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The failure of the Coloured Persons' Representative Council and its constitutional repercussions, 1956-1985

  • Authors: Saks, David
  • Date: 1992
  • Subjects: South African Labour Party , Federal Coloured People's Party -- South Africa , South Africa. Parliament , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century , South Africa -- Race relations , Coloured Persons Representative Council of South Africa , Colored people (South Africa) -- Politics and government , Political parties -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2624 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015907
  • Description: The thesis starts by providing a brief overview of South African ''Coloured" politics from the passing of Ordinance 50 in 1828 to the removal of the Cape Coloured people from the common voter's roll in 1956. It then goes on to discuss in detail the structures instituted by successive Nationalist Governments to serve as an alternative to parliamentary representation for the coloured people, the role of the various coloured political parties within such structures and the latter's gradual adaptation and development, culminating in the inauguration of the Tricameral Parliament in early 1985. The thesis is, on the one hand, a detailed record of coloured political activity following the loss of common roll voting rights in the Cape, focusing on specifically coloured political parties rather than on broader, non-ethnic resistance movements in which many coloured people took part during the same period. This covers the rise and rapid decline of a conservative grouping within the coloured community which sought to foster an exclusively coloured nationalism operating within the Government's policy of parallel development, and attempted to use the Coloured Persons' Representative Council as a means towards achieving the economic, social and political upliftment of the coloured people. It also deals with the important role of the Labour Party after 1966, showing how a moderate resistance movement carne to use the Council as a platform from which to confront the Government's apartheid policies and to render the institutions of parallel development unworkable through noncooperation and boycotting. The second important preoccupation of the thesis concerns the ambiguous and often contradictory attitudes towards the "coloured question" within the National Party itself. This ambivalence, it is argued, not only had much to do with the eventual failure of the Coloured Persons' Representative Council to become a viable substitute for Parliamentary representation acceptable to the majority of coloured people, but was also a primary cause of the National Party split in 1982. It shows too how the collapse of Grand Apartheid had its origins in the failure to incorporate the coloured population within its framework. The thesis is concerned primarily with coloured political developments. When relevant, however, the establishment and development of representative institutions for the Indian people is also dealt with, in so far as this overlaps with issues and events concerning the coloured Council. Finally, the five year period following the dissolution of the Coloured Persons' Representative Council in 1980 and the inauguration of the Tricameral Parliament in 1985 is briefly dealt with in a concluding chapter. This mainly concerns the gradual accommodation reached between the Government and the Labour Party when the latter eventually agreed, conditionally, to take part in the new constitution.
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  • Date Issued: 1992

Cecil Rhodes, the Glen Grey Act, and the labour question in the politics of the Cape Colony

  • Authors: Thompson, Richard James
  • Date: 1991
  • Subjects: Rhodes, Cecil, 1853-1902 Labor policy -- South Africa -- History Labor supply -- South Africa -- History Black people -- Employment -- South Africa -- History Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History -- 1872-1910 Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- Politics and government -- 1872-1910
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2562 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002415
  • Description: Chapter One: The provisions of the Glen Grey Act of 1894 are summarised. The memoirs of contemporaries are discussed and the historical literature on the Act from 1913 to the present is surveyed. The likelihood of the land tenure provisions of the Act forcing the people of Glen Grey (or the people of other districts that came under the operation of the Act) to seek employment is noted. It is evident that there is an increasing emphasis in the literature on labour concerns rather than on the disenfranchising effects and local government provisions of the Act. It is often assumed that the labour force generated by the Act was meant for the Transvaal gold mines. Chapter Two: The relevance of the labour needs of the Indwe collieries is investigated. These mines lay adjacent to Glen Grey and might have been expected to draw their labour thence if the Act had been effective. Rhodes, the author of the Act and prime minister of the Cape, had bought shares in the collieries for De Beers shortly before the Act was passed, which made a possible connection more intriguing. No causal link between De Beers' interests and the Act could be demonstrated; nor do the collieries seem to have employed many people from Glen Grey. Chapter Three: Examines the Cape colonists' complaints about shortage of labour from 1807 to the eve of the Glen Grey Act, and investigates various official measures to promote the labour supply. The Glen Grey Act was not the first labour measure passed at the Cape, and it seems likely, therefore, that the labour needs of the Cape, rather than the Transvaal, were uppermost in the minds of those responsible for the Act. Chapter Four examines Rhodes's political position in the 1890s and shows him to be increasingly dependent on the parliamentary support of the Afrikaner Bond to stay in office. Since the Bond was an agricultural interest group it seems likely that labour for Cape farms, rather than Transvaal gold mines, was what the Act was supposed to provide. With that Rhodes could readily agree, since he wanted to promote the agricultural development of the Cape. However, the Bond wanted to be able to buy land in Glen Grey (and other district in which the Act was proclaimed). Rhodes wanted to keep such districts as 'reservoirs of labour' so he could not give the Bond all of what they wanted, i.e. Glen Grey titles to be alienable. His manoeuvring to keep the Bond supporting the Bill while not making the land readily salable is described. (In the end the land was alienable with the consent of the government -- consent that a Rhodes ministry would not give, but that another might.) Rhodes's desire to obtain the administration of Bechuanaland for his Chartered Company, and his need therefore to reassure the Colonial Office and humanitarian opinion that he could be trusted to rule over blacks, are pointed out as other possible motivations for the Act, which Rhodes tried hard to present as an enlightened piece of legislation. The course of the Act through the Cape parliament, and the opposition of Cape liberals to the Act, is described. Chapter Five: The mentalité of the Cape colonists as regards race, liquor, land tenure and other political issues is described. Chapter Six: The reaction to the Act of Cape blacks and sympathetic whites, British humanitarians and the Colonial Office is described. The contemporary concern with reserving land for blacks is noted, as well as concern over the morality of economically coerced labour. This is in contrast to the modern concentration on labour almost to the exclusion of other issues in regard to the Glen Grey Act. The unsuccessful efforts of Cape blacks and British humanitarians to have the imperial government veto the Act are described. Rhodes's influence over the Colonial Office is described.
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  • Date Issued: 1991

