Ethnicity, not class? The 1929 Bulawayo faction fights reconsidered

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 32, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 429-447

  Msindo, Enocent ^a  

^a RHODES UNIVERSITY   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CLASS; ETHNIC CONFLICT; ETHNICITY; VIOLENCE;

AFRICA; BULAWAYO [ZIMBABWE]; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; ZIMBABWE;

EID: 33748426339     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: 14653893     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057070600829419     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. I. Phimister and C. van Onselen, 'The Political Economy of Tribal Animosity: A Case Study of the 1929 Bulawayo Location "Faction Fight"', Journal of Southern African Studies, 6, 1 (October 1979), pp. 1-43. Emphasis added to quote from p. 3.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., especially p. 36.
5. Ibid., p. 37.
6. Ibid., p. 39.
7. NAZ, D3/6/163, District Court, Bulawayo Criminal Cases: Rex vs Sekadube, Joko, et al., 1930.
8. Bulawayo Chronicle, 4 January 1930.
9. NAZ [and continuing], S482/805/39, Bulawayo Native Disturbances, 1930-1932.
10. Interview with Mr Hadrick Nzandolo Banda, Magwegwe, Bulawayo, 7 March 2003.
11. NB 6/1/1, Annual Report of the Chief Native Commissioner (hereafter CNC), Matabeleland for the Year ending 31 March 1898.
12. NB 1/1/11, Report of an Official Visit by the CNC, Matabeleland to Empandeni, Mphoeng's Location on the Inkwesi River and Tegwani, 1900; NB 6/1/10, Report of the Native Commissioner (hereafter (NC), Bubi District, for the Year ended 31 December 1910.
13. NB 6/1/10, Report of the NC, Bubi District, for the Year ended 31 December 1910. Phimister and van Onselen thought that the 'Rand movement' was characteristically a popular response to the economic breakdown of the 1920s (slump in cattle prices after the First World War and the overcrowding of the reserves), when it was in fact an option the people of Matabeleland utilised from the beginning of colonialism. As most of the people there still lived on private farms even up to the 1920s, for Matabeleland, we have to talk of 'fresh evictions' rather than pressure on the reserves as such. I had a grandfather (now deceased) who in 1913 was already working in 'Joni' [Johannesburg] - Personal communication with Mr E. Matangira, Chipesa-Venge, 1992.
14. NB1/1/12, P. Nielsen [NC, Bulilima-Mangwe] to the CNC, Bulawayo, 4 January 1901; NB1/1/12, P. Nielsen to the CNC, Byo, 16 January 1901.
15. E. Msindo, 'Ethnicity in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe: A Study of Kalanga-Ndebele Relations, 1860s-1980s' (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2004).
16. ZAD3/2/1, Report of the Native Affairs Committee of Enquiry, 1910-11.
17. Personal communication with T.O. Ranger, St Antony's College, Oxford, 12 June 2004.
18. ZAN 1/1/1, Native Affairs Commission, 1930, Evidence: Written.
19. S235/477, Notes of Evidence: Enquiry into Bulawayo Location, 1930.
20. NB1/1/4, CNC, Matabeleland: In-Letters-General, 1898.
21. NBE 7/1/1, NC, Malema to the NC, Bulawayo, 25 August 1897.
22. S235/477, Notes of Evidence: Enquiry into Bulawayo Location, 1930, pp. 85-87. Some rich women featured prominently in the inquiry. They expressed their reservations about the accommodation situation, especially the possibility of the government destroying their huts.
