Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T07:23:39.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kimberley's Model Compounds*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Rob Turrell
Rob Turrell
Affiliation:
Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The compound system that was to become a striking feature of most mining enterprises in Southern and Central Africa was first introduced in the diamond mines at Kimberley. In the period of open mining (1871–1884), Africans lived in open compounds, which gave them the freedom to spend their leisure time where they pleased. In the period of underground mining (beginning in 1885), Africans were isolated from the surrounding town in closed compounds. The closed compounds of the De Beers Consolidated Company were soon regarded as models of social welfare and aspects of their system were copied at other mining centres in Africa. However, this article questions this model for the period before 1903, when there was a complete reconstruction of the compound system and a great improvement in living conditions. Before 1903 the health and mortality record of Kimberley's closed compounds was as bad, in some cases worse, than its imitators to the north in a comparable period of development. In the period of open mining African miners died of sanitation-related diseases. However, when they were forced to live in closed compounds, lung diseases, and in particular pneumonia, which was directly attributable to overcrowded accommodation, poor diet and inadequate protection against major changes in temperature, became the greatest killer on the diamond fields. It is argued here that closed compounds were more models of labour control than of social welfare before 1903. The role and functions of the De Beers convict station are compared with the advantages mining companies derived from closed compounds. Managerial ideology about compound philanthropy is called in question, and it is shown how the closed compound system contributed towards the creation of a disciplined work force, part of which was permanently resident in Kimberley.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 59 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 The South African Mines, Commerce and Industries, 25 April 1903, 14.

2 Wilson, F. and Perrot, D. (eds.), Outlook on a Century: South Africa 1870–1970 (Johannesburg, 1972), 301.Google Scholar

3 British Parliamentary Papers (hereafter BPP), South African Mines (Mortality), 1904, vol. 13, Enclosure in no. 6, 9.

4 BPP, Cd. 2025, Correspondence Relating to Conditions of Native Labour employed in the Transvaal Mines, no. 4, 22 Feb. 1904, 41.

5 See Richardson, P., Chinese Mine Labour in the Transvaal (London, 1982), 34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 BPP, Cd. 1897, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence of the Transvaal Labour Commission (1904), ‘Report on Mortality among Natives Employed on the Mines of the Witwatersrand’, 389; Cd. 2025, Correspondence Relating to Conditions…in the Transvaal Mines, no. 17, Lyttelton telegram to Lord Milner, 9 May 1904, 67.

7 BPP, Cd 2025, Correspondence Relating to Conditions … in the Transvaal Mines, enclosure I in no. 12, Memorandum from the Native Affairs Department, 31 March 1904, 62.

8 South African Parliamentary Papers, U.G. 34–1914, 161. I am grateful to Neil Andersson for bringing these statistics to my attention.

9 Onselen, C. van, Chibaro: African Mine Labour in Southern Rhodesia 1900–1933 (London, 1976), 131, 132.Google Scholar

10 Ibid. 133.

11 Ibid. 50.

12 Ibid. 57.

13 Ibid. 57.

14 Perrings, C. A., Black Mineworkers in Central Africa (London, 1979), 168.Google Scholar

15 Ibid. 174–7.

16 Ibid. 202.

17 Horst, S. van der, Native Labour in South Africa (London, 1942), 83;Google ScholarDoxey, G. V., The Industrial Colour Bar in South Africa (London, 1961), 34, 35.Google Scholar

18 See Turrell, Rob, ‘Kimberley: labour and compounds, 1871–1888’ in Marks, S. and Rathbone, R. (eds.), Industrialisation and Social Change in South Africa: African Class Formation, Culture and Consciousness 1870–1936 (London, 1982), 45–76.Google Scholar

19 Cape Archives Depot (hereafter CAD), NA 455, Leary to Under Secretary for Native Affairs, 9 March 1889; Cape Parliamentary Papers (hereafter CPP), Blue Book for Native Affairs, G4–'90, 57.

20 CPP, Reports of Inspectors of Diamond Mines (hereafter RIDM), G22–'89, 9.

21 Sawyer, A. E., Mining at Kimberley (Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1889), 39.Google Scholar

22 Van-Helten, J. J., ‘British and European economic investment in the Transvaal with specific reference to the Witwatersrand Gold Fields and district, 1886–1910’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1981), appendix 11, table 18; Van Onselen, Chibaro, 50;Google ScholarTurrell, R. V., ‘Capital, Class and Monopoly: the Kimberley Diamond Fields, 1871–1889’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1982), appendix 11, table 35.Google Scholar

23 CAD, LND 1/220, Captain Erskine to Secretary for Lands and Mines, 9 April 1886.

24 Diamond Mining Company.

25 ‘The GM De Beers has always been recalcitrant on safety regulations and will probably be more so as the Company acquires private power’ (CAD, LND 1/327, Department Memo, 8 July 1889, fo. 3330).