Sir Godfrey Lagden : colonial administrator

  • Authors: Burton, David Raymond
  • Date: 1991
  • Subjects: Lagden, Godfrey Yeatman, Sir, 1851-1934 South Africa -- History -- 1836-1909
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2519 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001848
  • Description: The thesis attempts to provide a chronological analysis of Lagden's colonial career between 1877 and 1907. The youngest son of a parish priest, Lagden received limited formal education and no military training. By a fortuitous set of circumstances, he was able, as a man on the spot, to attain high ranking posts in colonial administration. As a young man, he acquired considerable experience in the Transvaal, Egypt and the Gold Coast. However, blatant disobedience led to his dismissal from Colonial service. Fortunately for Lagden, Marshal Clarke, newly appointed Resident Commissioner of Basutoland, insisted on Lagden being appointed to his staff. Except for a brief stint in Swaziland, Lagden remained in Basutoland until 1900. With Clarke, Lagden played a prominent role in the implementation of the Imperial policy of securing the support of the Koena chiefs by allowing them to retain and consolidate their power and influence. Lagden became Resident Commissioner in Basutoland when Clarke was transferred to Zululand. He continued established policies and championed the Basotho cause by opposing the opening of Basutoland to prospectors and by stressing the industrious habits of the Basotho. His tactful and energetic handling of the rinderpest crisis reduced dramatic repercussions amongst the Basotho and enabled cooperative Koena chiefs to increase their economic and political leverage. Despite his reservations over Basotho loyalty, Lagden emerged from the South African War with an enhanced reputation as the Basotho remained loyal and energetically participated in the Imperial war effort. Largely because of his Basutoland experience, Lagden was appointed the Transvaal Commissioner of Native Affairs in 1901. He was responsible for regulating African labour supplies for the mines and delineation of African locations. His failure to procure sufficient labour and his defence of African rights earned Lagden much abusive settler condemnation. As chairman of the South African Native Affairs Commission, Lagden produced an uninspiring report conditioned by the labour shortage and his personal distaste for decisive action. Nevertheless, its advocacy of political and territorial segregation influenced successive Union governments.
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  • Date Issued: 1991

An examination of the achievement of the Jesuit Order in South Africa, 1879-1934

  • Authors: Ryan, Judy Anne
  • Date: 1990
  • Subjects: Jesuits -- South Africa -- History Jesuits -- South Africa -- History
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2522 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001851
  • Description: The Society of Jesus, founded in 1540 by St Ignatius of Loyola, dispatched the first group of five priests and three brothers to the Cape in 1875. Their destination was St Aidan's College (1875-1973) in Grahamstown which they would staff. Two of the priests went to Graaff-Reinet where the Society established a mission house and noviciate (1875-1889). On 1 July 1878 the Zambesi Mission was founded with Henry Depelchin as its appointed leader. The Mission was placed under the direct control of the Jesuit General. St Aidan's became the headquarters of the Zambesi Mission and it was hoped that trainees for the Mission would emerge from the College. The first group of missionaries bound for the Zambesi regions left Grahamstown in 1879. Negotiations followed with the Ndebele chiefdom in Bulawayo and stations were established at Tati, Empandeni and Pandamatenga. Unsuccessful probes into Barotseland and Gazaland followed and a decade later the mission to Zambesia was abandoned and the Jesuits returned to the south where there had been further expansion of the Order's activities. Dunbrody (1882-1934), situated on the Sundays River, had been set up as a base for the Zambesi Mission, as an educational centre for Blacks and as a farm. Keilands (1886-1908) was an attempt to establish a missionary base for the extension of activities into the Transkei. Vleischfontein (1884-1894) in the Western Transvaal, was developed as a staging post between Zambesia and the Cape. In 1924 the Order attempted to develop parish work in Claremont, but initially nowhere else. By 1890 the Jesuits were ready to return to Matabeleland and in the post colonial years a string of stations were founded. Partly to conserve its manpower for the Zambesi enterprise and for financial and economic reasons, Graaff-Reinet was abandoned in 1889, followed by Vleischfontein, Keilands, the parish at Claremont, and Dunbrody. By 1934, the terminal point of the thesis, the only Jesuit presence in South Africa was at St Aidan's which was saved from closure by Papal intervention.
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  • Date Issued: 1990