23. NB3/1/34, CNC to the Secretary, Rhodesian Native Labour Bureau, 20 May 1913.
24. BE 8/8/7, Hist Mss, W.R. Benzies, 'Use of "Kitchen Kaffir" as a lingua franca', August 1954; Interview with Mr R.A. Chitore, Magwegwe Housing Offices, Bulawayo, 28 October 2002. See also some belated attempts to suppress Lapalapa and other languages in Bulawayo in favour of Sindebele: S.L. Mnqibo, 'Ulimi Lwenxenge', 4 August 1945; 'Improve Sindebele', Bantu Mirror, 29 July 1950.v
25. T.G. Trevor, 'Native Education from an Employer's Point of View', NADA, 5 (December 1927), pp. 97-99.
26. NB3/1/34, CNC to the Secretary, Rhodesian Native Labour Bureau, 20 May 1913.
27. Interviews in Old Magwegwe, Bulawayo, with Mrs Banda, 28 October 2002 and Mr S. Mombe, 13 March 2003.
28. NB6/1/10, Annual Report of the NC, Bulawayo District, for the Year Ending 31 December 1910.
29. D3/6/163/26 and 61 (1930), Bulawayo District Court Criminal Cases; Rex vs Hlabati; Jonnie; Tuguzo, Palilama; et al. See evidence of accused Hlabati and evidence of Tsekai alias Eddie.
30. S482/805/39, Evidence of Isaac alias Chikawa, alias Jonela, before Justice of the Peace for the Colony of Southern Rhodesia [this last phrase, a formula repeated for further examples of African evidence below, is omitted hereafter], 30 December 1929.
31. S482/805/39, Evidence of Mdutshwa alias Sixpence, 30 December 1929. Masotsha Ndlovu of the ICU stated that the Shona had always challenged Ndebele to fight and that they had been too haughty, blocking the entrance to the bioscope hall to beat Ndebele. See S482/805/39, Evidence of Masoja alias Sergeant, 30 December 1929.
32. NB6/1/10, Annual Report of the NC, Bulawayo District for the Year Ending 31 December 1910.
33. M. Wilson and A. Mafeje, Langa: A Study of Social Groups in an African Township (Cape Town, Oxford University Press, 1963), pp. 1, 34, 47-73. Langa, however, a poor township on the fringes of Cape Town, was 'Xhosa-dominated', hence had an uncontested ethnic character unlike Bulawayo, where foreigners to the town dominated the social sphere and dictated the urban tone.
34. NB2/21/1, Assistant Commissioner, B.S.A. Police [A.J. Tomlinson] to the Secretary to the Administrator, Bulawayo, 6 December 1915.
35. S. Thornton, 'The Struggle for Profit and Participation by an Emerging African Petty-Bourgeoisie in Bulawayo, 1893-1933', in The Societies of Southern Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries, 9 (Collected Seminar papers No. 24, University of London, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1978), p. 70.
36. N3/21/1, Amandebele Patriotic Society, Bulawayo, 15 December 1915.
37. S482/805/39, Bulawayo Native Disturbances, 1930-1932: J.C. Brundell to The Commissioner, British South Africa Police, Salisbury, 4 January 1930.
38. A3/3/20/5-7, Southern Rhodesia Native Reserves Commission, Interim Report, 29 November 1914, pp. 6-7. For the images of the Shangani, see J. Alexander, J. McGregor and T. Ranger, Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the 'Dark Forests' of Matabeleland (Oxford, James Currey, 2000), p. 46.
39. T. Yoshikuni, 'Linking Urban History with Pre-colonial and Rural History: From the Zimbabwean Experience', Azania, 36/37 (2001/2002), pp. 157-70. See also T. Yoshikuni, 'Notes on the Influence of Town-Country Relations on African Urban History, before 1957: Experiences of Salisbury and Bulawayo', in B. Raftopoulos and T. Yoshikuni (eds), Sites of Struggle: Essays in Zimbabwe's Urban History (Harare, Weaver Press, 1999), pp. 113-28. He erroneously thought that modern Bulawayo began with a strong Ndebele presence, when in fact Ndebele were mainly on the margins of the town occupying their precolonial kraals.
40. The Bulawayo Chronicle [hereafter Chronicle], 4 January 1930.
41. That these were Shona people can be deduced from the evidence in S482/ 805/39, J.C. Brundell to the Commissioner, BSA Police, Salisbury, 4 January 1930. Those who later attacked the railway compound were from the Ndebele section.
