Compound system
The compound system ( compound in German: area , enclosure , in the broader sense a "compound") describes a historical form of fenced and guarded miners' settlements in South Africa . Male miners , mostly black , lived there under conditions of familial deprivation and unfavorable hygienic conditions. The compound system was a functional part of the migrant work structures between the reserves and the mining centers, later also including the surrounding British and Portuguese colonies .
Emergence
In the beginning, the compounds were simple barracks made of wood or iron structures on the mining site of diamond , gold and coal deposits . About 15 years after the Kimberley diamond deposit was discovered , around 1885, individual mining companies set up a system of closed compound settlements to house their black workforce. The settlements were fenced in and, in addition to the residential barracks for the black contract workers, also contained guard houses with the company's armed guards. Cecil Rhodes and Joseph Robinson were among the first mining companies to greatly expand the compound system.
The unauthorized sale of diamonds ( English : illicit diamond buying , IDB) was one of the biggest problems facing mining companies in the 1870s and 1880s. Between a third and a half of all diamonds have been stolen and illegally traded.
Before 1885, the black workers of the claim owners were housed in tents or sheds near the mining sites, but enjoyed their individual freedom of movement after work. The closed compound settlements prevented the miners from moving freely.
Equipment and construction
The equipment in the compound plant was very sparse. Inside the huts, on floors one above the other, there were concrete beds . The floor was initially made of clay ; as it turned out to be unhealthy because of the permanent moisture, later made of concrete. The simplest washrooms only existed inside the building around 1900. No fixed containers were provided for the residents' personal belongings. Bicycles, clothing, and other items were suspended from the ceiling and exposed to possible thieves. Many huts had no stoves, no functionally meaningful ventilation and after dark they were initially unlit. Electric light was only introduced later. Due to this type of accommodation, no privacy could arise for the residents . The toilets consisted of a long bench seat for 20 people. The washrooms for personal hygiene were like open areas. According to the traditions of the black population, it was unthinkable that the son would see his naked father. The compound system intervened fundamentally in such social relationships.
Over the decades, a method of construction had developed according to which the huts enclosed a large rectangular or square courtyard without any gaps between them, which could be entered or exited through a controlled passage. The built-up area had an iron fence as an outer boundary, which was additionally secured in its upper area with barbed wire .
Some improvements in equipment were made in 1903 when the mining companies tried to involve Chinese workers. This attempt did not last long, but left a slight increase in quality in the furnishings of the accommodations.
Up until the 1930s, 40 or more men were housed in the individual rooms of the huts. In the mid-1940s the occupancy changed and there were now 16 to 20 men in a bedroom.
nutrition
The compound's own large kitchens provided food for the miners. The small meal ( lambalaza ) consisted of an unsweetened porridge, bread, coffee and sugar. After that, the men worked in the mine. After the shift they got their main meal. This consisted of a porridge based on corn , with beans and corn kernels as well as vegetables and a meat-containing stew . Raw meat was available up to a maximum of three pounds per person per week and was served in the rooms two or three times a week. As a drink there was an unlimited amount of Marewu , a fermented , non-alcoholic drink made from corn mash . In addition, the mining companies granted two bottles of Millet beer ( kaffir beer ) three times a week for each man .
The inhabitants and their hierarchical relationships
The largest group numerically were the common miners. Around 3000 men could be accommodated in a compound. They lived here culturally separated according to language groups. They were Sotho , isiXhosa and Xitsonga speaking people. Everyday life between the groups took place in a separate manner.
