CAPITAL PENETRATION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN BOPMUTHATSWANA: A CASE STUDY OF THE OITSOBOTLA DRYLAND PROJECTS Johan Jacobus (Monty) Roodt A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Arts University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the Degree of Master of Arts Johannesburg, June 1985 * MS <!* IM-rtjt 10ft • y w t h # r » * c f a t i p ' x : DECLARATION I aeclare that this dissertation is my own, inside:5 work. It is being submitted for the degree of Master cf Arts : r, the University of the Kitwatersrand. Joharnescurc. It has not been submitted before for any degre, cr exa-ination in any other University. JOHAN JACOBUS (MONTY) ROOPT 28th day of May. 1985. r A CONTE NTS Page INTRODUCTION ... ( i ) SECTION I MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND AGRICULTURE IN THE BANTUSTANS. Chapter 1. THE RISE OF MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND THE CHANGING FUNCTIONS OF THE BANTUSTANS ..................... i OPENING THE GATES FOR CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN THE BAN­ TUSTANS ...... .................................................... 17 3. THE INCENTIVES FOR INVESTMENT IN THE BANTUSTANS .... 30 4. STATE AND PRIVATE CAPITAL: THE EXPANSION OF COMMODI­ TY RELATIONS ..... 38 5. THE VERTICAL CONCENTRATION OF PEASANT - MIGRANTS 54 SECTION II THE LITSOBOTLA PROJECTS AS A CASE-STUDY. 6 . THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ................. 64 7. THE HISTORY OF THE DITSOBOTLA PROJECTS ............... 91 8 . THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DITSOBOTLA PROJECTS ........ 1C9 9. ECONOMIC COSTS AND BENEFITS OF THE PROJECTS ......... 144 10. THE DITSOBOTLA QUESTIONNAIRE-SURVEY: PARTICIPANT HOUSEHOLD CHI.IACTERISTICS AND ATTITUDES ............. 167 11. CONCLUSIONS .. ........................................... 197 REFERENCE NOTES ............................... APPENDIX ................................... BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................... This Masters Dissertation was completed under the supervision of Professor J. Keenan in the Depart­ ment of Development Studies, University of the Witwatersrand. A B S T R A C T This dissertation studies the implementation and impae, of the capital-intensive agricultural projects in south Africa's Ban uus tans, vith specific reference to Bophuthatswana. first section of the dissertation looks at the theoretical background of rural development in the Bantustans in general, while the second section looks specifically at the Ditsobotl, Projects in Bophuthatswana as a case-study. In the second section, the aims of the development institutions involved in the projects are assessed through a survey of planning and other documents. A questionnaire-survey is also utilised to determine the socio-economic conditions or the project participants as well as to gain their opinions of the way in which the projects are affecting them. r A V . (i) INTRODUCTION "Bophuthatswana achieved its first major breakthrough in its goal to achieve self-sufficiency in Food ", 0fficial 8 rain receipt records.... for the 1960/81 season indicate that for the first time the country produced maize in excess of its own domestic consumption... one major contribution to this achievement was made through the agricultural development projects "(1 ) There has to date been very little analysis of the capital- intensive agricultural projects in the Bantustans. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that these projects play a major role in the South African state's attempt to show the world the viability and self-sufficiency of the "independent states". These large scale capital intensive agricultural projects represent a particular kind of rural development, development which requires vast amounts of finance and a highly centralised management whose primary task is to produce an agricultural surplus. The agricultural projects in the Ditsobotla region of Bophutha­ tswana are the largest projects of this kind in Southern Africa. They lie a few kilometers to the south of Mmabatho, the capital of Bophuthatswana. The first outpost of the Ditsobotla projects is the crossroads marking Pietfontein village. (See appendix A for map of Ditsobotla). ( Also known as Bethal village.) The largest of the Ditsobotla projects is the Mooifontein dryland maize project. From the crossroads at Rietfontein village it stretches to the south-west as far as the eye can see, covering a total of 22 725 ha. Adjacent to the Mooifontein project, to the east of the Rietfontein crossroads, is the smaller Shiela maize project which comprises 6 511 ha. By the end of 1983, over R21 million of mainly South African sta^e capital, and . esser amounts of private capital, had been pumped into the two projects in an attempt to make Bophu- thatswana self-sufficient in maize production. As will be shown in this study, the high inputs necessitated by the at­ tempts to boost maize production, have placed the more than 1 700 farmers on whose land the projects are being implemented, into millions of rands of debt. The Ditsobotla district lies to the north-west and just outside the South African maize triangle. The triangle, which covers the