42. Chronicle, 4 January 1930.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Phimister and van Onselen, 'Political Economy'.
46. 'Why Matabele are Hostile', Chronicle, 4 January 1930.
47. S482/805/39, Bulawayo Native Disturbances, 1930-1932, Brundell to the Commissioner, BSA Police, Salisbury, 4 January 1930.
48. S482/805/39, Evidence of Masoja, alias Sergeant, 30 December 1929.
49. S482/805/39, Evidence of Mdutshwa, 30 December 1929.
50. S482/805/39, Evidence of Mdutshwa alias Sixpence, 30 December 1929.
51. S482/805/39, Evidence of Isaac alias Chikawa alias Jonela, 30 December 1929.
52. S482/805/39, Bulawayo Native Disturbances, 1930-1932, J.C. Brundell to the Commissioner, BSA Police, Salisbury, 4 January 1930.
53. Ibid.
54. S482/805/39, Assistant Commissioner of Police to the Secretary, Law Department, 10 January 1930. A table he drew to show the number of African policemen in Bulawayo by tribe shows that from 1927 to 1929 there were always far more Ndebele policemen than Shona. Between these years, the ratio was 296:12. In fact Shona were the people least employed in the police - even fewer than 'Aliens' (Nyasas) and Northern Rhodesians.
55. S482/805/39, J.C. Brundell [Chief Superintendent, BSA Police] to the Commissioner, BSA Police, Salisbury, 4 January 1930.
56. S235/440, Reports and Exhibits of a Commission of Enquiry into the running of the Bulawayo Location, 1930: Observations by the Commission - handwritten notes. See also S235/394, Bulawayo Municipal Location, 1930: Report of a Commission of Enquiry, p. 24.
57. Chronicle, 4 January 1930.
58. S492/805/39, Evidence of Kaula alias George, 30 December 1929.
59. S482/805/39, Evidence of Isaac alias Chikawa alias Jonela, 30 December 1929.
60. S482/805/39, Assistant Commissioner of Police to the Secretary, Law Department, 10 January 1930.
61. S482/805/39, Evidence of Chikawa alias Jonela, 30 December 1929; S482/ 805/39; Evidence of Joni, 30 December 1929; Interview with Mr R.A. Chitore, Magwegwe Housing Office, Bulawayo, 28 October 2002. Chronicle, 4 January 1930, has similar views.
62. Interview with Mrs Buyile Maseko, Magwegwe, Bulawayo, 29 October 2002. This woman, born in 1902, told me that Shona had better jobs as they worked as clerks, being better educated than the Ndebele. (Indeed, historically, mission education grew in Mashonaland earlier and spread faster than in Matabeleland.)
63. Interview with Mr Hadrick N. Banda, Magwegwe, 7 March 2003.
64. S998/3, Acting Assistant NC, Gutu to the Acting NC, Gutu, 28 June 1933.
65. S482/805/39, Evidence of Masoja alias Sergeant, 30 December 1929.
66. S1542/S12, Superintendent of Police, Salisbury to the Chief Superintendent, BSA Police, Salisbury, 13 July 1938.
67. S1542/S12, Secretary for Native Affairs to the Staff Officer, BSA Police, 17 November 1938.
68. S1542/S12, Constable B.S. Bowling to the Superintendent, BSA Police, Salisbury, 26 June 1938; Supt. of Police, Salisbury to the Chief Supt. BSA Police, Salisbury, 13 July 1938.
69. S1542/S12, Superintendent of Natives, Bulawayo to the CNC, 18 May 1938.
70. S1542/S12, NC, Salisbury to the Secretary of Native Affairs, Salisbury, 29 June 1939. He wrote a paper entitled 'A Study of Recreation for Urban Natives, with Special Reference to Boxing amongst Natives in Salisbury'.