A history of the Thembu and their relationship with the Cape, 1850-1900

  • Authors: Wagenaar, E J C
  • Date: 1989
  • Subjects: Tembu (African people) -- History Missions -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope South Africa -- History -- Frontier Wars, 1811-1878 Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- Politics and government Land tenure -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2569 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002422
  • Description: Present day Thembuland is situated roughly between the Mthatha and Kei rivers. It lies within the south-western portion of the political unit which has been known since 1976 as the Republic of Transkei. It comprises the territories formerly known as Emigrant Thembuland (now the districts of Cala and Cofimvaba) and Thembuland Proper, i.e. the districts of Mqanduli, Umtata, Engcobo and Bomvanaland. We have evidence that Thembu people had already settled in Thembu land Proper, at the Mbashe river, by the beginning of the 17th century. Pioneering clans many have entered the territory at a much earlier date. In the 1830's some clans broke away from the Mbashe settlement, and moved to the region of present day Queenstown. In 1853 their lands were included in the so-called Tambookie Location, which in 1871 became the district of Glen Grey. Emigrant Thembuland came into existence in 1865 when four chiefs from Glen Grey accepted Sir Philip Wodehouse's offer to settle on the lands across the White Kei whence the Xhosa chief Sarhili had been expelled in 1857. This thesis deals with the history of the people who lived in these territories between 1850 and 1900.
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  • Date Issued: 1989

The Albania settlement of Griqualand West, 1866-1878

  • Authors: Kurtz, June Margaret
  • Date: 1988
  • Subjects: Land settlement -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope , Albania (South Africa) , Griqualand West (South Africa) -- History
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004665 , Land settlement -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope , Albania (South Africa) , Griqualand West (South Africa) -- History
  • Description: The history of the Albania Settlement of Griqualand West is examined from its beginnings in 1866 to its demise in 1878. Albania was very much a product of its time. Nineteenth century British colonial policy was basically expansionist, despite minor fluctuations caused by the various influences affecting it, such as the Free Trade and Mercantilist doctrines, social factors within Britain and events within the colonies themselves. From 1815 colonial settlements were fairly common in British territory, especially after Wakefield had provided a convincing theoretical framework for them. Within South Africa itself there are differing interpretations of what motivated British policy and of the role of the missionaries, while the changing political and economic landscape markedly affected Britain's decisions. British Government settlement schemes were undertaken mainly for social or military reasons, but there were also many settlements founded by land speculators. The economically depressed 1860s hit the Eastern Cape hard and this, combined with the transition to sheep farming, which created considerable land hunger, made the Albania scheme attractive to Eastern Cape farmers. The Griqua people led by Andries Waterboer had made a great effort to establish hegemony north of the Orange River, over the Sotho-Tswana and other Griqua chiefs. By 1866 the attempt had failed and Free State farmers were encroaching onto Nicholas Waterboer's lands. When Waterboer's agent, David Arnot, proposed the establishment of a settlement of Albany men to act as a "Wall of Flesh", Waterboer accepted the idea. Arnot's motivation was also land speculation in an area where diamonds were likely to push up land values. From its inception the settlement was dogged by quarrels, mainly over land, amongst the parties involved - the Griqua, brutally removed to make way for the settlers; the settlers, dissatisfied with the land tenure system and their administration; Arnot; the British and the encroaching Boer farmers . After the 1871 annexation of Griqualand West, into which Albania was absorbed, it took seven years, two Land Commissions, a Land Court and a special Land Claims Commissioner to sort out the tangled claims and bring order to the area and Albania's history to a close.
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  • Date Issued: 1988

