Historia

'A half-baked and sickly commercially-minded native': African Entrepreneurship and Cooperative Societies in Southern Rhodesia, c1940s

This article examines colonial rhetoric, white traders, and African elite viewpoints on cooperative societies and African entrepreneurship during the Native Trade and Production Commission of Inquiry of 1944, known as the Godlonton Commission. It argues that some officials of the Native Affairs Department advocated African cooperative societies as a means of marketing African crops while others were sceptical of the entrepreneurial ability of Africans. It further argues that white traders, represented by powerful business associations, appropriated the derogatory colonial rhetoric on African entrepreneurship to defend their interests in the African reserves. The testimonies of African elites who gave evidence to the Godlonton Commission were mixed. While some supported the idea of African cooperatives, others rejected it preferring that the state support African traders against white traders in the African reserves. Cumulatively, the sentiments aired at the Godlonton Commission contributed to the colonial disinterest in cooperative societies and African entrepreneurship during the post-Second World War period. The article contributes to our historical understanding of African entrepreneurship during the 1940s, and of cooperative societies and the Godlonton Commission in general. The study uses the evidence presented to the Godlonton Commission, its final report, and other archival documents.

Hierdie artikel ondersoek koloniale retoriek, wit handelaars en die swart elite se standpunte oor koöperatiewe verenigings en swart entrepreneurskap tydens die Kommissie van Ondersoek na Inheemse Handel- en Produksie (Native Trade and Production Commission of Inquiry) van 1944, wat bekend staan as die Godlonton-kommissie. Dit voer aan dat sommige amptenare van die Departement van Naturellesake (NAD - Native Affairs Department) swart koöperatiewe verenigings gesien het as 'n manier om Afrika-gewasse te bemark, hoewel ander skepties was oor Afrikane se entrepreneursvermoë. Die artikel voer aan dat wit handelaars, verteenwoordig deur magtige sakeverenigings, die koloniale retoriek oor swart entrepreneurskap toegeëien het om hul belange in die swart reservate te verdedig. Die swart elite se getuienis aan die Godlonton-kommissie was uiteenlopend. Terwyl sommiges die idee van swart koöperasies ondersteun het, het ander dit verwerp en verkies dat die staat swart handelaars teenoor wit handelaars in die swart reservate ondersteun. Kumulatief het die sentimente wat by die Godlonton-kommissie gelug is, deels bygedra tot die koloniale gebrek aan belangstelling in koöperatiewe verenigings en swart entrepreneurskap in die tydperk ná die Tweede Wêreldoorlog. Die artikel dra by tot ons historiese begrip van swart entrepreneurskap tydens die 1940's, koöperatiewe verenigings en die Godlonton-kommissie. Die studie steun op die bewyse wat aan die Godlonton-kommissie voorgelê is, sy finale verslag, en ander argivale dokumente.

Walking the Tightrope: The President's Council, P.W. Botha and the Rhetoric of Reform

The response by P.W. Botha to the economic crisis, civil unrest and international condemnation affecting South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s was described as his 'total strategy'. An aspect of this was a process of reform in the system of apartheid in order to meet the challenges to modernisation and economic development. The President's Council was an advisory body established by Botha to investigate and make recommendations regarding reform in the socio-economic and political spheres, which were undermining apartheid ideology of racial segregation. Comprising five committees with delegates drawn from diverse sectors of the South African population, the President's Council published several reports identifying the challenges facing South Africa and the means by which it hoped to address them. The reports focused on education, demography, black urbanisation, discriminatory legislation and constitutional reform. A hitherto largely neglected source, these reports and their ideological and intellectual influences are analysed in this article so as to assess the possibilities and limitations of Botha's reforming initiative.