Initially, the miners' regions of origin were relatively close to the mining centers. When a higher demand for labor arose, workers from more distant regions were recruited, whereby the administrative boundaries of the time were exceeded. The recruitment of new workers in Portuguese East Africa , North and South Rhodesia and in Nyasaland and in areas north of 22 southern latitude assumed the Witwatersrand Native Labor Association . The worker recovery from the Union of South Africa itself and of the High Commissioner Territories ran across the Native Recruiting Corporation . The primary integration of black workers into the extensive South African mining industry was a milestone in the early racial segregation policy and the apartheid that developed from it . The power of the mining companies over their Chamber of Mines was used early on to exert political influence on government agencies in order to politically incapacitate the workers in the compounds and to limit their flexibility ( employee loyalty ) in the labor market. One of the most important means of doing this was provided by the regulations of the passport laws . In this way, the compound system served to discipline the miners. The monopoly-like recruiting systems always promoted enough competing job candidates to the mining regions. In this way, competition between mining companies could largely be eliminated and wages kept low. However, a tension developed in terms of labor demand between the country's mining and agricultural sectors. Both sectors increasingly organized the de facto lawlessness of their non-European employees for the benefit of corporate profits and to strengthen the colonial structures of rule , which ultimately led to the apartheid state of South Africa and the similar conditions in South West Africa , which it annexed .
The internal organization of the compound had several levels. In each accommodation space there was an elected office elders , the Sibonda. This arranged the situation, divided services and settled minor conflicts. The function was voluntary and therefore the Sibonda were on the side of the workers.
The compound cops were on the next level. In many cases the mining authorities had entrusted this task to Zulu . There was an ongoing conflict with elements of hatred between them and the other ethnic groups . They carried sticks, guarded the camp, and slept with the workers. They were responsible for checking the waiting lines in front of the hygiene facilities and the kitchen as well as waking up the respective shift team. They were also responsible for looking for stolen items or dangerous weapons. These camp police were also looking for alcohol and dagga , a narcotic hemp drug. The ethnically instructed conflict guaranteed the European administrators power and their factual existence on the ground.
Above the compound policeman stood the Induna . This was a person chosen by the mine manager from among the workers, also known as the boss boy . He lived in his own room, received higher wages and better food. The Induna organized the work processes and acted as a mediator. The acceptance of the Induna varied. Sometimes they were rejected because they were not elected by the workers. In other cases, they turned to outside chiefs in the home region of the respective ethnic group to improve the situation in the compound . The Induna had to balance his mission between the interests of his mining company and its workforce.
The compound manager, a person of European descent, was at the head of the warehouse management. The entire functionality of the compound and the underground work processes lay in his duties . At the same time, he exercised disciplinary rights over all workers , including white employees.
Health issues
In addition to the health and medical side effects of mass accommodation with poor hygienic conditions, there were also specific risks of illness. The geographical location of the Transvaal mining areas inland and their height above sea level caused cold nights. The temperature difference between the local impacts in the mining shafts and the surface situation was considerable. Many miners died of pneumonia as a result . Recruited men from hot areas of Africa, such as today's states of Zambia , DRC and Tanzania , were hit particularly hard . A minister for Native Affairs at the time described the continued use of such persons in 1913 as “hardly anything other than murder”. The Union government then set limits on the recruitment of workers from these areas.
further reading
- Ruth First : Black Gold: The Mozambican Miner, Proletarian and Peasant . Harvester Press, Brighton 1983, ISBN 0312083181
- John M. Smalberger: IDB and the Mining Compound System in the 1880s . In: South African Journal of Economics, Vol. 42, Issue 4, pp. 247-258
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Sheila T. van der Horst: Labor . In: Ellen Hellmann , Leah Abrahams: Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Oxford University Press , Cape Town, London, New York 1949, pp. 128-129
- ↑ a b c d e f Luli Callinicos: Gold in South Africa. Black work - white wealth, 11th chapter The compound system (miners settlement system) . ISSA , edition south afrika 10, Bonn 1982. pp. 51–57, ISBN 3-921614-02-3 (German translation by Gold and Workers . Ravan Press, Johannesburg 1980)
- ↑ Martin Zhuwakinyu: Kimberley's demeaning closed compound system . Article from July 22, 2011 on www.miningweekly.com (English)
- ^ Christoph Marx : South Africa. Past and present . Kohlhammer , Stuttgart 2012, pp. 138-139, ISBN 978-3-17-021146-9