south-western Transvaal and most of the Orange Free State, forms the nucleus of South Africa's richest maize producing areas. As one moves to the western periphery of the triangle, the annual rainfall lessens and the production risks increase. The Ditsobotla district covers an area of 2 533 km. it has an arid climate and receives an annual average rainfall of 507,6mm, although this can vary by up to 200mm either way. Thunderstorms accompanied by high winds and hail are common. Heavy frost blankets the ground over an average of 106 days and the predominantly northerly winds can cause severe wind eros i o n . / S '' (i i i ) Most of the region comprises a flat plain broken by a series of low, rocky hills in the west. Roughly 30 percent cf the ^strict is regarded as being arable. The grassveld is severely overgrazed in most a r e a s . There are two towns, Itsoseng (population 25 500) and Atamalang (population 3 000). Twenty-five "closer settlements" and 52 traditional villages are scattered over the district. Both towns are situated near the Bophuthatswana "border" with South Africa and have a high percentage of commuters who work in the surrounding towns such as Lichtenburg and Delareyville in the western Transvaal. Barely one out of four economically active people resident in the district find work there. Man} migrant workers from the Ditsobotla district work in Johannesburg and the smaller urban areas of the western Transvaal and northern Cape. In 1980 there was a farming population of 2 640 fulltime, and 2 550 part-time farmers; a total of 5 190 farmers of one sort or another. (2 ) The present population of the district is in the region of 148 000 people, (3) and will double in 24 years. The research for the present study was carried out during 1982 and 1983 and written up during 1984. Because of the drought and late harvest in 1984, the production figures for 1C83/8 i crop were not available at the time of writing. However, they have subsequently become available and have been added where possible. Although the institutions concerned with rural development in Bophuthatswana are obviously involved with all the agricultural development projects in the territory and are discussed as such in this study, it must be made clear that this thesis is primarily a case study of the Ditsobotla dryland projects. It must be borne in mind that different conditions, especially with regard tc the issue of farmer participation, exist on AGRICOR's irrigation schemes. However, the irrigation projects, at the time of this research, do not form the major thrust of AGRICOR's rural development efforts, being secondary to the dryland agricultural projects. As to the question of whether the project participants on the Ditsobotla projects are peasants or proletarians, the author of this dissertation is in agreement wish Basil Bernstein chat wh­ ile the degree of effective control exercised by capital appears to be virtualy total, "the process stops short of full proleta­ rianization in that the separation of the producers and the m e n s of production is not complete. (4) The term peas ant/prole­ tarian or peasant/migrant is thus used in this study. This does not negate the fact that there are large numbers of landless people in the rural areas of the Bantuscans who are fully prole- tarianized. SECTION 1 MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND AGRICULTURE IN THE BANTUSTANS CHAPTER ___1 THE RISE OF MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AND THE CHANGING FUNCTIONS OF THE BANTUSTAN'S. INTRODUCTION This chapter examines briefly the changes that occurred histori­ cally in the South African economy end how these changes affected the Bantustans. The main emphasis however, is on the transition of the economy to the monopoly capitalist phase and the effects that this restructuring has fad on the condi­ tions of production and reproduction of the African workforce. The effect of this restructuring on the Bantustans is also considered. The transition to monopoly capitalism has had important effect on the development of the Bantustans. especially with regard to agriculture. The contemporary movement of capital into agricultural projects in the Bantustans is related to changes in the overall structure of capitalist production and accumula­ tion in South Africa over the last two decades or so, and the new functions that the Bantustans have come to play in regard to these changes. ( 1 ) The new conditions within the Bantustans have giv_n rise to conflicting trends in rural development policies being pursued. The dominant trend that appears to be emerging is one of in­ creased capital investment in an attempt to increase production as a mean; of asserting the "independence" of the Bantustan economies. THE RISE 0? MONOPOLY CAPITALISM Simkins (1981) has shown that the inhabitants of the African reserves were not able to provide for their subsistence require­ ments from agricultural production as early as 1918.(2) In spite of the inability of the reserves to provide the reproduc­ tive needs of migrant labourers' families, the myth of their ability to do so continued as justification tor the payment of low wages by the mines and other < .ployers of migrants for a long time afterwards.