P.W. Botha se antwoord op die ekonomiese krisis, burgerlike opstand en internasionale veroordeling teenoor Suid-Afrika in die 1970's en 1980's is as die "totale strategie" beskryf. 'n Aspek daarvan was 'n proses om hervorming in die apartheidstelsel te weeg te bring, om sodoende die uitdagings van modernisering en ekonomiese ontwikkeling die hoof te bied. Die Presidentsraad was 'n raadgewende liggaam wat deur Botha in die lewe geroep is om ondersoek in te stel en aanbevelings te maak aangaande hervorming in die sosio-ekonomiese en politiese sfeer waar die apartheidsideologie van rasse-segregasie ondermyn is. Bestaande uit vyf komitees, met afgevaardigdes vanuit uiteenlopende sektore van die Suid-Afrikaanse bevolking, het die Presidentsraad 'n aantal verslae gepubliseer wat die uitdagings wat Suid-Afrika in die gesig gestaar het, geïdentifiseer het, en maatreëls waarmee dit aangespreek kon word, aan die hand gedoen het. Die verslae het gefokus op opvoeding, demografie, swart verstedeliking, diskriminerende wetgewing en grondwetlike hervorming. In hierdie artikel word dié andersins verwaarloosde bron se ideologiese en intellektuele invloed ontleed om sodoende die moontlikhede en die perke van Botha se poging tot hervorming te beoordeel.

John Vorster and the Extension of University Education Act, 1959

In February 1959, four months after his appointment as deputy minister, Balthazar Johannes (John) Vorster introduced the controversial Extension of University Education Bill in the House of Assembly. University apartheid had been under consideration in the National Party government for more than a decade. The 1959 bill provided for the exclusion of 'non-European' students from the existing universities and their admission to separate university colleges for the different officially designated ethnic groups. Liberals rejected the bill as a threat to academic freedom and university autonomy. The Opposition opposed the bill in all its parliamentary stages. This article analyses Vorster's performance in these debates. It was a severe test for his ability, but he demonstrated his talent as speaker and debater, confidently formulating his arguments in favour of the bill and standing his ground against the Opposition. The parliamentary newspaper reporters were impressed by his contribution to the debates. Vorster's leadership position in the National Party was strengthened. The debates provided an early stepping-stone in his political career, that launched him on his way to becoming Minister of Justice, prime minister, and state president.

In Februarie 1959, vier maande ná sy aanstelling as adjunk-minister, het Balthazar Johannes (John) Vorster die omstrede Wetsontwerp op die Uitbreiding van Universiteitsopleiding in die Volksraad ingedien. Universiteitsapartheid was toe reeds vir meer as 'n dekade onder oorweging in die Nasionale Partyregering. Die 1959-wetsontwerp het voorsiening gemaak vir die uitsluiting van 'nie-blanke' studente van die bestaande universiteite en hul toelating tot afsonderlike universiteitskolleges vir die onderskeie amptelik aangewese etniese groepe. Liberale het die wetsontwerp as 'n bedreiging vir akademiese vryheid en univeristeitsoutonomie verwerp. Die Opposisie het die wetsontwerp in al die parlementêre stadia beveg. Hierdie artikel ontleed Vorster se vertoning in hierdie debatte. Dit was 'n uiterste toets van sy vermoëns, maar hy het sy talent as spreker en debatteerder ten toon gestel, sy argumente met oortuiging geformuleer en vas gestaan teen die Opposisie. Parlementêre koerantverslaggewers was beïndruk met sy vertoning. Vorster se leierskapsposisie in die Nasionale Party is versterk. Die debatte was 'n vroeë trappie in sy loopbaan op pad na die topposisies van Minister van Justisie, Eerste Minister en Staatspresident.

'For our self-sufficiency and autonomy': International Worker Solidarity and the Global Networks of FOSATU in the Democratic Struggle in South Africa

This article examines the place of the trade union movement in the democratisation project in South Africa. While scholarship exists which shows the role of the labour movement in the ending of apartheid, the focus tends to emphasise what has been called political or social movement unionism. However, one labour centre, the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), pursuing a workerist approach to its trade unionism, created and extended tentacles of democracy during apartheid, outside the ambit and influence of political parties and the nationalist movement. FOSATU also created global networks and outreach in search of international worker solidarity. That solidarity was imperative for FOSATU's self-sufficiency and autonomy as well as that of the broader anti-apartheid movement. The article argues that FOSATU broadened the platforms of the democratic struggle in South Africa beyond the nation-state boundary. In doing so, it contributes to the historiographies of the trade union movement, the struggle for democracy in South Africa and the transnational turn in the South African labour movement. The study uses the minutes and reports of FOSATU's national executive, its central committee meetings and also news reports from the FOSATU Worker News, all of which are housed at Wits University's William Cullen Library, in the Historical Papers section.

