From the book: All That Glitters by Emilia Potenza
Between 1921 and 1936, the number of Africans in the cities increased from about half a million to over one and a half million. This population tripled over a period of fifteen years.
Why this happened can be explained to some extent by the long-term effects of the 1913 Land Act.
Effects of the 1913 Land Act
The Land Act marked the end of the limited independence which African farmers had on white-owned land. In spite of it Land Act, sharecropping and labour tenancy continued. This was because of the long delay in its implementation and because white landlords who wanted to keep sharecroppers or rent tenants found ways of getting round the law. Meanwhile African farmworkers struggled to hold on to a land of their own, no matter how small the piece.
The position of African farmers was weakened further when the government began to offer low-interest loans to white farmers. These loans enabled white farmers to make improvements to their farms and buy agricultural machinery. They could now farm directly on land which had previously been allocated to sharecroppers. By 1936 nearly half of the African workers in towns had migrated from white farms.
African farmers who owned land inside and outside the reserves did not receive any aid from the government in the form of loans. They therefore found it increasingly difficult to compete with white farmers who could use improved methods and expand their farms.
White farmers increased their use of machinery
African people forced to move to the reserves often could not find enough fertile land to use for crops. By the 1930s, it was impossible to survive without cash. People needed cash to pay the different leviesimposed by the government, as well as to buy food and clothes.
More and more African men became migrant workers in the cities, on the mines and factories, or even as domestic workers. Though much fewer in number, women also went to work in the towns to make some money from activities like beer-brewing and prostitution.
Men tended to outnumber women as domestic workers in the 1930s and 1940s
Life in the cities was also very difficult. South Africa, like the rest of the world was feeling the effects of the Great Depression that began in America.
Behind the scenes of the world of the workers
In the 1920s and 1930s the government passed a string of laws to control labour both in the cities and on the farms:
1923:The Native Urban Areas Act. This law controlled how many Africans could come into the cities and restricted their rights once they were there..
1924:The Pact government came to power. This was a combination of the National Party under Hertzog and the Labour Party under Creswell. The Pact government supported the interests of white commercial farmers and local manufacturers above the interests of the mines. This is covered in more detail later in the article.
1927:The Native Administration Act. This gave the government the right to separate communities along ethnic and/or racial lines.
1932:The Native Service Contract Act. Tenants on white-owned farms now had to work between three and six months for the landowner or pay a heavy tax of five pounds. It was also illegal for tenants to leave the farms on which they worked without written permission.
1934:The United Party came to power. This time it was a combination of Hertzog's National Party and Smuts's South African Party.
1936:The Native Land and Trust Act. This Act increased the land which Africans could own from 7,5% to about 14%. But it placed more controls over tenancy on farms.
1937:The Native Laws Amendment Act. The number of Africans entering the cities was further restricted. Africans were only allowed to stay in the urban areas if they had a job.
1939-1945:World War II.
Source 2
Young men are coming of age every year but there is no land allotted to them ... These people are poverty-stricken arid destitute. What must they do? where must they go?. Naturally to the industrial centres.
- Dr Xuma, an ANC leader, reporting to the Native Economic
The Great Depression
The 1920s had been a period of great prosperityin America with consumers spending and borrowing money freely. This period ended with the collapse of the American Stock Exchange in 1929. The economic decline of the 1930s became known as the Great Depression. Because America was such a powerful trading nation, a weakening of the American economy affected the whole world.
Very soon the prices of both wool and maize fell on the world market. This meant that it was no longer profitable for South Africa to export these products. At the same time, wages dropped, and many people lost their jobs as mines and factories began to close down. To make matters worse, 1932-33 brought with it one of the worst droughts of the century.
Surprisingly, South Africa recovered more quickly from the depression than most other countries did. The steady production of gold saved the south African economy.
One of the effects of this economic recovery was the improvement in the lives of some of the 'poor whites' . The issue of poor whites is explored more later.
While whites benefited from the economic boom, most blacks did not. Although extra jobs were created for Africans, Coloureds and Asians, the wages of black farm labourers and mineworkers still remained very low.
The development of the manufacturing industry
Then came another World War, from 1939 to 1945. This war had a similar effect. on the South African economy as that of the First World War (1914 to 1918). It became very difficult to import goods during the wars.
