The Making of the South African Working Class

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Introduction

In this thesis, I examine the centrality of travel geographies, with a specific focus on urban commuter railway lines between Mamelodi and central Tshwane, and their influence upon political identities of South African workers. By adopting a historical approach to our understanding of the South African working class, the thesis brings into sharper focus the relationship between apartheid and how workers perceived the concept of train. These have persisted into the new era with the formation of the Mamelodi Train Sector (MTS) as an organisation dedicated to organising workers on the trains in 2001. The emergence of MTS in the era of the neoliberal labour regime and its associated assault upon labour movements presents opportunities for labour revival strategies. Drawing on the data collected, I show that the train can be used as a strategic site of mobilisation, particularly for those workers without workplace representation. By portraying the train as a site of identity formation and political consciousness, I accord primacy to the train as a space of potential social power. This social power is informed by educational sessions on labour rights and labour law that take place on the train en-route to and from work. During these educational sessions workers ask workplace or problem specific questions, thus the thesis suggests that such questions are informed by the need to seek out useful information that can be utilised to address specific problems (see Chapters 6 and 7).

Problem Identification and Rationale

The South African literature on social movement trade unionism (SMU) has generally tended to locate workers’ collective actions within either the workplace or township, if not both. A plethora of studies detail workers’ organising strategies in various places and locations (Buhlungu, 2010a; Bonner, 1978; Sitas, 1985; Seidman, 1994; Adler, 1997, see also Chapter 4). What is missing from this literature is an attempt to factor in transport and its related influences upon the daily experiences of workers in South Africa. This study seeks to bring to the fore the importance of the train in the South African context and the extent to which it can be viewed as a strategic site of mobilising in achieving both workplace and township based struggles. With its genesis in the apartheid South Africa, not only as a mode of transportation but an instrument of control and oppression, an argument can therefore be made about how black commuters framed their struggle locations within the apartheid spatial design. Reflecting on the role of the train in relation to the mining industry, Pirie observes that the need to understand the middle passage can be linked to the fact that: The journey itself remains enigmatic: mostly, labour has simply been presumed to ‘flow’ to and from the mines, as if taken by gravity or magic carpet. The physical movement [to and from work] has attracted slight attention. As a result, the middle passage separating departure and arrival is a gaping hole… (Pirie, 1993: 713-14).

Arrival of European Settlers

The South African class and race structure can be understood with reference to the year 1652. The numerical minority of white settlers in Southern Africa meant that black people had to be drawn into the unfolding industrial changes (Allen, 1992: 91). This process gave rise to ‘the making of the South African working class’ that can be accounted for by the following interrelated time periods, (a) the era of colonial conquest (1652-1870); (b) mineral discovery (1870-1910); (c) segregation (1910- 1948) and the era of apartheid (1948-1994) (Brownett, 1982: 10). The periodisation is simply for analytical purposes and does not seek to imply that the colonial rule ended in 1870. These historical periods are interlinked and interrelated and therefore cannot be read to represent clear-cut endings and beginnings. Below I detail an in-depth discussion of each period.

Mineral Discovery

The mineral phase of the South African history commenced with the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West (modern day Kimberly) in 1867 (Grobler, 2014: 179; Visser, 2014a: 189; Browett, 1982: 14; Bundy, 1972: 376; 1988: 65; Thompson, 2014: 115; Terreblanche, 2002: 242). According to Worden (1995: 18-9), the British Empire appeared to lose interest in South Africa as a colony and thus was withdrawing direct political control in the 1850s. However, the discovery of Kimberly diamonds made the South African interior a highly desirable region, as such; the 1870s witnessed an aggressive penetration of the South African interior by settlers. From 1870 onwards, the indigenous population was invariably placed under increased economic, political and social pressures by the changing economic landscape (I elaborate on this point below) (Worden, 1995: 18-9; Thompson, 2014: 122). The discovery of diamonds was followed, some 19 years later, by the discovery of gold in 1886 at the Witwatersrand in Transvaal (modern day Johannesburg) (Visser, 2014a: 193; Verhoef, 2014: 219; Pretorius, 2014: 239; Browett, 1982: 14; Bundy, 1972: 381; Johnstone, 1976: 13; Omer-Cooper, 1994: 101, 126; Van Onselen, 2001: 3-4).

