Urban protest, Citizenship and the City: The history of Residents’ Associations and African urban representation in colonial Harare, Zimbabwe By Kudakwashe Chitofiri THIS THESIS HAS BEEN SUBMITTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF THE HUMANITIES, FOR THE CENTRE OF AFRICA STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE. NOVEMBER 2015 SUPERVISOR: PROF. I. R. PHIMISTER CO-SUPERVISOR: PROF N ROOS Declaration I declare that the dissertation hereby submitted by me for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of the Free State is my own independent work and has not previously been submitted by me at another university/faculty. I furthermore cede copyright of the dissertation in favour of the University of the Free State. ……………………… ……………………… Kudakwashe Chitofiri Bloemfontein i Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….v Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………………………viii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….x Acronyms……………………………………………………………………………………………………................xi Chapter One: Introduction and Background………………………………………….1 Introduction and Historiographical arguments on the Rhodesian Colonial City and African Representation……………………………………………………………………………………………………………1 Structure and Form of the Salisbury Local Authority………………………………………………… 24 Theorising Urban Citizenship and Protest……………………………………………………………………25 Researching Urban History in Zimbabwe: Sources, Methodology and Methodological Challenges…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..27 Thesis Structure…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..31 Chapter Two: Salisbury and the “Creation” of African Urban Protest: 1908- 1930…………………………………………………………………………………………………….… 34 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………34 Section One: The Establishment of a “Native Location” in Salisbury: An assessment of the Built Environment………………………………………………………………………………………………………..36 Section Two: “Law and Order must take precedence in everything that has to do with the Native.” The Location as a theatre of Control………………………………………………………………43 Section Three: African Responses, Consciousness and nascent collectivization of Location grievances……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………51 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………67 ii Chapter Three: “The African has no sense of Civic Responsibility.” Administration of African Townships and the Expansion of African Urban Representation: 1920s to the early 1940s.................................................69 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………69 The Great Depression, Second World War and Administration of African Urban Space.71 Unpacking Location Associational Politics: The Operational Environment of African Organisations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….87 State Response to Rising African Militancy……………………………………………………………….102 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………103 Chapter Four: The Post- World War Two period and growth of the Residents’ Movements: 1945 to 1957……………………………………………………………………105 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….105 Post World War Two Industrialisation and Urbanisation…………………………………………….109 Post War Housing and Living Conditions in African Townships……………………………………114 Residents’ Associations, Advisory Boards and Post War African Urban Struggles………120 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….142 Chapter Five: African Urban Representation and the Nationalist Movements: 1958 to 1980…………………………………………………………………………………………..145 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….145 “The Native Should be kept in his place.” The 1958 Urban Affairs Commission……………148 Administration of African Urban Areas: The Post Urban Affairs Commission Period……153 Rhodesian Political Economy and its Impact on Urban Movements: 1958 to 1980……..158 Urban Movements, Violence and the Rise of Nationalism…………………………………………..165 iii Advisory Boards, Township Boards and Residents’ Associations: Urban Violence and the Politics of Self- Administration: 1960 to 1980……………………………………………………………..172 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..185 Chapter Six: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………187 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………....201 iv Abstract This thesis is an account of social movements in the African part of the city of Salisbury in colonial Zimbabwe. It explores how the emergence and character of the “Location”, as shaped by segregatory policies which viewed Africans as temporary sojourners in the city, influenced the development of African urban social movements. In doing so, it argues that the reluctance of the colonial authorities and business to invest in basic infrastructure and social