Youth Organisations and the Construction of Masculine Identities in the Ciskei and Transkei, 1945-1960

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 24, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 653-667

  Mager, Anne ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CULTURAL HISTORY; GENDER IDENTITY; RURAL SOCIETY; TWENTIETH CENTURY; YOUNG POPULATION;

SOUTH AFRICA;

EID: 0032417078     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057079808708595     Document Type: Article

References (104)

1. S. Segar, Cape Times, 15 July 97.
2. P. Green, Radio news broadcast, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABCC), 13 May 1997.
3. P. Mayer with I. Mayer, Report of Research on the Self Organisation by Youth Among the Xhosa-speaking Peoples of the Ciskei and Transkei, Part 1 : The Red Xhosa (Rhodes University, Institute of Social and Economic Research, November 1972) [hereafter Mayer, Report, Part 1], p. 63.
4. P. Mayer with I. Mayer, Report of Research on the Self Organisation by Youth Among the Xhosa-speaking Peoples of the Ciskei and Transkei, Part 1 : The Red Xhosa (Rhodes University, Institute of Social and Economic Research, November 1972) [hereafter Mayer, Report, Part 1], p. 63.
5. W. Beinart, 'Political and Collective Violence in Southern African Historiography', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 3 (1992), pp. 455-486; C. Bundy, 'At War with the Future? Black South African Youth in the 1990s', in S. Stedman (ed), South Africa: the Political Economy of Transformation (Boulder Colorado, Lynne Riemer, 1994); D. Everatt and E. Sisulu (eds), Black Youth in Crisis: Facing the Future (Johannesburg, Ravan, 1992); J. Seekings, Heroes or Villains? Youth Politics in the 1980s (Johannesburg, JEP/CASE and Ravan Press, 1993).
6. W. Beinart, 'Political and Collective Violence in Southern African Historiography', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 3 (1992), pp. 455-486; C. Bundy, 'At War with the Future? Black South African Youth in the 1990s', in S. Stedman (ed), South Africa: the Political Economy of Transformation (Boulder Colorado, Lynne Riemer, 1994); D. Everatt and E. Sisulu (eds), Black Youth in Crisis: Facing the Future (Johannesburg, Ravan, 1992); J. Seekings, Heroes or Villains? Youth Politics in the 1980s (Johannesburg, JEP/CASE and Ravan Press, 1993).
7. W. Beinart, 'Political and Collective Violence in Southern African Historiography', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 3 (1992), pp. 455-486; C. Bundy, 'At War with the Future? Black South African Youth in the 1990s', in S. Stedman (ed), South Africa: the Political Economy of Transformation (Boulder Colorado, Lynne Riemer, 1994); D. Everatt and E. Sisulu (eds), Black Youth in Crisis: Facing the Future (Johannesburg, Ravan, 1992); J. Seekings, Heroes or Villains? Youth Politics in the 1980s (Johannesburg, JEP/CASE and Ravan Press, 1993).
8. W. Beinart, 'Political and Collective Violence in Southern African Historiography', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 3 (1992), pp. 455-486; C. Bundy, 'At War with the Future? Black South African Youth in the 1990s', in S. Stedman (ed), South Africa: the Political Economy of Transformation (Boulder Colorado, Lynne Riemer, 1994); D. Everatt and E. Sisulu (eds), Black Youth in Crisis: Facing the Future (Johannesburg, Ravan, 1992); J. Seekings, Heroes or Villains? Youth Politics in the 1980s (Johannesburg, JEP/CASE and Ravan Press, 1993).
9. C. Campbell, 'Learning to Kill? Masculinity, the Family and Violence in Natal', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 3 (September 1992), p. 614.