Die Ndzundza-Ndebele en die blankes in Transvaal, 1845-1883

  • Authors: Van Jaarsveld, Floris Albertus, 1922-1995
  • Date: 1986
  • Subjects: Ndebele (African people) -- History , Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
  • Language: Afrikaans
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2578 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004379 , Ndebele (African people) -- History , Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
  • Description: In 1969 het Leonard Thompson met reg beweer dat Suid-Afrikaanse historici hulle tot op hede hoofsaaklik besig gehou het met die doen en late van 'n Blanke gemeenskap wat die land sedert 1652 oorheers het. Die Swartman was die "forgotten factor" in die geskiedenis van Suider-Afrika. Waar die Swartman die onderwerp van wetenskaplike studie was, is dit aan argeoloë, linguiste, etnoloë en fisiese en sosiale antropoloë oorgelaat. Tereg het Thompson kort hierna opgemerk: "We need to know much more about the complex process by which African chiefdoms became incorporated in white controlled politics in the late nineteenth century. Only when monographs have been written on several individual cases, shall we be in a position to reach definite conclusions about the process as a whole ". Sedert hierdie uitspraak van Thompson het verskeie historici hulle op die terrein van die "forgotten factor" begewe. Omvangryke publikasies oor onder andere die Zulu, Pedi, Sotho asook die Swazi's het sedertdien die lig gesien, terwyl 'n werk oor die Tswana van Wes-Transvaal pas verskyn het. Hierteenoor het heelwat van die kleiner en minder invloedryke swart groeperinge tot op hede steeds agterweë gebly. Wat Noordoos Transvaal betref - meer spesifiek die gebied tussen die Elandsrivier, die Lebomboberg en die Krokodilrivier wat die Ohrigstadse Volksraad in 1846 van Mswati gekoop het, was daar behalwe die Pedi verskeie ander groepe aanwesig wat almal gedurende die loop van die negentiende eeu onder Blanke gesag gekom het. Hieronder het getel die Ndzundza, die Kopa, Tau, Kwena, Ntwane, Koni, Rôka, Kutswe , Pai en Pulana, waarvan die Ndzundza en Kopa die belangrikste was. Ten spyte van die feit dat daar heelwat argivale bronne oor hierdie groepe bestaan, het geen navorser dit tot op hede nog ontgin nie. Oor die onderwerping van hierdie stamme aan Blanke gesag gedurende die negentiende eeu, is daar weinig bekend. Wat die Ndzundza-geskiedenis betref, geld Thompson se opmerking nog steeds dat historici wetenskaplike studie oor die Swartes tradisioneel aan navorsers uit ander dissiplines oorgelaat het. Dit blyk duidelik uit 'n ontleding van sekondêre materiaal wat oor die Ndzundza bestaan. Verskeie studies van volkekundige aard is oor die verskillende kulturele fasette en pre-koloniale geskiedenis van die Transvaalse Ndebele, waarvan die Ndzundza deel uitmaak, gedoen. In die meeste van hierdie studies word die pre-Blanke geskiedenis van die Ndzundza as inleiding aangebied, terwyl daar in sommige gevalle ook na die historiese tydperk verwys word. Op hierdie wyse is die herkomsgeskiedenis van die Ndzundza met behulp van mondelinge tradisies redelik volledig opgeteken. As gevolg van die feit dat geen argivale bronne geraadpleeg is nie, is die volkekundige werke wat die historiese tydperk betref, deurspek met spekulasies, onjuisthede en valse aannames. Met enkele uitsonderings berus verwysings deur die enkele historici wat die Ndzundza-geskiedenis behandel, veral met betrekking tot die tydperk voor 1882, grootliks op die uitsprake van volkekundiges. Dit het meegebring dat die huidige beeld en feitelikhede omtrent die negentiende eeuse Ndzundza-geskiedenis onjuis is, veral soos dit in algemene geskiedenisse opgeteken staan. Hierteenoor het verskeie historici die Mapoch-oorlog van 1882- 1883, waartydens die Ndzundza hul onafhanklikheid verloor het, behandel. In sy biografie oor genl P. J. Joubert het J. A. Mouton die oorlog tot 'n enkele hoofstuk beperk. Vir Mouton gaan dit egter om Joubert se persoonlike aandeel en gee hy gevolglik nie veel aandag aan die belangrikste aspek van die oorlog, naamlik die oorsake, nie. H. P. van Coller het in 1941 'n MA-verhandeling die lig laat sien waarin die oorsake en verloop van die Mapoch-oorlog beskryf word. Van Coller se uiteensetting omtrent die oorsake van die oorlog is egter ontoereikend aangesien dit heelwat onjuisthede bevat, geweldig subjektief is en nie ontkom aan naïewe aannames en uitsprake nie. Die belangrikste oorsaak van die oorlog, naamlik gronddispute, word deur Van Coller geignoreer. Voorts behandel hy die oorlog as 'n gevolg van die moord op Sekhukhune, sodat die Ndzundza "toevallig" betrek word. Ander historici se verwysings na die oorlog is ook ontoereikend omdat dit in die meeste gevalle beperk bly tot enkele bladsye en paragrawe. Tot op hede is die negentiende eeuse Ndzundza-geskiedenis dus nog of onvolledig, of onjuis opgeteken. Met hierdie studie word gepoog om 'n bydrae in hierdie verband te maak. Omdat die historisiese feite omtrent die verloop van die 1882-1883 oorlog grootliks bekend is, val die klem op die tydperk daarvóór. Voorts moet dit gemeld word dat dit in hierdie studie hoofsaaklik gaan om die faktore wat die verhoudinge tussen die Ndzundza en die Blankes bepaal het, te elimineer. Ander aspekte wat ter sprake kom is onder andere die uitwerking wat die Blanke besetting van Noordoos-Transvaal op die Ndzundza gehad het, gronddispute, arbeidsaangeleenthede, Swazi- en die Pedi-deelname in die Blankes se pogings om die Ndzundza te onderwerp van die asook die uiteindelike vernietiging en verlies onafhanklikheid van die Ndzundza. Die spelwyse van sekere name en benaminge wat in hierdie verhandeling voorkom, het in sommige gevalle probleme opgelewer. Die meerderheid Ndebele name is gespel volgens die voorskrifte van die Suid-Ndebele taalraad. Waar die korrekte moderne spelling van Swartes se name nie vasgestel kon word nie, is dit in aanhalingstekens weergegee soos dit in die dokument voorkom. AIle amptelike benamings soos staatspresident of koloniale sekretaris is in die teks met 'n kleinlettertjie gespel maar in die voetnotas met 'n hoofletter. Die motivering hiervoor is die Afrikaanse gebruik om amptelike benamings binne Westerse staatsverband met 'n hoofletter te spel maar benamings in tradisionele verband soos kaptein, opperhoof of hoofman met 'n kleinlettertjie, wat myns insiens op diskriminasie neerkom. Wat die spel van die woord swart betref: Waar dit as byvoeglike naamwoord gebruik word (bv. swart kindertjies), is deurgaans van kleinletters gebruik gemaak. Hoofletters is gebruik wanneer dit as selfstandige naamwoord gebruik word, bv. Die Swartes. Die terme kaffer en meid is waar moontlik, vermy. Die aangehaalde stukke waarin dit weI voorkom, moet nie as beledigend beskou word nie maar as verteenwoordigend van die terminolgoie van 'n bepaalde tyd in die geskiedenis. Die bedoeling was geensins om enigiemand te na te kom nie. wat ter sprake kom.
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  • Date Issued: 1986