26 University of Cape Town, Judge Paper B 47, Commission of Enquiry into the De Beers Disaster, 4 Aug. 1888.

27 Williams, G. F., The Diamond Mines of South Africa (New York, 1902), 11, 39.Google Scholar

28 The smallpox epidemic lasted from October 1883 to January 1885 and the official number of deaths was 700 out of 2,311 cases. In sharp contrast, 4,000 people died in Cape Town from smallpox in the space of a few months. See Turrell, R. V., ‘Capital, Class and Monopoly’, 258–261.Google Scholar

29 ‘Report on the sanitary condition of Kimberley’, Diamond News, 29 March 1879. The total population of Kimberley (excluding the smaller township of Dutoitspan) was taken from the 1877 census as 14,169 (6,574 Europeans and 7,595 Others). The European death rate was 40 per thousand.

30 The 1888 figure is calculated from a Kimberley (excluding Beaconsfield) population of 28,000 (12,000 Europeans and 16,000 Others). See R. V. Turrell, ‘Capital, Class and Monopoly’, appendix II, tables 9 and 34.

31 CPP, Commission on Liquor Laws, G1–'90, evidence of G. Hudson, Q. 6532.

32 CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2–'88, First Report, ii.

33 Ibid., evidence of Bradshaw, Q. 1449–1454; evidence of Dr Grimmer, Q. 688–699. See also appendices G and K.

34 CAD, CO 3556, no. 13, Report of the District Surgeon, Charles Budler, for 1886.

35 ‘Report on the sanitary condition of Kimberley’ (cited in n.29).

36 CPP, Reports of the District Surgeon, G3–'86, 22, G19–'87, 18; CPP, Commission on Liquor Laws, G1–'90, appendix I, 1058.

37 CPP, Blue Book on Native Affairs, G52–1901, 74.

38 ‘Board of Health’, Daily Independent, 10 and 17 Nov. 1883; ‘Kimberley Mining Board’, Diamond Fields Advertiser, 9 Aug. 1884; ‘Kimberley Town Council’, Daily Independent, 12 Feb. 1887.

39 CAD, NA 455, Leary to Under Secretary of Native Affairs, 9 March 1889; CPP, Blue Book on Native Affairs, G4–'90, 57.

40 CAD, NA 411, Craven to Secretary of Native Affairs, 23 June 1896.

41 CAD, LND 1/369, Craven to Commissioner of Crown Lands, 16 Oct. 1891, L550.

42 CPP, Blue Book on Native Affairs, G52–1901, 74.

43 University of Cape Town, Judge Papers B 47, Commission of Enquiry into the De Beers Disaster, 4 Aug. 1888.

44 CAD, NA 411, Barnes to Under Secretary for Native Affairs, 13 July 1896.

45 CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2–'88, First Report, ii.

46 CAD, NA 411, Barnes to Under Secretary for Native Affairs, 13 July 1896.

47 CPP, Commission … into the Diamond Trade Acts, G3-'88, evidence of J. Gifford, Q. 2186, 2199, 2218, 2219, evidence of F. R. Thompson, Q. 113; CPP, Labour Commission, G3–'94, evidence of S. Dallas, Q. 17440.

48 CPP, Commission on Liquor Laws, evidence of Dr J. E. McKenzie, Q. 6871, 6886, 6887.

49 Data for Table I are derived from Statistical Registers of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 1897–1905). In addition to compound dwellers there were 8,000 Africans who lived in the locations in the early 1890s. A decade later, the location population had increased to 16,000 and as many Africans were employed in the townships as in the mines. The death rate of the total African population was well below that of the African mine work force (CPP, Blue Book on Native Affairs, G7–'92, 17, 18).

50 CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2–'88, evidence of F. R. Thompson, Q. 186.

51 CAD, CO 3454, no. 244, F. S. P. Stow telegram to Graham, 4 Oct. 1884, Wright telegram to Graham, 11 Oct. 1884, Colonial Under Secretary to Judge, 12 Jan. 1886; CO 3556, no. 51, Judge to Colonial Under Secretary, 4 Oct. 1887; CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2–'88, First Report, iv.

52 CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2–'88, Second Report, xlii.

53 Sieborger, R. F., ‘The recruitment and organization of African labour for the Kimberley diamond mines’ (M.A. thesis, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 1976), 129–131.Google Scholar

54 CPP, RIDM, G40–'86, 12.

55 Ibid.

56 CPP, RIDM, G22–'89,9.

57 CAD, CO 3556, no. 28, Judge to Colonial Under Secretary, 19 July 1887, CO 6410, no. 23, Scott to High Sheriff, Cape Town, 18 April 1889.

58 Some 8,708 persons were convicted each year between July 1884 and June 1887 and sent to the Kimberley gaol. Of these 3,096 were convicted each year for pass offences. Double this number were arrested for this offence each year. (CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2–'88, First Report, ii.)

59 In 1887 there was an average of 2,238 convicts in the Cape Colony, of whom 870 were imprisoned in Kimberley (Cape Hansard, 1888, 58, 59).