Up to now, most machinery for the mines had been imported from Britain. South Africa had to start producing a whole range of goods herself. In this way, both wars helped to develop a local manufacturing industry.
The factories were part of the process of industrialisation from very early on. In Britain, far more people were employed in factories than on the mines. In South Africa, this was the other way around. Mining was the focus of industrial activity for at least 60 years. It was only in the 1940s that manufacturing began to produce more of the country's wealth than mining did.
Finding a roof
Manufacturing required a more settled and skilled workforce than mining. Mining activities were relatively unskilled and could be learned quickly. By contrast, factory work was more skilled because workers used complex and expensive machinery. As it took time to train workers, factory owners wanted to keep the services of the worker who had been trained to use a new machine. It was therefore better for workers to stay in own for as long as possible.
Nevertheless, factory owners did not see it as their responsibility to provide housing for their workers. For many newcomers to Johannesburg, the main industrial centre, it was a struggle to find a place to live. Some lived in slumyards in areas like Doornfontein and Vrededorp. Others lived in hostels supplied by the Municipality. Others were moved to the tiny houses in the townships that were starting to develop, such as Orlando the forerunner of SOWETO. Many people could not be accommodated in any of these ways and were forced to become squatters.
By the mid-1940s, there were large squatter settlements on the Rand. Shanty towns were springing up all around the country eg. Cape Flats and Hout Bay near Cape Town, and Cato Manor in Durban.
Other kinds of jobs
People made money to survive in various ways. Townspeople needed food and services such as housecleaning and laundry as well as personal services such as hair dressing. People worked as shopkeepers, domestic workers and barbers, and made a living by providing these goods and services.
Some struggled to make ends meet by being self-employed. Hawkers sold flowers or fruit and vegetables and muti men would sell their wares on the streets. Many African women also managed to survive by brewing beer. The topic of women and beer-brewing will be explored later in this feature.
Making a living as a barber
Through the eye of the camera
The old photographsthat were taken in the 1930s and 1940s tell us much about what life was like then. They show different aspects of city life; how and where people lived and where they worked. The topics that follow below next provide more information on this.
Topic 1: Housing
The mines continued to provide some housing in the form of compounds. But people working in factories or in other kinds of jobs had to find their own accommodation.
The Native Urban Areas Act of 1923 restricting the rights of Africans to own land in cities stated that the responsibility for housing workers lay with the municipalities. Municipalities began to build hostels for factory workers similar to compounds, cramped and exposed. Various controls were imposed on these hostel dwellers.
In 1927 the Native Administration Act was passed. One of its aims was to provide separate housing for Africans by building more houses in the locations* that already existed. For many workers in factories and small firms, living in the locations was a better option than living in hostels.
These locations were far and many preferred to live closer to their place of employment. As a result, they chose to live in yards like those in Doornfonteinin the 1920s and early 1930s. Doornfontein had once been a rich white suburb. It had large stands, which were divided up and sold. People who bought these stands wanted to make as much money as they could. So they packed the stands with cheap tin shacks and rented them to the poor.
Here is a description of one of the yards in Doornfontein:
The Molefe Yard, where Martha lived, was also a home to more than twenty other people. It served a row of five rooms, each about 14 by 12 feet in size.
When it rained, the yard was as muddy as a cattle kraal, and the smell of beer, thrown out by the police on their raids, combined with the stench of lavatories, was nauseating.
'Morena!' exclaimed Martha's father. 'If this how we live, then suffer us all to die.' - Adapted from the marabi dance by modikwe Dikobe, 1973
Because of the shortage of accommodation, slums spread. The authorities, concerned about the spread of disease, passed the Slum Clearance Act of 1933. Trucks came to move people from places like Doornfontein to Sophiatownand Orlando.
The following two sources describe Orlando township:
Source 13
We are building the township for the better class of Native, who has a sense of beauty and proportion. This will undoubtedly be somewhat of a paradise, which will enhance the status of the Bantu. Quoted in (Umthetheleni Wa Bantu, January 30, 1932)
Source 14
The houses were built cheaply and had neither floor nor ceiling, no water tap, no electric lights, no separate cooking facilities; there were no parks, no sports grounds, no hairdressers, no ladies' and men's outfitters, no banks, All shopping had to be done in Johannesburg, Public transport was especially inadequate and very expensive. People would now have to spend a quarter of their salary getting to work, not surprisingly, most people did not want to move from the city centre, Orlando represented loneliness and exile,- Transcribed from the video. Soweto:
A History A Free Film Makers Production, 1994.