10. Mayer, Report, Part 1; I. Mayer Report of Research on the Self Organisation by Youth among the Xhosa-speaking Peoples of the Ciskei and Transkei, Part 2 (Rhodes University, Institute of Social and Economic Research, May 1972) [hereafter Mayer, Report, Part 2], W. Beinart, 'The Origins of the Indlavini: Male Associations and Migrant Labour in the Transkei', in A. D. Spiegel and P. A. McAllister (eds), Tradition and Transition in Southern Africa: Festschrift for Philip and lona Mayer (Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press, 1991), pp. 103-128.
11. Mayer, Report, Part 1; I. Mayer Report of Research on the Self Organisation by Youth among the Xhosa-speaking Peoples of the Ciskei and Transkei, Part 2 (Rhodes University, Institute of Social and Economic Research, May 1972) [hereafter Mayer, Report, Part 2], W. Beinart, 'The Origins of the Indlavini: Male Associations and Migrant Labour in the Transkei', in A. D. Spiegel and P. A. McAllister (eds), Tradition and Transition in Southern Africa: Festschrift for Philip and lona Mayer (Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press, 1991), pp. 103-128.
12. Mayer, Report, Part 1; I. Mayer Report of Research on the Self Organisation by Youth among the Xhosa-speaking Peoples of the Ciskei and Transkei, Part 2 (Rhodes University, Institute of Social and Economic Research, May 1972) [hereafter Mayer, Report, Part 2], W. Beinart, 'The Origins of the Indlavini: Male Associations and Migrant Labour in the Transkei', in A. D. Spiegel and P. A. McAllister (eds), Tradition and Transition in Southern Africa: Festschrift for Philip and lona Mayer (Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press, 1991), pp. 103-128.
13. Mayer, Report, Part 1; I. Mayer Report of Research on the Self Organisation by Youth among the Xhosa-speaking Peoples of the Ciskei and Transkei, Part 2 (Rhodes University, Institute of Social and Economic Research, May 1972) [hereafter Mayer, Report, Part 2], W. Beinart, 'The Origins of the Indlavini: Male Associations and Migrant Labour in the Transkei', in A. D. Spiegel and P. A. McAllister (eds), Tradition and Transition in Southern Africa: Festschrift for Philip and lona Mayer (Johannesburg, Witwatersrand University Press, 1991), pp. 103-128.
14. Mayer, Report, Part 1, p. 17.
15. Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 210.
16. L. McDowell, 'Spatialising Feminism', in N. Duncan (ed), Body Space (London and New York, Routledge, 1996), p. 36. For discussion of ethnographers, representation and identities, see R. Werbner and T. Ranger, Postcolonial Identities in Africa (London, Zed Books, 1996), p. 22.
17. L. McDowell, 'Spatialising Feminism', in N. Duncan (ed), Body Space (London and New York, Routledge, 1996), p. 36. For discussion of ethnographers, representation and identities, see R. Werbner and T. Ranger, Postcolonial Identities in Africa (London, Zed Books, 1996), p. 22.
18. See L. White, 'Separating the Men from the Boys: Constructions of Gender, Sexuality, and Terrorism in Central Kenya, 1939-1959', International Journal of African Historical Studies, 23, 1 (1990), pp. 1-13, for a discussion of 'genders' within the Mau-Mau.
19. P. Mayer and I. Mayer, Townsmen or Tribesmen (Cape Town, Oxford University Press, 1974), pp. 37-39. Interviews with F. Mpande in Peddie district, Ciskei, 23 October 1993, and Nowinile Monqo, 17 December 1992. All the interviews cited were conducted by the author during research for a forthcoming book, Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan, 1945-1960 (Heinemann/James Currey, October 1998).
20. P. Mayer and I. Mayer, Townsmen or Tribesmen (Cape Town, Oxford University Press, 1974), pp. 37-39. Interviews with F. Mpande in Peddie district, Ciskei, 23 October 1993, and Nowinile Monqo, 17 December 1992. All the interviews cited were conducted by the author during research for a forthcoming book, Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan, 1945-1960 (Heinemann/James Currey, October 1998).
