Economic implications were far reaching however. New outlets for agricultural products were created and trade generally enjoyed an unprecedented boom. New wealth sped up transport and stimulated railway construction. As a result of this new industrial society, whites and non-whites were no longer in isolation from one another. With the promise of South Africa’s mineral resources, there began a process of urban migration. This caused complications for the rural and urban labour markets. Initially there was not much of a labour problem and therefore not much need for systematic recruiting, as each individual digger may only hire 2 or 3 African labourers. A white industrial labour force also developed alongside the African, as a result of the fact that not all whites were able to hire labour.
Doxey (1974) believes that the Africans did not need much in a European sense, and that though they too still flocked to the diggings, once that small need was satisfied they went back to their homes. Africans usually remained for about 3 months to earn enough to buy (at that point in time) a gun and once this need was satisfied, they would leave.
Amalgamation, however, caused even greater complications on the labour market. In the early diggings, diggers paid landowners a small diggers ‘right fee’. The practice of this fee continued even after companies purchased the land. To control and regulate the position of the diggings a ‘Digger’s Committee’ was elected. Eventually there was a limit of two claims per individual. By 1874, Ordinance 10 increased this number to ten. As individual diggers began to realise that a more scientific approach would be needed to procure diamonds, they gave up and sold out. In this way the companies began to acquire blocks of claims which were facilitated by the fact that Ordinance 12 of 1876 removed the limit on individual claims. Because of this many people were now without claims and out of work.
Overproduction and the illicit buying of the diamonds caused prices to fall and hastened the process of amalgamation as a way to control the production and sale of diamonds. Eventually skill became a requirement of the labour force. Skilled white labour coming mainly form England allowed for old divisions on colour grounds. This resulted in decreased wages for the unskilled non-whites and it kept them out of high-holding positions.
Illicit diamond buying led indirectly to the compound system. As the company owners grew tired of diamond thefts, and the system of searching the workers was unsuccessful in stopping them, the idea of housing labour on the mining compounds for a period of time materialised. In 1885, the diamond-mining industry turned to the now used closed compound system. The compound system disallowed labourers from any outside contact during their period of employment. It was designed to reduce diamond stealing and alcohol consumption, which was becoming a serious problem during the partially closed compound system.
Although the closed compound system facilitated no outside contact and the searching process for swallowed diamonds was fairly rigorous, many employees returned regularly. The De Beers Consolidated Company always enjoyed a fairly constant labour force. In actuality, the compound system provided housing for the Africans at a time when urban housing was very poor, especially since the compounds had a high standard of accommodation and facilities. Also, there was a system of paying bonuses to discoverers of diamonds and wages in the mines were generally higher than anywhere else. Another reason cited for the attraction of the compound system by the younger labourers the ability to better save their money as there was no access to buy liquor or prostitutes. It is also suggested that because the labourers were given an all inclusive money wage, instead of with the provision of a service, was more attractive to the African as it allowed him to do what he wanted with his money.
Convict labour also provided labour for the mines. Convicts in the Kimberley areas were used in the mines. By 1885, the Inspector of Mines was able to speak of the success of this experiment, which incorporated 200 convicts being regularly employed in the mines. This also gave credence to the use and reasoning behind the compound system and facilitated the searching system. As a result of all of these factors, in the late 19th century, labour recruitment was fairly low-keyed.
In the 20th century, however, rapid change was to take place. With the discovery of gold, there evolved a strict competition for labour. In 1873, a discovery of the Lyndenburg alluvial goldfields had been made, however it was not until the discovery of 1884 in the Witwatersrand that was to prove to be the richest in the world. Unlike diamond mining however, gold mining could not be so easily done. It was not easy to make a large fortune in a small space of time. It needed expensive technology to extract the gold form the rock and as prices were predetermined, it was essential to keep recovery costs very low.
For gold mining, the capital, to some extent was already available from the joint stock companies out of Kimberly. Men like Barnato, Rhodes, Robinson, Joel, Rudd, Beit, and Wernher used their diamond fortunes to finance gold mining on the Witwatersrand. They used the same structure for labour organisation that had done well for them in Kimberley, which meant employing a smaller number of whites as supervisors and skilled labour and a predominant African labour force.
Johannesburg was not an attractive working environment. It was approximately a month and a half away from the coast as there were no railways, which resulted in a high cost of living. In order to attract skilled miners and artisans, wages would need to be fairly high as the conditions in Europe and elsewhere were prosperous. All of these factors further offset the profit margin which is why it became so vital to the mine owners to find a cheap labour supply. With the amalgamation of mining companies in Kimberley, there resulted some unemployment, which to some extent helped with labour recruitment in the gold mines in the Transvaal. However, the labour that was most need was skilled labour, which was not always forthcoming. As a result mine owners would rather maintain high wages for the skilled white labour and maintain very low wages for the unskilled African labour in order to cut costs. This allowed for the disparity of wages along colour lines. In 1894, while approximately 40,000 Africans received a wage averaging 61s., 5,400 Europeans were employed at an average of £21 per month.
In order to supply a steady labour force at the lowest cost, many recruiting measures were implemented. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, many factors impacted on the conditions of supply and demand regarding African labour. Firstly, there were competing demands on labour. The diamond fields of Kimberley and elsewhere were still in need of an African labour force. Also, industry was opening up because of mining, resulting in a need for labour in many spheres, such as railway construction. There was also a drive towards agriculture. This competitive arena forced wages upwards, not by much but by enough to make mine owners worry that this could lead to a reduction of the African labour supply on account of the Africans reaching their limited wants in a shorter space of time. Lastly, the Witwatersrand was not a very popular place of work. The route was long and dangerous. As a result many measures were put in place to force the African to work for wages.
The poll tax created a monetary commitment, which required Africans to work in order to pay it. Poll tax was considered a stimulant to direct labour into the towns to find work. As more and more Africans moved into the towns, the state realised that permanent African presence was a reality, and the pass laws were implemented to control such movement. Passes kept the African workers in a state of subordination and provided cheap labour on the farms, migrant labour for the mines and labour for commerce and industry in towns.
Africans are taxed so that they have to work, discriminatory laws are introduced to control movement, migrant workers are forced to live in urban ghettos far removed from their homelands, and travel becomes impossible without a pass. These measures taken up in the early twentieth century are the basis for the recruitment regime of the gold mines. The main focus is strictly on the control over labour.
For Africans, the mines offer the wages needed to pay the tax collectors in the British and Portuguese colonies. These workers enter the cities as a conquered people, their lands under imperial authority, and their chiefs colluding in labour recruitment to the mines. Weighed down with indentures, forbidden to organise unions, locked in all-male compounds on the mines, or segregated in grim ghettos in the interstices of the towns, their movement controlled by the internal passport, or "pass law" system
Bibliography
Duncan, D. The Mills of God: The State and African Labour in South Africa 1918 –
1948. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press 1995.
Simons, J. and Simons, R. Class and Colour in South Africa 1850 – 1950. South Africa:
Shadowdean Ltd., 1983.
Crush, J. and James, W. (eds.) Crossing Boundaries: Mine Migrancy in a Democratic
South Africa. History of Mine Migrancy. Cape Town: Institue for Democracy in
South Africa, 1995.
General comments made by middle-class English men. On this instance, this was the statement of Cecil Rhodes and his brother.