During the war years (1939 -1945) no new houses were built. Government money was spent on the war. However, more jobs were available in the cities because factories needed to replace the men who had gone to fight in the war.
As people flooded into the cities to take up these jobs, a housing crisis resulted. In Orlando, this led to the growth of a squatter movement. A certain James Mpanza had started the Sofasonke Party in Orlando. The Sofasonke party encouraged people to move to the open veld and build their own houses there, without the permission of the City Council. His followers were protected when the central government ruled that Mpanza's squatters could not be removed from their shacks unless there was somewhere for them to go.
James "Sofasonke" Mpanza helped to break the housing backlog by allowing squatters to build shacks
By 1946 there were 20 000 people living in the Sofasonke camp. Some have argued that Mpanza's shantytown was the first urban community in which Africans governed themselves.
Topic 2: 'Poor Whites'
By the 1930s, 300 000 people out of a population of 1,8 million whites were poor (i.e. about 16%). They became known as 'poor whites". Ninety percent were Afrikaans-speaking. A large proportion of these people wanted to settle in Johannesburg.
The main flow of Afrikaners to the Rand began during the South African War (1899-1902) after 30 000 Boer homesteads were burnt down by the British and millions of cattle and sheep were destroyed. Unable to survive on the land, thousands of Boer families were forced to come to the towns.
It was often the daughters who went first to the towns. This was because they were not agricultural workers. Their labour was not essential for keeping the farm going as, for example, the labour of African women was to their homesteads. Also, women earned less than men did. Therefore, they were able to find jobs in the towns more easily than their menfolk.
Source 15
What sometimes breaks my heart, is to see little girls of scarcely 15 years old, coming from the farms, in possession of a letter from the parents to please look after Aletta, that they had to allow her to be uprooted because there is no other future for their little girl, also a testimonial from the sub principal who reports that Aletta cannot continue her education because parents are in great need. - From "Woon ons werkers in agterbuurtes en waarom?"
by Hester Cornelius 1938.Translated by Luli Callinicos
White families continued to struggle because the men often came to the towns when they were too old to learn a trade. As they were unskilled, they could not seek employment on the mines. They could seldom find permanent jobs, which meant that they had to spend a lot of time looking for work. At the same time, there was a desperate shortage of accommodation. Many of these families were forced to live in racially-mixed slumyards.
Many whites lived in poverty in the towns
Source 16
While the Randlords constructed elaborate colonial mansions for their brides, poorer folk sought out a room in a slumyard of the city in which to establish their family residence. - From "Slums, segregation and poor whites in Johannesburg" by Susan Parnell, 1992
Under Apartheid, 'poor whites' felt that it was disgraceful that they should have the same low standards of living as black workers. They demanded help from the government to obtain housing that would separate them from the black slum populations.
As the private sector was unlikely to finance housing, the government stepped in to look after white interests. Many laws were passed which protected white interests and gave them advantages.
The government reserved jobs on the railway and postal service, the police and defence force for whites.. Industrial schools were set up to train poor white children to be skilled workers. In the 1930s a scheme for subsidising housing was introduced. And, by the 1940s, the living standards of most whites had improved substantially.
Topic 3: Manufacturing in the1930s and 1940s
In 1933 the two main political parties in the country joined forces. They were the National Party led by Hertzog and Smuts's South African Party. They formed a new party called the United Party.
Hertzog and Smuts formed the United Party in 1933
The United Party formed the government in 1934. It put policies into place that led to enormous growth in the manufacturing industry. To begin with, it protected manufacturing as well as farming by raising the price of imported goods.
How gold helped manufacturing
The new government imposed a tax on the mines called the Excess Profit Tax. This quickly doubled government revenuefrom the mining industry. The extra revenue was used to support the development of local industries like the government-run electricity supplier (Eskom), the railways and Iscor (the Iron and Steel Corporation of South Africa). A short case study on Iscor is included later.
At first, the mines owners were not very happy with the heavy taxes they had to pay. But after 1933, gold sales soared. Between 1913 and 1932, the profits of the gold-mining companies were about 25 million rand per year. From 1933 to 1939 profits rose to about 65 million rand per year.