Segregation

In an attempt to explain the origins of segregation, Terreblanche (2002) provides a lucid and nuanced account of British imperialism and its racist capitalist system in particular. This is because, British imperialism, as practiced in South Africa can be directly linked with racial separation (see also Beinart and Dubow, 1995; Legassick, 1995; Dubow, 1995; 1989)2 . According to Terreblanche (2002: 243) the ruthless, exploitative and oppressive capitalist system that operated in South Africa can be accounted for by the economic conditions in Britain (see also Dubow, 1986 for an elaboration of ‘scientific racism’ and its British origins and Christopher, 1983 on the origins of the apartheid city). From the early 1870s, Britain’s economic development was stunted by the so-called ‘long depression’ as a result of which it lost economic and industrial ground to Germany and the United States. Furthermore, its economy was characterised by high levels of inequality, abject poverty, and unemployment. The British economic situation was worsened by the fact that the world economy was based on the gold standard, yet Britain was losing gold. It is in this context that the Rand gold mines became the quintessential solution.

Table of Contents :

• Abstract
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Plagiarism declaration
• Chapter 1: Introduction
  • 1.1 Introduction
  • 1.2 Problem Identification and Rationale
  • 1.3 Organisation of the Thesis
  • 1.4 Summary
• Chapter 2: Historical Background
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 The Making of the South African Working Class
  • 2.2.1 Arrival of European Settlers
  • 2.2.2 Colonial Conquest
  • 2.2.3 Mineral Discovery
  • 2.2.4 Segregation
  • 2.2.5 Apartheid Era
  • 2.2.5.1 Economic Apartheid
  • 2.2.5.2 Spatial Apartheid
  • 2.3 Summary
• Chapter 3: Literature Survey: A Spatial and Geographic Appraisal
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 Place, Space and Geography
  • 3.2.1 Place
  • 3.2.1.1 Train coaches as workers’ spaces and scale
  • 3.3 Scale
  • 3.4 South African Labour Movement: A Historical Background
  • 3.4.1 The Durban Space
  • 3.4.1.1 Workerists/Populists debate revisited
  • 3.4.1.1.1 Populists
  • 3.4.1.1.2 Workerists
  • 3.4.2 To register or not register
  • 3.4.3 Formation of COSATU
  • 3.4.4 Social Movement Unionism
  • 3.5 Summary
• Chapter 4: Ethnography: Methods and Methodology
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Research Design: An Ethnographic Approach
  • 4.2.1 Extended Case Method
  • 4.2.1.1 Collection and Recording of Data
  • 4.2.1.1.1 Selection for interviews
  • 4.2.1.2 Data Analysis and Representation
  • 4.3 Vibrations from the field: Choo-chooo!
  • 4.3.1 Internal Dynamics
  • 4.3.2 External Forces
  • 4.4 Ethical Considerations
  • 4.5 Summary
• Chapter 5: COSATU and the Post-Apartheid Regime
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Trade Unions, Party Political Relations and Trade Liberalisation
  • 5.3 Union Power and Levels of Decline
  • 5.4 Union Revival Strategies
  • 5.4.1 Labour Internationalism / Global Social Movement Unionism
  • 5.4.2 Global Cases
  • 5.5 Summary
• Chapter 6: Stimela: The Space between Home and Work
  • 6.1 Stimela in Context: Transport, Workers and Politics
  • 6.2 The Mamelodi-Pretoria CBD Railway Line
  • 6.2.1 Commuting geographies in perspective
  • 6.2.1.1 Gauteng Profile: City of Tshwane
  • 6.3 Mamelodi Train Sector
  • 6.3.1 Organisational Structure
  • 6.4 Mzabalazo on the move!
  • 6.5 Union Locals?
  • 6.5.1 Socio-economic position: “Barekishi ba matsogo”
  • 6.6 Not a ‘Khetšeng’: An Information Hub
  • 6.7 Summary
• Chapter 7: Workers and Politics: A Multi-Pronged Strategy
  • 7.1 Alliance Politics
  • 7.1.1 Song and Dance
  • 7.1.1.1 That’s why I am a communist
  • 7.1.2 Material conditions
  • 7.1.3 Solidarity
  • 7.2 Discontinuity: Rail Line Upgrades and the Silent Coaches
  • 7.3 Summary
• Chapter 8: Discussion and Conclusion
  • 8.1 Introduction
  • 8.2 Discussion of Findings
  • 8.2.1 Mzabalazo on the move
  • 8.2.2 Union Locals?
  • 8.2.3 Not a Khetšeng: An information hub
  • 8.2.4 Alliance Politics
  • 8.2.5 Discontinuity: Rail line upgrades and the silent coaches
  • 8.3 Conclusion
  • List of References
  • Appendices
  • Appendix 1: Interview Schedule
  • Appendix 2: Information Letter
  • Appendix 3: Interview Consent Form

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“Mzabalazo on the Move”: Organising Workers on a Commuter Train in Tshwane – An Ethnographic Study of Mamelodi Train Sector