Philip Gibbs: war correspondent of a new dispensation

  • Authors: Woodward, Christina Anna
  • Date: 1985
  • Subjects: Gibbs, Philip, 1877-1962 , War correspondents , War -- Press coverage , Mass media and war , Journalists
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2577 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003126 , Gibbs, Philip, 1877-1962 , War correspondents , War -- Press coverage , Mass media and war , Journalists
  • Description: The process of democratization which appeared in the nineteenth century was partly responsible for the emergence of a mass readership. It consisted of the new urban population which had its own tastes and interests, intellectual capacity and purchasing power. The popular press was firmly established by 1900 and it radically altered the scope and style of daily journalism in its attempt to speak in the language of the majority. Philip Gibbs was one of the prominent journalists between 1900 and 1914. His aspiration to become a war correspondent stemmed from the image of the war correspondent as a figure of romance and adventure, the consequence of the militarist spirit of the age and the licence which granted him freedom of movement. Inevitably, the war correspondent carne in conflict with the military which had not kept pace with democratization and sensed a challenge to itself and to national security. Censorship and restrictions on the war correspondent tightened, until major army reforms between 1901 and 1912 brought more cordial relations between the press and the military. When the Great War broke out in 1914 the co-operative atmosphere broke down as censorship was reinstated, more severely than before. It challenged the freedom of the press and the right of the people to know. Gibbs was determined that the people should have access to news from the front. He fought hard for that objective and was instrumental in the compromise reached between the military and the press when an officially recognized system was devised for press representation on the Western Front. The wisdom of such a move was shown by the success of Philip Gibbs' war correspondence, which had appeal to a mass readership in its own language and with subjects of interest to it.
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  • Date Issued: 1985

The development of the system of individual tenure for Africans: with special reference to the Glen Grey Act, c1894-1922