71. S1542/C6, Supt. of Natives to CNC, 21 October 1937.
72. Formerly called Curti's Farm.
73. ZAH1/1/2, Land Commission, 1925, Evidence, Oral - Martha Ngano, pp. 603-604.
74. D3/6/161/Case number 4463, Magistrate, Bulawayo, Rex vs Chisati, 23 November 1929.
75. S1542/C6, Supt. of Natives, Bulawayo to the CNC, Salisbury, 4 November 1937.
76. Phimister and van Onselen, 'Political Economy'.
77. D3/6/163, Bulawayo District Court, Rex vs Banya James Dakamela, Chiriya Jack and others, 15 January 1930.
78. D3/6/163, Bulawayo District Court, Rex vs Banya James Dakamela and others; Evidence of Elijah. See also in the same file, Evidence of Jack Chiriya in his defence.
79. S482/805/39, Evidence of Mdutshwa, alias Sixpence, 30 December 1929.
80. P. la Hausse, 'The Struggle for the City: Alcohol, the Ematsheni and Popular Culture in Durban, 1902-1936', in P. Maylam and I. Edwards (eds), The People's City: African Life in Twentieth-Century Durban (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 1996), pp. 33-66; see especially p. 41.
81. S482/805/39, Evidence of Kaula alias George, 30 December 1929.
82. S482/805/39, Evidence of Babanyana, 30 December 1929.
83. S482/805/39, Evidence of Joni alias Joni, 30 December 1929.
84. S482/805/39, Evidence of Joni, 30 December 1929.
85. S482/805/39, Evidence of Chikawa alias Jonela, 30 December 1929.
86. Ibid.
87. S482/805/39, Evidence of Joyce alias Tandazo, 31 December 1929.
88. S138/22, Superintendent, CID, Bulawayo to the Superintendent of Natives, Bulawayo, 12 February 1924.
89. S2584/4251, Matabeleland Home Society Chairman (A.S.B. Manyoba) to the Provincial N.C., 11 November 1946. The letterhead of the Society proclaimed, 'FOUNDED 1922'.
90. S2484/4251, Matabeleland Home Society: Constitution of the Matabele Home Society, dated to 1923, but filed amongst all MHS papers, mostly for the 1940s.
91. S235/504, Report of the Acting NC, Bulawayo for the Year Ended 31 December 1926.
92. S235/509, Report of the NC, Gwanda for the Year Ended 31 December 1931.
93. For these debates, see Msindo, 'Ethnicity in Matabeleland', Chapter 3.
94. S482/709/39/1, Private Secretary to the Premier to the Secretary, Law Department, 6 October 1930; Private Secretary to the Premier to the CNC, 30 October 1930.
95. Ibid. Evidence from both letters above applies.
96. Interview with Joshua Teke Malinga, Malinga and Associates Offices, Bulawayo, 25 March 2003.
97. D3/6/163, Bulawayo District Criminal Cases, Rex vs Banya James Dakamela, Chiriya Jack, et al., 15 January 1930.
98. S235/509, Report of the NC, Bulilima-Mangwe for the Year ended 31 December 1931.
99. S569/5113, Criminal Cases, Magistrate, Bulawayo, Rex vs Mthla alias Mketani, 29 September 1930.
100. Ibid.
101. S569/5113, Rex vs Mketani, Evidence of Kalanga juvenile Silapi, who said he had just come from home two weeks ago. A day after arriving, he had already been caught up in the society and introduced to other Kalanga men of his kind.
102. S569/5113, Rex vs Mketani, Evidence of Ndladhlambani; Evidence of Madiwa (same file).
103. S569/5113, Rex vs Mketani, Evidence of Bona.
104. S569/5113, Rex vs Mketani, Evidence of Ndladhlambani.
105. Ibid. See also evidence of Bona suggesting that as the group of the marching Kalanga was growing big, spreading across the road, it was at one time dispersed by the police in the Location.