21. H. Moore, A Passion for Difference (Cambridge, Polity Press, 1994), pp. 55-57.
22. See L. Rubin, The Adaptation of Customary Law in South Africa,' in L. Kuper (ed), African Law: Adaptation and Development (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1965), pp. 196-215; compare M. Chanock, Law, Custom and Social Order: the Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985); K. Mann and R. Roberts (eds), Law in Colonial Africa (Portsmouth, Heinemann, 1991).
23. See L. Rubin, The Adaptation of Customary Law in South Africa,' in L. Kuper (ed), African Law: Adaptation and Development (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1965), pp. 196-215; compare M. Chanock, Law, Custom and Social Order: the Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985); K. Mann and R. Roberts (eds), Law in Colonial Africa (Portsmouth, Heinemann, 1991).
24. See L. Rubin, The Adaptation of Customary Law in South Africa,' in L. Kuper (ed), African Law: Adaptation and Development (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1965), pp. 196-215; compare M. Chanock, Law, Custom and Social Order: the Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1985); K. Mann and R. Roberts (eds), Law in Colonial Africa (Portsmouth, Heinemann, 1991).
25. A. Mager, The People Get Fenced: Gender, Rehabilitation and African Nationalism in the Ciskei and Border Region 1945-1955', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 4 (December 1992), pp. 761-782; F. Hendriks, Footnote 14 continued 'Loose Planning and Rapid Resettlement: the Politics of Conservation and Control in Transkei, South Africa, 1950-1970', Journal of Southern African Studies 15, 2 (January 1989), pp. 306-325.
26. A. Mager, The People Get Fenced: Gender, Rehabilitation and African Nationalism in the Ciskei and Border Region 1945-1955', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18, 4 (December 1992), pp. 761-782; F. Hendriks, Footnote 14 continued 'Loose Planning and Rapid Resettlement: the Politics of Conservation and Control in Transkei, South Africa, 1950-1970', Journal of Southern African Studies 15, 2 (January 1989), pp. 306-325.
27. W. R. Hammond-Tooke, Command or Consensus (Cape Town, David Philip, 1975).
28. Interview, F. Mpande, Peddie district, 23 October 1993.
29. A. Mager, 'Girls' Wars: Gender and the Reproduction of the Educated Elite in the Eastern Cape, 1945-1959', Perspectives in Education, 14, 1 (1992/3), pp. 3-20; P. Ntantala, A Life's Mosaic (Cape Town, Mayibuye Centre and David Philip, 1992); N. Jabavu, The Ochre People (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1982).
30. A. Mager, 'Girls' Wars: Gender and the Reproduction of the Educated Elite in the Eastern Cape, 1945-1959', Perspectives in Education, 14, 1 (1992/3), pp. 3-20; P. Ntantala, A Life's Mosaic (Cape Town, Mayibuye Centre and David Philip, 1992); N. Jabavu, The Ochre People (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1982).
31. A. Mager, 'Girls' Wars: Gender and the Reproduction of the Educated Elite in the Eastern Cape, 1945-1959', Perspectives in Education, 14, 1 (1992/3), pp. 3-20; P. Ntantala, A Life's Mosaic (Cape Town, Mayibuye Centre and David Philip, 1992); N. Jabavu, The Ochre People (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1982).
32. Mayer, Report, Part 2, pp. 29-30.
33. Mayer, Townsmen, pp. 37-39.
34. Mayer, Report, Part 2, pp. 100.
35. See N. Shamway, The Invention of Argentina (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991), pp. 214-225 for development of the notion of 'guiding fictions'. Iona Mayer defines umthetho as a code of behaviour and a 'sanctioning machinery'. See Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 47.
36. See N. Shamway, The Invention of Argentina (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991), pp. 214-225 for development of the notion of 'guiding fictions'. Iona Mayer defines umthetho as a code of behaviour and a 'sanctioning machinery'. See Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 47.