Hierdie artikel stel ondersoek in na die plek van die vakbondbeweging in Suid-Afrika se demokratiseringsprojek. Alhoewel daar navorsing is wat wys op die rol van vakbondbeweging in die beëindiging van apartheid, val die klem oor die algemeen op dit wat politiese- en sosiale vakbondaktivisme genoem word. In teenstelling daarmee het een vakbond, die Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), wat 'n werker-gesentreerde benadering tot sy praktyk gevolg het, die drade van demokrasie tydens die apartheidsjare geskep en uitgebou, weg van die invloedsfeer van politieke partye en die nasionalistiese beweging. FOSATU het ook 'n globale netwerk en teenwoordigheid geskep in sy soektog na internasionale werkersolidariteit. Daardie solidariteit was van kritiese belang vir FOSATU se self-onderhoudendheid en onafhanklikheid, sowel as vir die breër anti-apartheidsbeweging. Die artikel voer aan dat FOSATU die platform vir die demokratiese stryd in Suid-Afrika verbreed het, en dit daardeur wyer laat strek het as die grense van die nasie-staat. Dit lewer 'n bydrae tot die historiografie van die vakbondbeweging, die stryd om demokrasie in Suid-Afrika en die transnasionale wending in die Suid-Afrikaanse vakbondbeweging. Die studie maak gebruik van die notules en verslae van FOSATU se nasionale uitvoerende komitee, sy sentrale komitee se vergaderings, sowel as nuusberigte uit FOSATU se Worker News, wat by die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand se William Cullen biblioteek se historiese manuskripte-afdeling gehuisves word.

'We will not move' from the Old Location to Katutura: Forced Resettlement in Windhoek, South West Africa (1959-1968)

Until the early 1960s the Windhoek Main Location (now called the Old Location) was the biggest African urban settlement in South West Africa/Namibia. Being situated close to the centre of town, residents had easy access to their places of work. However, with the further entrenchment of spatial segregation under apartheid, plans for a relocation into a newly created township at the margins of the city gradually took shape in the early 1950s and were implemented by the late 1950s. But residents refused to abandon the accommodation they owned to move to rented houses far away from town. Their protest against relocation provoked a massacre on 10 December 1959. As of 1960, the township Katutura became the new settlement and has expanded since then. This article recapitulates the steps towards the relocation despite growing opposition from residents and the Native Advisory Board. Based on documents in the Namibian National Archive and at the Basler Africa Bibliographien, this account of the last steps towards the closure of the location adds to previous work and is part of a more general social history, hitherto not yet in the public domain.

Die Windhoek Hooflokasie (nou die Ou Lokasie) was tot 1960 die grootste stedelike woongebied vir swart mense in Suidwes-Afrika/Namibië. Dit was naby die stadsentrum, wat dit vir inwoners maklik gemaak het om na hulle werkplekke te stap. Met die implementering van ruimtelike segregasie as gevolg van die apartheidsbeleid, is planne vir 'n nuwe dorp vanaf die begin van die 1950s voorgele. Teen die einde van die 1950s was nuwe woonstelle gereed in Katutura, ver van die stad. Inwoners van die lokasie het geweier om hul woonplekke (wat hul eiendom was) te verlaat en nuwe huise in Katutura te huur. Hul protes het op 10 Desember 1959 tot 'n bloedbad gelei. In 1960 het Katutura amptelik die Hooflokasie vervang, en sedertdien het dit uitgebrei. Hierdie bydrae fokus op die verwikkelinge wat tot hervestiging gelei het. Daar is gebruik gemaak van dokumente in die Namibiese Nasionale Argief en die Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Daar word veral gefokus op die rol van die Native Advisory Board, die administratiewe departemente vir inboorlingsake en die Windhoek Munisipaliteit. Dit dra by tot 'n sosiale geskiedenis wat tot dusver ver nog nie deel van die openbare domein is nie.

Advocates of 'an unpopular cause': Frances Ames, Helen Suzman and Cannabis Decriminalisation in South Africa

Two South African professional women were early advocates of cannabis decriminalisation during the second half of the twentieth century. Frances Ames (1920-2002) was a neurologist and psychiatrist based at the Medical School of the University of Cape Town. Helen Suzman (1917-2009) represented the Progressive Party for 36 years as an opposition member of parliament. This article documents their individual - later allied - activities and arguments, initially in relation to National Party (apartheid) drug control measures and then into the democratic era of the African National Congress. A social history approach reveals continuities and changes in the cannabis policy rationales of successive governments and the challenges made to these policies.

A Spectre Haunting a Journalist and a Devastated Land