  • Authors: Ally, Russell Thomas
  • Date: 1985
  • Subjects: Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History , Labor policy -- South Africa -- History , Black people -- Employment -- South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Politics and government -- History
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2576 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003122 , Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History , Labor policy -- South Africa -- History , Black people -- Employment -- South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Politics and government -- History
  • Description: The Glen Grey Act was promulgated in August 1894. The main provisions of the Act were for the survey into individual allotments of land held tribally and for a system of local self-government. Described by its originator, C.J. Rhodes, as a 'Bill for Africa, it was first applied to the district of Glen Grey and subsequently extended (in a piece-meal fashion) to a number of districts in the Transkei. The Act was introduced at a crucial stage in South Africa's history. During this period the country stood poised on the threshhold of a significant and far-reaching transformation. The South Africa of 'old', predominantly agricultural and rural was giving way to a 'new' South Africa, modern and industrial. At the centre of this development was the mineral discoveries of the 1860s and 1880s. The period of colonial conquest had also virtually been completed. Most of the hitherto independent African chiefdoms had either been broken up or were under European control. The most urgent problem which now faced the new rulers was devising a policy to govern the millions of black people over whom they had assumed responsibility. Of crucial concern was the creation of working class to minister to the needs of the developing economy. This task was made all the more difficult by the divisions which existed among the ruling groups at the time. To all intents and purposes the country was made up of essentially four independent and autonomous regions. Although the economic changes which were taking place would hasten the unification of the country, until that happened it was well-nigh impossible for a uniform 'native policy' to take shape. The inevitable consequence was the emergence of a number of regional responses to what was essentially a country-wide issue. As the unification of South Africa drew closer however these different regional responses began to vie with each other for supremacy at a national level. The Glen Grey policy then was the response of the Cape to the changes which were taking place in the country. As such, it drew much of its inspiration from the traditions which had developed in the Cape Colony. Its initiators did not however view it as only a regional policy. For them it had applicability to the whole country. It was therefore to be expected that they would attempt to 'sell' their policy to the rest of the country. In the end however it won few adherents outside of the Cape Colony and when Union became an established fact it bowed out to a policy favoured largely by the northern provinces. To be sure the Glen Grey system did linger on for a while in those districts where it had first been applied but it would not be long before it was to fall into official disapproval. While the Glen Grey Act was ushered in with much fanfare and vaunted expectations, its demise was silent and ignominous. The grandiose course which it had charted for the taking-in-hand of the 'native question' came to naught, as did the profound and far-reaching changes which it was believed the policy would inaugurate. The origins of this policy, its implementation and actual working, and the reasons why in the end it foundered and was abandoned will be the main themes of this thesis.
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  • Date Issued: 1985

The relationship between the Orange Free State and the Rolong of Thaba 'Nchu during the presidency of J.H. Brand, 1864-1888

  • Authors: Wales, Janet Mary
  • Date: 1980
  • Subjects: Rolong (African people) -- Politics and government , Rolong (African people) -- Government relations , Free State (South Africa) -- Native races
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2521 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001850
  • Description: During the period 1864 to 1888, President J .H. Brand of the Orange Free State Republic had to deal with two Rolong chiefs at Thaba 'Nchu. The first, Chief Moroka II, ruled the Seleka tribe from 1829 to 1880, while his successor Tsipinare, a Tshidi-Rolong, ruled from 1880 to 1884. The majority of the Rolong at Thaba 'Nchu were of the Seleka division, but the minority groups, the Tshidi and Rapulana, also played an important role in the tribe's relations with the Free State.
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  • Date Issued: 1980

Graaff-Reinet and the Great Depression (1929-1933)