Taxes were calculated on the amount of profit. As mine profits were good, owners were able to continue to open and develop new gold mines.
High gold sales also helped the country to earn more foreign exchange. South Africa was able to use this foreign exchange to pay for the heavy machinery it needed to import to develop companies like Iscor.
Manufacturing in the 1930s
Many industries had expanded in the 1930s. Products being made included machinery for the mines, blankets, clothing, footwear; canned foods, sweets, soap, cigarettes and tobacco. Production was already beginning to change in these factories. Jobs were broken down into small and repetitive tasks.
The nature of production changed in similar way in Britain. Dividing jobs up into smaller tasks in order to produce goods more efficiently and more cheaply is called mass production.
By the end of the 1930s, manufacturing had expanded faster than any other sector of industry.
The table below shows the growth of the manufacturing industry compared with other industries for the period 1912 to 1945.
The growth of the manufacturing industry compared with other industries
| Year | Farming, Forestry, Fishing | Mining | Manufacturing | Trade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | 17% | 27% | 7% | 14% |
| 1920 | 21% | 21% | 11% | 17% |
| 1925 | 22% | 17% | 12% | 15% |
| 1930 | 14% | 17% | 15% | 15% |
| 1935 | 14% | 21% | 15% | 14% |
| 1940 | 12% | 23% | 18% | 14% |
| 1945 | 12% | 14% | 20% | 14% |
Manufacturing during World War II
Industry boomed in South Africa during the war period from 1939 to 1945. Once again, imports were cut off and South Africa was forced to produce its own goods.
The government ordered large amounts of war supplies from local factories. As demand for goods increased; production was stepped up, and profits grew. These profits created more money for investment and boosted the economy.
Many private investors were eager to put money into the new war industry and to profit from its growth.
Source 13
A case study of government-run industry: ISCOR
The government decided that it was important for South Africa to produce its own iron and steel because:
- iron is widely used in industry: making machines, weapons, railway tracks, stoves, fudges, cars, window frames etc
- it was better not to depend countries for these finished
- a ready supply of steel would help local factories to grow. The engineering industry could use it to make machines. These machines could then be used in other factories to make goods.
At the time, many people felt that Iscor wasn't good idea.
Nevertheless, Iscor succeeded in supplying iron and steel for the local market. South Africa was soon producing many machines and goods made from iron and steel. When World War II broke out, once again steel could not be imported. Iscor was able to supply most of the iron and steel that South Africa needed.
Iscor was the start of a new period of growth for South African factories. It meant that South Africa became less dependent on foreign suppliers. Today, the iron, steel and engineering industry is the largest manufacturing industry in the country. - Adapted from working life by Luli Callinicos, 1987
Topic 4: African women in the towns
Newcomers to the city had to find ways of surviving.
In the 1930s and 1940s, most African women in the towns were newcomers who had been born in the countryside. In the rural areas, they had been trained to serve their families and to carry on production from the home. This allowed them to be with their children and to cook and clean in the family.
In order to earn money in town, some African women ended up doing domestic work or factory work. But this kind of work took them away from their homes and their children for too many hours each day.
The following source describes some of the frustrations that domestic workers experienced.
Source 19
My children were still too young for me to sleep at my place of employment ... One Sunday I had to be off, while the next one I had after the children while their parents were out at night. One Sunday I had to be off, so that I could attend church and be with my children.
Adapted from Women of Phokeng by Befinda Bozzoli and Mmantho Nkotsoe,1991
Factory work involved even longer hours than domestic work, in less pleasant surroundings. At least domestic work was usually based in the suburbs where there were nice gardens. Nthana Mokale, who worked in a canning factory, describes how having to work overtime affected her relationship with her children.
Source 19
When I had to work overtime, it would be from 5,30 a.m. to 11 p.m. I had to get friends to took after my children until I returned home. Honestly, I had no time. At Christmas I used to look for someone to bake for them. I would give them some groceries and leave them behind. I never had time to enjoy being with my children. Adapted from Women of Phokeng by Belinda Bozzoli and Mmantho Nkotsoe, 1991.