37. M. Wilson, S. Kaplan, T. Maki and E. Walton, Social Structure, Keiskammahoek Rural Survey, vol. 3 (Pietermaritzburg, Shuter and Shooter, 1952), p. 6.
38. Mayer, Report. Part 2, p. 225.
39. Interview, F. Mpande.
40. Mayer, Report, Part 1, p. 56.
41. Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 57.
42. Ibid., p. 10.
43. Mayer, Report, Part 1, pp. 25-26.
44. R. Braidotti, Patterns of Dissonance (Cambridge, Polity Press, 1991), p. 219.
45. Mercury, 4 August 1955; 30 September 1954.
46. Mercury, 1 April 1952.
47. Beinart, 'Origins of Indlavini', p. 105.
48. Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 54.
49. Mayer, Report, Part 1, p. 7.
50. Ibid., p. 27.
51. This is the gist of Mayer, Report, Part 2, that considers all youth associations which fall outside the imitshotsho-intlombe divide. For nationalism and imagined community, see B. Anderson. Imagined Communities (New York, Verso, 1991).
52. This is the gist of Mayer, Report, Part 2, that considers all youth associations which fall outside the imitshotsho-intlombe divide. For nationalism and imagined community, see B. Anderson. Imagined Communities (New York, Verso, 1991).
53. For a full description of metsha see B. J. F. Laubscher, Sex, Custom and Psychopathology (London, Routledge, 1937), pp. 79-82 and p. 268. In its narrow meaning, the practice of metsha usually entailed a male inserting his penis between a girl's thighs while she lay on her stomach or side. More widely, the term might refer to a sexual relationship before marriage, implying external intercourse.
54. Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 151.
55. Ibid., p. 85.
56. Ibid., p. 51.
57. N. Duncan, 'Renegotiating Gender and Sexuality in Public and Private Spaces', in Duncan (ed), Body Space, p. 135.
58. D. Gaitskell, "'Wailing for Purity": Prayer Unions, African mothers and Adolescent Daughters, 1912-1940', in S. Marks and R. Rathbone (eds), Industrialisation and Social Change in South Africa (London Longman 1982) pp. 338-357.
59. Mayer, Report, Part 2, pp. 87-99.
60. Ibid., p. 59.
61. Gaitskell, "'Wailing for Purity", p. 338.
62. Cape Archives [hereafter CA], 1/KKH (Magistrate's court of Keiskammahoek), Case no. 4 of 1945, Samuel Tshaka vs Ebenezer Fesi and G. Fesi.
63. Verslag van die Kommissie vir die Sosio-Ekonomiese Ontwikkeling van die Bantoegebiede binne die Unie van Suid-Afrika 1950-1954 (Chairman: Tomlinson) (Pretoria, Government Printer, 1955) [hereafter, Tomlinson Commission Report], vol. 47, p. 4614. Evidence of R.S.C. Gold, Chief Native Commissioner.
64. Verslag van die Kommissie vir die Sosio-Ekonomiese Ontwikkeling van die Bantoegebiede binne die Unie van Suid-Afrika 1950-1954 (Chairman: Tomlinson) (Pretoria, Government Printer, 1955) [hereafter, Tomlinson Commission Report], vol. 47, p. 4614. Evidence of R.S.C. Gold, Chief Native Commissioner.
65. See, for example, C A. 1/CAT, Case no. 15 of 1959, Solveni Mahlati and Wilfred Gxebeka vs. Basil Bonisile Mfazwe and Alfred King. This case involved a boy at home from boarding school who fell in love with an imitshotsho girl during the school holidays and rendered her pregnant.
66. Foucault and Sennett, quoted in P. Seidler, 'Reason, Desire, and Male Sexuality', in P. Caplan (ed), The Cultural Construction of Sexuality (London, Tavistock Publications, 1987), p. 89.