  • Authors: Minnaar, Anthony de V
  • Date: 1979
  • Subjects: Graaff-Reinet (South Africa) -- History , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1961
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2518 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001847
  • Description: The Depression of 1929-1933 was a world-wide phenomenon, in which "no aspect of the economy, no part of the world, escaped devastation". ¹ Accordingly the study of a medium sized rural town in South Africa during the period of the Depression, should show effects and reactions that were, in general, indicative of worldwide trends. In choosing Graaff- Reinet, I felt that being a close-knit community , with its urban and rural populations closely associated with each other, and the white, coloured and black sections of the population interdependent, it adequately represented a microcosm of South Africa as a whole. Then, too, Graaff- Reinet was ideally suited to illustrate the reality, that in South Africa during the Depression " the farmers were the most heavily hit of all". ² The single most significant product of the Graaff- Reinet district was wool, which at the time of the Depression was South Africa's second most important export, and consequently the well-being of the whole district depended largely on the market performance of this product . During the Depression the price of wool dropped drastically and the Graaff-Reinet farmers suffered in consequence . Graaff-Reinet also went, almost according to a blueprint, through the general phases of the Depression. The privations of the farming community led to the financial embarrassment of the local financial institutions causing their collapse , which in its turn led to the widespread hardship of everyone in the town. But these events all had a particular Graaff-Reinet quality, and the twists to the general outline are rooted deep in the local character of the district . Historically Graaff-Reinet is extremely interesting. It is the fourth oldest town in South Africa, being established in 1786, and in studying Graaf-Reinet one cannot but become conscious of the immense tradition and the awareness of history , which all its people have. The study itself starts with a general outline of the Worldwide Depre ssion, its causes and results, then moves on to the Depression in South Africa . The study of Graaff-Reinet in the Depression is divided into three basic sections, the Farmers, the Townspeople, and the Politics of Graaff-Reinet during the Depression. All three contain their own sub-divisions dealing with different aspects. In the Graaff-Reinet sections are included references to national events, tying them to, and explaining the course of, local happenings. In short the study becomes the story of how the Depression effected the people of Graaff-Reinet, how they suffered during this period and how they reacted to it. A final concluding section deals with their general recovery from the Depression. ¹ Heaton, H. : Kruger, D. W. The Economic History of Europe. p. 696. ²The Making of a Nation; a history of the Union of South Africa 19l0 - 1960. p. 158.
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  • Date Issued: 1979

Land, labour and African affairs, 1924-1934

The Bondelswarts Rebellion of 1922

  • Authors: Lewis, Gavin, 1954-
  • Date: 1978
  • Subjects: Bondelswarts (African people) , Namibia -- Race relations , Namibia -- History
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2589 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006957 , Bondelswarts (African people) , Namibia -- Race relations , Namibia -- History
  • Description: The rebellion was the result of many and varied Bondelswarts grievances, accumulating into discontent. The attempted arrest of Morris and the bungling of subsequent negotiations was the last straw. Their distrust, fear and suspicion of the Government, built up from German times, made any negotiations doubly difficult. They were a proud people, proud of their history and traditions, and proud of their tribal identity. Their days of complete independence were not long gone, and only in the early 1920's was there any appreciable white settlement in their area. It was then, while they watched their lands being irrevocably divided up amongst whites, that with the increased white settlement came stricter and more burdensome laws. In some respect, the rebellion was the last stand of a people driven to frustration and poverty. It was indeed, as Freislich calls it, the last tribal war. They fought a futile battle against the inexorable advance of white technology and civilization, and in this sense their ultimate revolt was perhaps inevitable (Conclusion: p. 229-230)
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  • Date Issued: 1978

The war of Ngcayecibi, 1877-8

  • Authors: Spicer, Michael Wolseley
  • Date: 1978
  • Subjects: Sarhili -- Xhosa paramount chief -- ca.1814-1892 , Frontier War, 1877-1879
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2559 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002412 , Sarhili -- Xhosa paramount chief -- ca.1814-1892 , Frontier War, 1877-1879
  • Description: This work makes no pretence at being a comprehensive account of the War of Ngcayecibi and its context in Cape and Imperial History. It omits all but passing reference to Imperial Policy, Frere's Federation plans, the Constitutional Crisis and the dismissal of the Molteno Ministry, all of which have been more than adequately covered elsewhere. Rather it concentrates on a study of the war in terms of black/white relations. The responses of the blacks to white pressures on their land and traditional society are examined, particularly those of Sarhili and the Gcaleka, for Sarhili, the gentlemanly but tragic Paramount Chief of the Xhosa, is the central figure in the canvas of black Ciskeian and Transkeian leaders of the time, and the War of Ngcayecibi is very much a Xhosa war. I have tried to avoid a conventional account of the military operations of the war, sketching only the broad outlines of military operations and concentrating on the strategies adopted by black and white forces, and the reasons for which various black chiefdoms or segments thereof participated in the war. Orthography. The matter of orthography is a tricky one, for Xhosa orthography has been recently overhauled and is not yet finalised. I have attempted with the aid of Mr Sidney Zotwana of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Rhodes University to adopt the most acceptable forms of Xhosa names. I have dropped the use of all prefixes since I felt their use would have been pedantic in what, after a11, is an English language thesis and since there is no chance of confusion between historical figures like Gcaleka and the amaGcaleka people. Sources. The documents printed in Cape an~ Imperial Blue-Books, especially the Cape Blue-Books, on Native Affairs for the years 1874-1884, and the correspondence in the Native Affairs Archive in the Government Archives in Cape Town, proved to be the most valuable official and semi-official sources. The Merriman and Molteno Papers in the South African Library in Cape Town were the most useful private papers consulted, though odd items in the Cory Library, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, proved of use. The rash of memoirs published after the war were, with exceptions, singularly unilluminating. Most prominent amongst the exceptions was West W. Fynn: The'77 War ••• (East London, 1911), an account of the war written by the Clerk of the Resident to Sarhili. Although Fynn has a grudge against treatment he received from the Colonial Government at the time, and is not above dramatising his role, he was in an unparalle11ed position to observe the events leading up to the war and records much valuable information. The voluminous notebooks in Cory Library of the late Dr A.W. Burton, an amateur Border historian who had researched the war, were interesting but difficult to use because of an almost total lack of footnoting or reference to sources. J.R. Soga's two works, The South Eastern Bantu (Johannesburg, 1930) and The Ama-Xosa: Life and Customs (Lovedale, 1931) are well known and proved useful but, as will be seen, have to be treated with care. Of more modern works, J. Peires: "A History of the Xhosa c.1700-1835" if (unp. M.A. thesis, Rhodes University, 1976) proved invaluable as a background to Xhosa society and earlier Xhosa history. The works of Christopher Saunders, who has written much on topics related to the war, were indispensable. C.J. Schoeman: "Die Negende Grensbotsing" (unp. M.A. thesis, University of Port Elizabeth, 1976), the one general study of the war thus far written, covers military operations at great length and is a work very much in the mould of traditional Afrikaner Frontier Historiography.
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  • Date Issued: 1978