A way out
For most African women the answer lay in becoming self-employed. Those who had sewing-machines started to make clothing and sell it. Some sold fruit or traditional food on street corners. Others earned money through Chinese gambling, also called fah-fee. But for many, the solution involved an illegal activity eg.brewing beer for sale.
By becoming brewers women could earn a living. Brewing involved hard work, danger and often a loss of dignity. Nevertheless, in an average week in the 1930s, a brewer could earn R2 which was the same as a man's wage. A woman's ability to bring in this kind of money gave her independence.
Traditionally, women made beer for the menfolk. However, in the towns there were far fewer African women than men. So large numbers of male workers living in compounds and hostels went to yards, locations and townships on the weekend to drink beer and socialise.
Traditional beer had little alcohol in it, and was light and refreshing. In the towns, however, beer was made stronger because brewers could charge more for this. It could also be brewed more quickly this way. The traditional way took several days. As it was against the law for Africans to brew or drink beer, the police raided regularly and either fined or arrested anyone who possessed beer. This made it risky to keep beer around even for a few days. A quick method had to be found. This often involved adding methylated spirits to the brew a few hours before men knocked off from work on a Saturday and Sunday.
The sketches below show how people hid liquor from the police. Liquor became an offered escape from the harsh realities. It also created another way of life. On nights off work women's houses were turned into shebeens or bars. There would be dancing and music. Newcomers to the town could find friends, and men could find women.
These sketches show the method used to bury beer that baffled the police for a long time.A hole is dug 3 metres deep. Into this is placed a big barrel of liquor. A sheet of iron on top of the barrel supports about half a metre of soil. Then come paraffin tins full of liquor and then more soil. In many previous raids, only the tins were found. The presence of barrels underneath the tins was quite unsuspected. After the tins were removed by the police, the barrel was \tapped in the manner shown in the second sketch.
Topic 5: White women in the towns
Most of the factory workers on the Rand in the 1930s were white women and black men. The majority of these women were Afrikaners sent from the farms. White women working in factories were paid a third less than white men. The reason given was that women did not need higher wages because they were partly supported by their fathers and husbands.
This was not true. Afrikaner women not only had to support themselves in town, but also send money home to help their struggling families in the countryside.
The hardships of these young women to make ends meet in the towns is described below.
Source 21
It was 1932. We were four garment workers, who had to live together in Vrededorp. We all earned very little R1,75 a week. Many had to work for months without a raise. If we dared open our mouths' would be chased away.
Our little room was in a backyard and was so small that we could not All the furnishing that we had was a single bed, a small table and a for chairs.
We were still paying off our bed and table. We worked out a plan for bedclothes. One of the four had a cushion and we took turns to sleep on had two blankets which we had brought with us from the farm. Our sheets were made from mealie bags which we joined together, and which we washed every Saturday...
You will surely be wondering, how could four sleep on a single bed? But we worked out a plan. We put the mattress on the floor and one of us slept on coats, And so we struggled on...
We could not afford to buy bread, so we bought flour and kneaded a of bread, then asked someone at the bakery to bake it for us.
The hardest time of all was winter. Each of us had to have a coat cut down on our food. For months we only ate bread and jam...
Adapted from Klerewerker by Hester Cornelius, 1938, translated by Lull Callinicos
Source 22
The young worker's constitution must be built up so that she can become a healthy and happy mother in our land one day, instead she is underfed and is growing up as an unhappy wreck in our society.
We as residents of Germiston, workers and housewives, must fight together against this terrible problem. We are honest workers whose labour is building up our country and our people. Why should we be cast aside without decent lives and pleasant homes!- From Klerewerker by Hester Cornelius, 1938.
Translated by Lull Callinicos.
A march of the Garment Workers Union in support of Solly Sachs, their leader
Many of these workers became members of the Garment Workers' Union (GWU). This trade union' was formed in the 1920s. Most of its members were white women. The GWU fought throughout the 1930s to get employers to pay the legal wage to workers. Between 1928 and 1936 the GWU was involved in over 100 strikes to force employers to obey the law.
The GWU didn't only collect workers' money, hold meetings and call strikes. It also helped workers to improve their lives. Many workers were strangers in the big city. They had no friends in town and struggled to find cheap places to stay. The Union helped workers to find a place to stay and arranged dances, parties, drama evenings, beauty contests and picnics after work and on weekends.