UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND FACULTY OF HUMANITIES SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY COAL CAPITAL: THE SHAPING OF SOCIAL RELATIONS IN THE STORMBERG, 1880-1910 PhD PAT GIBBS 330289 Supervisors: Professor Phillip Bonner Dr Noor Nieftaqodien Professor Anne Mager Port Elizabeth 2014 i Abstract This thesis is an analysis of the interaction of a variety of communities that coalesced around the coal fields in the environs of the town of Molteno in the Stormberg mountains, during the late Victorian period and the first decade of the 20th century. An influx of mining and merchant capitalists, bankers and financiers, skilled miners and artisans from overseas and Thembu labourers from across the Kei River flooded into what had been a quasi-capitalist world dominated mainly by Afrikaner stock farmers, some English farmers and Thembu and Khoi sharecroppers and labourers. It also examines the brief life-span of a coal mining enterprise, which initially held out the hope of literally fuelling South Africa’s industrial revolution, and its relationship with the economically and socially significant railway, which it drew into the area. This capitalisation of an early capitalist zone on the northern border of the Cape has demanded an analysis of the intersecting economies of mining, farming and urbanisation as well as of the race, class and ethnic formations generated by this interaction. In delineating the day-to-day minutiae of events, this thesis seeks to reveal a microcosmic view of the fortunes and identities of the associated communities and to present a distinctive, regional study of a hitherto unknown and early aspect of South Africa’s mineral revolution. ii DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination in any other university. Patricia Anne Gibbs -------------------------------- day of ---------------------------------, 2014 iii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to the memory of Johannes Meintjes, artist and author, who wrote to preserve the stories of Molteno and who loved the Stormberg iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my thanks to my supervisors, Professor Phil Bonner and Dr Noor Nieftagodien, and to my co-supervisor at UCT, Professor Anne Mager. I have been very fortunate to have benefitted from their intellectual guidance. Professor Mager deserves my enormous gratitude for her incisive criticisms and her rapid responses to my every query. Under her tutelage, I believe that I have learned much. I am also indebted to Professor Bonner and Dr Nieftagodien for accepting me onto their research programme ‘Local Histories, Present Realities: Addressing Current Problems by Recovering South Africa’s Lost Local Pasts’. Even though the project was conceptualized around Mpumulanga, Limpopo and Gauteng, my Eastern Cape focus was welcomed. In this regard, I must also thank Ms Zahn Gowar, the Senior Administrator of the History Workshop, whose sharp efficiency quickly solved every query I had and dissolved the problem of distance. I also want to thank the National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in History for its generous funding over a period of three years. It gave me an opportunity to explore a world removed in time that eventually came to feel as though it existed alongside of me. I only hope that my research has fulfilled the NRF’s expectations. Jeff Peires also deserves special mention for his kindness in always being ready to share his vast expertise and keen insights with me. The staff of the Wits University Library and Historical and Literary Papers, particularly Zofia Sulej, was extremely helpful with my enquiries. Gloria Cooper deserves thanks for her fastidious transcriptions of the interviews as does Emile Coetzee for translating the whole of Johannes Meintjes’ Dorp van Drome from Afrikaans into English. My great thanks also goes to Callum Anderson for the hours he patiently put into formatting the thesis, entering maps and photos for me and creating a professional finish to the document. Francky Herbst and Dr Robert Herbst deserve mention for printing chapters for me when I had limited access to a printer. My heartfelt thanks go to the people of the Stormberg: busy farmers who made time for me such as Sandy and John Stretton, Paul Mortlock, both Jan Aucamps, Derric Fuller, Dudley Price, George Moorcroft, Sean Bryant and Hannes van Zyl. Verne Cockin of Kei Mouth gave me a lengthy interview and a roast lunch. Mr. Dlamini of the Molteno Municipality introduced me to a number of informants including Mrs Koto, Rose Buttlend and Mrs Noto. Topsy Beukes at the Sterkstroom museum gave me an interesting overview of some of the notable inhabitants of former years. Although, in the end, I did not use certain interviews v because of the shifting perameters of the study, I would like to record my apologies and thanks to the informants. They include Chief Ngangomnlaba Matanzima at Qamata, Chief Zwelenqaba Mgudlwa at Engcobo, Monde Makhambe at Lesseyton, Dennis Simanga at Sterkstroom, Adam Karelse’s group and Poppie Wagenaar at Molteno, Mr Dyani at Sterkstroom, Mr Jamela at Cofimvaba and Ntombi Ndlula in Queenstown. Finally, I want to thank my beloved family in Cape Town, Liam, Janine, Sade and Erin for accommodating me for long periods while I visited the Cape Town Archives. vi Table of contents CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Approach to the problem ....................................................................................................... 6 Themes ................................................................................................................................. 12 Methodology and research process ...................................................................................... 21 Terminology ......................................................................................................................... 24 Outline of subsequent chapters ............................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER 2 - THE OPENING OF THE COAL MINES AND THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY, 1880 – 1899 ......................................................................................................... 27 The establishment of coal capitalism and the railway ......................................................... 27 Expanding horizons ............................................................................................................. 39 The ambivalence of the Cape Government Railways to Stormberg coal ............................ 45 Social relations on the coal and rail nexus ........................................................................... 56 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 3 - THE URBAN ECONOMY OF COAL, 1880-1899 ........................................ 70 The political economy of the towns ..................................................................................... 70 Ideology and identity ........................................................................................................... 78 Imagining community: the Middleburg junction and the rise of Molteno, 1888................. 80 Challenges to Victorian sensibility .................................................................................... 101 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 115 CHAPTER 4 - THE RESPONSE OF FARMING TO THE COAL FRONTIER, 1880-1899 ................................................................................................................................................ 118 Pre-existing challenges and class differentiation ............................................................... 118 Farmers’ responses to coal and the railway ....................................................................... 126 Increasing social stratification due to the railway .............................................................. 133 Coal, farming, labour shortage and the perennial issue of stock theft ............................... 141 Ethnic polarisation: English – Afrikaner relations............................................................. 146 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 160 CHAPTER 5 - THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH, 1899-1906 ...... 162 The war, 1899-1902 ........................................................................................................... 162 Opportunities, losses and loyalties ..................................................................................... 169 The war’s impact on blacks ............................................................................................... 180 Aftermath: restitution, rural struggles and urban development, 1902 - 1906 ................... 182 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 199 CHAPTER 6 - THE DEMISE OF THE COAL INDUSTRY, 1902-1911 ............................ 201 The decline of the coal mines ...........................................................................................