A history of the Xhosa, c1700-1835

  • Authors: Peires, J B (Jeffrey B)
  • Date: 1977
  • Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- History
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2611 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013024
  • Description: The boundaries of the territory occupied by the Xhosa fluctuated considerably, but in the period 1700-1835 they did not often extend west of the Sundays River, or east of the Mbashe River, along the coastal strip which separates the escarpment of South Africa's inland plateau from the Indian Ocean. It is an area of temperate grassland, permitting the cultivation of cereals and light crops, such as maize, millet, tobacco and pumpkins but better suited to stock-farming than intensive agriculture.
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  • Date Issued: 1977

The recruitment and ogranisation [i.e. organisation] of African labour for the Kimberley diamond mines: 1871-1888

  • Authors: Siebörger, Robert Frederick
  • Date: 1975
  • Subjects: Diamond mines and mining -- South Africa -- Kimberley , Unskilled labor -- Recruiting -- South Africa , Unskilled labor -- South Africa -- Kimberley -- Social conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2614 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013228
  • Description: Behind the fortunes in diamonds, the great open mines and the teeming town that was early Kimberley, were African labourers. Diggers seemed scarcely to care about them unless they were "in short supply", and many historians have been interested only in the guns they carried home with them. This study is concerned with these men: where they came from, why and how they came, and their treatment while they worked in Kimberley. The initial inspiration for the study came from the chapter on diamond production in Sheila van der Horst's Native Labour in South Africa, a remarkable contribution to the history of the Diamond Fields. The later studies by G.V. Doxey and more recently by John Smalberger which have expanded on aspects of Van der Horst's work, have led me to delve more deeply into other areas upon which they have not touched. One potentially fruitful line of study which was beyond the scope of this work was an investigation into the degree to which the Griqualand West labour question affected the attempts at South African federation in the 1870's. The main sources for the work have been the Griqualand West archives in the Cape Archives, for the period 1872-1880, and the various Kimberley newspapers. Labour returns were printed monthly in the Griqualand West Government Gazette for most years, till 1880. Cape Blue Books were useful sources for the period after 1880. De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. hold very little material relating to the pre-amalgamation period, though the extant minute books of the De Beers and Kimberley Central Diamond Mining Companies provided valuable information. A considerable number of contemporary published works were also consulted but, though most made some reference to African labour, few contained anything worthy of mention.
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  • Date Issued: 1975

The South African Commercial Advertiser and the Eastern Frontier, 1834-1847: an examination of the ways in which and the sources from which it reported frontier conflicts

  • Authors: Frye, John
  • Date: 1968
  • Subjects: Fairbairn, John, 1794-1864 , South African Commercial Advertiser (Newspaper) , South Africa -- History -- Frontier Wars, 1811-1878
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2622 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014918
  • Description: [From Introduction]. The name of John Fairbairn is remembered with honour in South Africa for the part he played in the achievement of a freer press in the Cape Colony, in the campaign to prevent Britain from establishing a convict station on Cape soil, and in the movement which resulted in the establishment of a form of representative government in the Cape in 1853. More controversial is his share, as the editor of the first modern newspaper in the Colony, in a campaign to secure just treatment for the natives both inside and outside of the Colony. It is with his treatment of the conflicts, both small and great, between the Colony and the AmaXhosa tribes on its Eastern Frontier that this study is concerned.
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  • Date Issued: 1968
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