services for the Location was the core reason why Africans organised themselves for the improvement of conditions in their segregated part of the City. Seeing themselves as permanent dwellers long before this fact was acknowledged by municipal authorities, many Africans came gradually to understand their collective strength. The emergence of African urban movements was thus a result of a realisation by Africans of the strength of the collective in confronting colonial authorities. This study argues that African trade unions and labour organisations were influenced by the state of affairs in the townships to become mouthpieces for all African urban dwellers. Even later nationalist organisations became de facto township residents’ associations because of the centrality of urban grievances for African Location residents. Investigating the impact of the Depression and the Second World War on the direction and character that African urban representation assumed in the post 1940s period this thesis argues that it was the conditions brought about by increased African urbanisation such as overcrowding and other accompanying urban ills that led to the emergence of, and increase in, narrowly focussed African urban representative unions and associations in the post war period. The thesis also assesses the operations of residents’ representative groupings in an environment of heightened national struggle for independence. It refocuses debates on African agency by exploring “African voices” in the urban arena as they engaged with colonial authorities about the manner in which the Location was imagined, arranged and managed. It captures moments of organised confrontation with colonial authorities by African urban residents organisations from 1908 when the first African Location was created in Salisbury right up to independence in 1980. Paying due regard to the changing and different attitudes of successive colonial governments and local authorities over time and space, the thesis examines the impact of such shifts on the nature and form of African representation. Keywords: Location, segregation, residents’ associations, urban social movements, Harare, protest, representation. v Opsomming Hierdie tesis stel ondersoek in na sosiale bewegings in die swart gedeelte van die stad Salisbury in koloniale Zimbabwe. Dit verken hoe die ontstaan en die aard van die “lokasie”, wat gevorm is deur ’n segregasie beleid wat swartes slegs as tydelike besoekers beskou het, die ontwikkeling van swart stedelike bewegings beïnvloed het. Dit voer aan dat die koloniale owerhede en privaatsektor se traagheid om in basiese infrastruktuur en maatskaplike dienste te belê, die vernaamste rede was waarom swart mense hulself georganiseer het ten einde toestande in hul gesegregeerde deel van die stad te verbeter. Swart mense het hulself as permanente inwoners beskou, nog lank voor die munisipale owerhede dié feit erken het, en sodoende het hulle stelselmatig van hul kollektiewe mag bewus geword. Die onstaan van swart stedelike bewegings is dus te wyte aan swart mense se besef van die gesamentlike krag van die gemeenskap in die konfrontasie met die koloniale owerhede. Die studie voer aan dat swart vakbonde en arbeidsorganisasies deur die toestande in die lokasie beïnvloed is, en daarom het hulle sodoende ’n mondstuk vir swart stedelinge geword. Selfs latere nasionalistiese organisasies was de facto buurtorganisasies as gevolg van die belang wat stedelike griewe by swart inwoners geniet het. Daar word verder ondersoek ingestel na die uitwerking van die Groot Depressie en die Tweede Wêreldoorlog op die koers en die aard van swart stedelike verteenwoordiging ná die 1940s. Hierdie tesis voer aan dat die toestande wat deur toenemende swart verstedeliking meegebring is, soos oorbewoning en ander meegaande stedelike probleme, gelei het tot die ontstaan en groei van toegewyde swart stedelike verenigings in die na-oorlogse tydperk. Die tesis stel ook ondersoek in na die binnewerke van inwonersverenigings in ’n omgewing waar die landwye stryd om onafhanklikheid aan die verskerp was. Dit bring die debat terug na swart agentskap deur te fokus op stedelike “swart stemme” en hul gesprekke met die koloniale owerhede oor die wyse waarop die lokasie bedink, georden en bestuur is. Dit vang bepaalde oomblikke van georganiseerde konfrontasie met die koloniale owerhede vas, vanaf 1908 toe die eerste swart lokasie in Salisbury gestig is, tot en met onafhanklikheid in 1980. Daar word aandag geskenk aan die verskillende en veranderende houdings van opeenvolgende koloniale en plaaslike regerings, binne die raamwerk van tyd en plek. Hierdie tesis bestudeer dus dié verskuiwings en die aard en wese van swart verteenwoordiging. vi Sleutelwoorde: Lokasie, segregasie, buurtverenigings, swart stedelike bewegings,