67. Mayer, Report, Part 2, pp. 60-64.
68. Ibid., pp. 163-165, 200-202.
69. Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 35.
70. Mayer, Report, Part 1, p. 21; Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 212. Love affairs between male teachers and their female students were common. See CA, 1/KWT (NAC SD), Case no. 28 of 1948, Elijah Mqomboti vs Daniel Mzwakali; CA, 1/WSA, Case no. 2 of 1948, Ebenezer Msinda vs George Kondlo, Case against Herbert Koto, Representative, 21 March 1952' CA I/CAT, Case no. 6 of 1954, Katriver Sikepe vs Elliott Mfazwe; Case against Ferdinand Shilember, Dispatch, 10 February 1955; CA, 1/KWT, Case no. 43 of 1956, Jeffrey Veto vs Samuel Dlovu and Wellington Dlovu; CA, 1/ALC (NAC SD), Case no. 10 of 1957, William Skade Sodlaka vs Donald Mzilent.
71. Mayer, Report, Part 1, p. 21; Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 212. Love affairs between male teachers and their female students were common. See CA, 1/KWT (NAC SD), Case no. 28 of 1948, Elijah Mqomboti vs Daniel Mzwakali; CA, 1/WSA, Case no. 2 of 1948, Ebenezer Msinda vs George Kondlo, Case against Herbert Koto, Representative, 21 March 1952' CA I/CAT, Case no. 6 of 1954, Katriver Sikepe vs Elliott Mfazwe; Case against Ferdinand Shilember, Dispatch, 10 February 1955; CA, 1/KWT, Case no. 43 of 1956, Jeffrey Veto vs Samuel Dlovu and Wellington Dlovu; CA, 1/ALC (NAC SD), Case no. 10 of 1957, William Skade Sodlaka vs Donald Mzilent.
72. Mayer, Report, Part 1, p. 21; Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 212. Love affairs between male teachers and their female students were common. See CA, 1/KWT (NAC SD), Case no. 28 of 1948, Elijah Mqomboti vs Daniel Mzwakali; CA, 1/WSA, Case no. 2 of 1948, Ebenezer Msinda vs George Kondlo, Case against Herbert Koto, Representative, 21 March 1952' CA I/CAT, Case no. 6 of 1954, Katriver Sikepe vs Elliott Mfazwe; Case against Ferdinand Shilember, Dispatch, 10 February 1955; CA, 1/KWT, Case no. 43 of 1956, Jeffrey Veto vs Samuel Dlovu and Wellington Dlovu; CA, 1/ALC (NAC SD), Case no. 10 of 1957, William Skade Sodlaka vs Donald Mzilent.
73. Mayer, Report, Part 1, p. 21; Mayer, Report, Part 2, p. 212. Love affairs between male teachers and their female students were common. See CA, 1/KWT (NAC SD), Case no. 28 of 1948, Elijah Mqomboti vs Daniel Mzwakali; CA, 1/WSA, Case no. 2 of 1948, Ebenezer Msinda vs George Kondlo, Case against Herbert Koto, Representative, 21 March 1952' CA I/CAT, Case no. 6 of 1954, Katriver Sikepe vs Elliott Mfazwe; Case against Ferdinand Shilember, Dispatch, 10 February 1955; CA, 1/KWT, Case no. 43 of 1956, Jeffrey Veto vs Samuel Dlovu and Wellington Dlovu; CA, 1/ALC (NAC SD), Case no. 10 of 1957, William Skade Sodlaka vs Donald Mzilent.
74. Wilson, Social Structure, p. 102.
75. 880 out of 1,364 births; evidence of Reverend R. J. Moore of the Ministers' Fraternal to Welsch Commission, Daily Dispatch, 19 July 1949.
