Stones of Contention by Cleveland Todd

Author:Cleveland, Todd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 2014-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

6: The Experiences of African Workers on Colonial-Era Mines

Death does not choose; famine chooses. . . .

I am going to De Beers. . . .

Lad, the day I am going, I mount to ride away,

A woman of witchcraft was already hard at work;

I saw her early going to the graveyard,

She puts on a string skirt fastened with knots,

She takes the arm of the corpse and waves it,

A mouthful of blood, she spits into the air,

She says, “Men gone to De Beers.

They can come home dead from the mines.”

To me . . .

I am not dead; even now I still live,

I am a wanderer of the mines.

—Song that migrant laborers from Lesotho sang en route to the South African diamond mines

In the period from 1920 to 1970, conditions were very, very poor. . . . At the world’s richest diamond mine, the majority of people who worked there were simply being exploited, and De Beers grew very, very rich as a result.

—Gordon Brown,[86]former senior manager of the Oranjemund diamond mine in South West Africa (Namibia), 1990

If Gordon Brown’s statement underscores the exploitation that characterized colonial-era diamond mining, the lyrics that make up the first quotation capture African workers’ resiliency: I am not dead; even now I still live, / I am a wanderer of the mines. Although most colonial diamond-mining operations were highly organized, reasonably orderly affairs and thus bore little resemblance to the “Wild West” scenario of early Kimberley, they invariably featured exacting conditions for the African laborers, or “wanderers,” who toiled for them. Mine workers throughout the continent met these daily challenges—both during their shifts and “after the whistle blew”—by employing a number of efficacious strategies, reminiscent of their South African counterparts. For example, in colonies featuring forced labor schemes, Africans often fled ahead of mining recruiters or, later, once on the job. Conversely, in settings where employment was voluntary, Africans concentrated their efforts on attenuating and overcoming the daily challenges that they faced. Worker strategies could be as simple as singing to propel themselves through taxing days, as furtive as diamond theft, or as confrontational as formal trade union activity.

This chapter continues the examination of colonial-era mines begun in the preceding chapter but shifts the perspective away from colonial administrations, mining companies, and indigenous headmen to focus instead on the experiences of the African workers who engaged with the various diamond operations. Although these “wanderers of the mines” operated in demanding labor environments, they actively shaped their plights by pursuing a range of creative strategies intended to improve their lives. And, as the song lyrics suggest, they may well have cheated death in the process.

The Motivations and Experiences of Migrant Diamond Miners

Faced with the combined pressure that imperial regimes, powerful mining enterprises, and acquiescent headmen exerted, it’s no wonder that millions of Africans migrated to diamond-mining locations during the colonial period. Local migratory traditions, population densities, and livelihood possibilities shaped the nature and volume of this constant outflow from rural to industrial areas. Recruits and, in some settings,

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