Development Corporation IIE - Institute for Industrial Education ISR - Institute for Social Research KCAL - Killie Campbell Africana Library KCAV - Killie Campbell Audio Visuals MK - Umkhonto we Sizwe NA - Natal Archives NCI - Natal Chamber of Industries NP - National Party viii NR - Natal Room NTC - National Transport Commission NUTW - National Union of Textile Workers PAC - Pan-African Congress PNAAB - Port Natal Affairs Administration Board PUTCO - Public Utility Bus Transport Company RNLB - Rhodesia Native Labour Bureau SACTU - South African Congress of Trade Unions SACTWU - South African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union SAIRR - South African Institute of Race Relations SALB - South Africa Labour Bulletin SASO - South African Students' Organisation TUACC - Trade Union Advisory Co-ordinating Council TUCSA - Trade Union Council of South Africa TWIU - Textile Workers' Industrial Union UBC - Urban Bantu Council ULPP - Urban Labour Preference Policy - University of Natal, Durban UND TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ......... ...................... ii Abstract ......... ...................... iii Acknowledgements ....... ................... v List of Abbreviations ...... ................ vii INTRODUCTION ........ ..................... 1 PART I 1. Crisis to Control to Crisis: Apartheid South Africa, 1958-1979: An Overview . ....... ..16 2. The State, Capital Accumulation and the Labour Control Framework in Durban ......... 31 3. African Labour and the Wage Structure in Durban ....... ................... ..68 4. Living in the Apartheid City: African Workers, the State and Housing, 1960-1973 ..... 102 PART II 5. "Listen, Whiteman. You Have Launched a War You Cannot Win": From Mass Politics to Community Politics, 1959-1973 ... ............ 141 6. Struggles in the Shadows: Covert Forms of Resistance ..................... ... 194 7. "We are not Children, We are asking for the Managers to Listen to our Problems": The 1973 Durban Strikes .............. 237 8. African Trade Unionism in Durban, 1960-1979 289 CONCLUSION ........ ..................... 329 Appendix ......... ...................... 338 Bibliography .................... 346 INTRODUCTION This thesis is concerned with struggles between the state, capital and African workers over the shaping of the African workers' status and power within the industrial, commercial and residential landscape of Durban during the apartheid era. The 1960s saw both the state and capital endeavouring to fashion a particular type of African worker: they provided certain forms of urban infrastructural amenities and continually remoulded capitalist labour routines. At the same time, African workers sought to gain increasing control over the pace and character of their own urbanisation and status both within the factory and their new residential areas, whether apartheid's townships or new shantytowns. The thesis also examines the internal dynamics of the relationship between the state, local and central, capital and African labour as they changed over the period of study in Durban. Furthermore, it examines the relationship between the state and trade unions, and between strikes and unions. Various conflictual and contradictory relations existed between the state and capital, between labour and capital, and between the state and local authorities over their differing views of how the apartheid city society was to be restructured and over the nature of African employment in those cities. 2 Yet the history of