76. Imvo Zabantsundu, 18 September 1954.
77. Letter from W.W. Siyo of McKay's Nek, Glen Grey, to Imvo, 20 September 1952.
78. Tomlinson Commission Report, vol. 47, p. 4614. Evidence of R. S. C. Gold, Chief Native Commissioner.
79. Mayer, Report, Part 2, pp. 89-90.
80. Siyo to Imvo, 20 September 1952.
81. Mercury, 18 February 1950.
82. Mercury, 9 August 1951.
83. Mercury, 17 July 1948; 29 June 1948; see also Representative, 23 June 1955.
84. Mercury, 17 July 1948; 29 June 1948; see also Representative, 23 June 1955.
85. The boy was Tomboti Swati of Peelton. Mercury, 12 January 1950.
86. CA, GSC, Case no. 592 of 1954, Rex vs. John Matweseni.
87. The girl was Daisy Mdongeni. Representative, 20 September 1951.
88. J. Butler, Gender Trouble, Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (London, Routledge, 1990), p. 145.
89. Mercury, 7 April 1949 and 14 April 1949.
90. CA, 1/KWT, Case nos. 66-70 of 1953, Criminal Record Book, Rex vs. Kutshiwe Billie and others; 1/KWT, Case no. 77 of 1953, Rex vs. Qajana Mjoli and 41 others; 1/KWT, Case no. 788 of 1951, Rex vs Taliana Moni and 12 others. See also, A. K. Mayer, Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan: a Social History of the Ciskei, 1945-1959 (Heinemann/James Currey, forthcoming June 1999).
91. Mercury, 12 April 1949.
92. CA, 1/KHA, Case no. 83 of 1946, Rex vs. Mavelani Mpokose.
93. Mercury, 19 January 1960.
94. See CA, 1/KHA, Case no. 99 of 1951, Rex vs. Bonisile Sotina and 31 others where a man who intervened had his jaw broken. In GSC, Case no. 35 of 1948, Rex vs. Msimboti Dasha and five others, an elderly man was beaten to death for scolding a group of boys who had assaulted their rivals.
95. Mercury, 7 April 1949.
96. CA, 1/KHA, Case no. 99 of 1951, Rex vs Bonisile Sotina and 31 others.
97. Magistrate G. S. Franks, quoted in King William's Town Mercury, 13 September 1955.
98. P. Reynolds, 'Men without Children' (University of Cape Town, Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in South Africa, 1984).
99. CA, 1/PDE (NAC SD), Case no. 4 of 1961, Thompson Nombewu vs. William Basanyi Gwavu and Baldwin Mzwandile Gwavu; CA, 1/LDF, Case no. 9 of 1956, Willie Mgoma vs. Sipho Kulati and Sergeant Kulati; CA, 1/WSA, Case no. 7 of 1948, William Mehlala vs. Albert Ngaju and Hamilton Ngaju. See also Wilson et al., Social Structure, p. 81. See Ciskeian General Council, Proceedings, (23 September 1954), p. 37.
100. CA, 1/PDE (NAC SD), Case no. 4 of 1961, Thompson Nombewu vs. William Basanyi Gwavu and Baldwin Mzwandile Gwavu; CA, 1/LDF, Case no. 9 of 1956, Willie Mgoma vs. Sipho Kulati and Sergeant Kulati; CA, 1/WSA, Case no. 7 of 1948, William Mehlala vs. Albert Ngaju and Hamilton Ngaju. See also Wilson et al., Social Structure, p. 81. See Ciskeian General Council, Proceedings, (23 September 1954), p. 37.
101. CA, 1/KHA, Case no. 27 of 1948, Bojile Madondile vs. Makoba Madondile.
102. Imvo, 25 September 1954.
103. Mayer, Townsmen or Tribesmen, pp. 37-39. See also CA, I/CAT, Case no. 6 of 1952, Jackson Sonono vs. Mkatimi Kafferland and Muumisi Kafferland.
104. Z. K. Matthews of the University of Fort Hare, quoted in Mercury, 6 November 1948.