60 CPP, Labour Commission, G3–'94, evidence of R. G. Scott, Q. 17446.

61 CAD, CO, no. 51, Scott to Law Department, 22 April 1890.

62 Ibid.

63 Cape Hansard (1892), 10.

64 ‘De Beers DMC, Annual General Meeting’, Daily Independent, 8 May 1886; CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2-'88, Second Report, xliii; CAD, CO 6427, no. 463, Enclosure in R. G. Scott to Law Department, 18 March 1890; CPP, Select Committee on Trade and Business in Griqualand West, A7-'91, evidence of G. F. Williams, Q. 4245; CPP, Labour Commission, G3–'94, evidence of R. G. Scott, Q. 17318, 17322.

65 Statistical Registers of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 1890–1905.

66 CAD, CO 3526, no. 166, Judge to Colonial Under Secretary, 14 April 1886; CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, evidence of S. Dallas, Q. 1037; CAD, CO 6396, no. 58, Scott to Visiting Magistrate, 14 May 1888.

67 ‘Convict Strike’, Daily Independent, 9 August 1884; CAD, CO 3454, no. 227, Colonial Under Secretary telegram to Judge, 18 Nov. 1884; CO 3556, no. 70 Bradshaw to Judge, 6 Dec. 1887.

68 CAD, CO 6396, no. 115, Macleod Robinson to Colonial Under Secretary, 13 Aug. 1888.

69 Horst, Van Der, Native Labour in South Africa, 79, 82;Google ScholarDoxey, , Industrial Colour Bar in South Africa, 34Google ScholarSmalberger, J., ‘IDB and the Mining Compound System in the 1880s’, South African Journal of Economics, XLII (1974), 398–414;Google ScholarVan, Onselen, Chibaro, 130.Google Scholar

70 Turrell, , ‘Kimberley: labour and compounds, 1871–1888’, 45–76.Google Scholar

71 CPP, WDM, G22–'89,6.

72 ‘Report for Seventh Quarter’, Diamond News, 4 March 1880; University of Cape Town, Smalberger Papers, Kimberley Central DMC, Directors Minute Book I, 5 July 1881, fo. 112, 20 Feb. 1882, fo. 236.

73 Rouillard, N. (ed.), Matabele Thompson: His Autobiography and Story of Rhodesia (Johannesburg, 1957), 42.Google Scholar

74 Onselen, Van, Chibaro, 131.Google Scholar

75 CPP, Commission … into the Diamond Trade Acts, G3–'88, evidence of J. Gifford (Kimberley Central DMC), Q. 2200.

76 CAD NA (B 1475), Stephens to Civil Commissioner, 17 May 1895.

77 CPP, Commission … into the Diamond Trade Acts, G3-'88, evidence of J. Gifford, Q. 2222.

78 Ibid., evidence of F. R. Thompson, Q. 180; CPP, Commission on Convicts and Gaols, G2–'88, evidence of F. R. Thompson, Q. 186.

79 South Africa's first legislated industrial colour bar was introduced with the development of systematic underground mining in Kimberley. In December 1885 discrimination with respect to blasting was formally promulgated under the Rules and Regulations of the 1883 Mining Act. In every case blasting was to be ‘carried on under the supervision of a European experienced in blasting’ and ‘no persons under eighteen years of age and no native is to be permitted to manipulate explosives or prepare the same for blasting or other purposes’. (South African Library, Kimberley Central DMC, General Regulations, ‘Special Rules for Regulating Blasting Operations in the Kimberley Mine’, 27 February 1886, 26.) Four years later the regulations stated bluntly: ‘No native shall work or be allowed to work in any mine, whether in open or underground working, excepting under the responsible charge of some particular white man as his master or “baas”.’ (CAD, LND 1/285, General Rules and Regulations for the Working of Diamond Mines, I July 1889, fo. 1563.)

80 CAD, LND 1/346, Captain Erskine to Chairman of De Beers Consolidated, 29 May 1890.

81 CAD, NA 455, J. G. Leary to Under Secretary of Native Affairs, 7 Oct. 1889.

82 CAD, NA 455, J. Davis Allen (Manager of the Anglo-African DMC) to J. G. Leary, 2 Sept. 1889.

83 CPP, Blue Book on Native Affairs, G8–'95, 20.

84 CAD, NA 411, Barnes to Secretary of Native Affairs, 13 July 1896.

85 CAD, NA 455, J.G. Leary to General Manager, De Beers consolidated, 12 Feb. 1891.

86 CPP, Commission … into the Diamond Trade Acts, G3-'88, evidence of F. R. Thompson, Q. 104.

87 CPP, Commission on Liquor Lotus, G1–'90, 1039–1043.

88 CPP, Commission … into the Diamond Trade Acts, G3-'88, evidence of A. Davis, Q. 2846.

89 Williams, , Diamond Mines of South Africa, II, 57.Google Scholar

90 CPP, Labour Commission, G3–'94, evidence of W. H. Powell, Q. 17188, 17182, 17183.

91 Black Mineworkers in Central Africa, 163.