Contestation over resources: The farmer-miner dispute in colonial zimbabwe, 1903-1939

Environment and History

Volumn 15, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 79-107

  Musemwa, Muchaparara ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Agriculture in settler societies; Colonial Zimbabwean history; Disputed territories; Mining; Resources

Indexed keywords

COLONIALISM; COLONIZATION; ECONOMIC STRUCTURE; FARMERS ATTITUDE; MINING; NATURAL RESOURCE; SETTLING BEHAVIOR; TERRITORY;

ZIMBABWE;

EID: 69849132615     PISSN: 09673407     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3197/096734009X404671     Document Type: Article

References (143)

1. For historical writings on 'disputed territories', see, for example, Jane Carruthers, 'Contesting Cultural Landscapes in South Africa and Australia: Comparing the Significance of the Kalahari Gemsbok and Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Parks', in Disputed Territories: Land, Culture and Identity in Settler Societies, ed. David S. Trigger and Gareth Griffiths (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003), 233-268;
2. Terence Ranger, Voices from the Rocks: Nature, Culture and History in the Matopos Hills of Zimbabwe (Harare: Baobab Books, 1999);
3. Norman Etherington, 'Genocide by Cartography: Secrets and Lies in Maps of the South-eastern African Interior', 1830-1850', in Disputed Territories, 207-232;
4. See also chapters on the theme: 'Settlers and Africans: Culture and Nature' in the collection Social History and African Environments, ed. William Beinart and JoAnn. McGregor (Oxford, James Currey, 2003), 197-266.
5. Carruthers, 'Contesting Cultural Landscapes';
6. Ranger, Voices from the Rocks.
7. Katherine G. Aiken, '"Not Long Ago a Smoking Chimney was a Sign of Prosperity": Corporate and Community Response to Pollution at the Bunker Hill Smelter in Kellog, Idaho', Environmental History Review 18 (Summer 1994): 67-86;
8. Robert Kelley, 'Mining on Trial', in Green Versus Gold: Sources in California's Environmental History, ed. C. Merchant (Washington D.C., Island Press, 1998), 120-125;
9. John Wirth, Smelter Smoke in North America: The Politics of Transborder Pollution (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000).
10. David Lowenthal, 'Empires and Ecologies: Reflections on Environmental History', in Ecology and Empire: Environmental History of Settler Societies, ed. Tom Griffiths and Libby Robin (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1997), 232.
11. Lewis. H. Gann, A History of Southern Rhodesia: Early Days to 1934 (London: Chatto &Windus, 1965), 162.
12. Richard Hodder-Williams, White Farmers in Rhodesia, 1890-1965 (London: The MacMillan Press, Ltd, 1983), 56.
13. Frank Clements and Edward Harben, Leaf of Gold: The Story of Rhodesian Tobacco (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1962), 68.
14. Also cited in Hodder-Williams, White Farmers in Rhodesia, 56.
15. Ian Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 1890-1948: Capital Accumulation and Class Struggle (London: Longman, 1988), 130.
16. See also, JoAnn McGregor, 'Conservation, Control and Ecological Change: The Politics and Ecology of Colonial Conservation in Shurugwi, Zimbabwe', Environment and History 1 (1995): 257-260.
17. Percy. F. Hone, Southern Rhodesia (New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969), 293-297;
18. Murray, The Governmental System in Southern Rhodesia, 126;
19. Ian. R. Phimister, 'History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia to 1953' (Ph.D. diss., University of Rhodesia, 1975), 199-202,
20. and Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 61-62 and 96;
21. M.E. Lee, 'Politics and Pressure Groups in Southern Rhodesia, 1898-1923' (Ph.D. diss, University of London, 1974),
22. see particularly Chapter 4, 'Changing Conflict: The Growth of Agriculture', 79-102.
23. Lee's thesis discusses 'the political development of the settler population in Southern Rhodesia from 1898 to 1923, and demonstrates the influence of local interest groups on that development', 2.
24. Vimbai C. Kwashirai, 'Dilemmas in Conservationism in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1890-1930', Conservation and Society 4 (2006): 541-561.
25. Kelley, 'Mining on Trial'.
26. J. Wirth, Smelter Smoke in North America. On the same subject
27. see also, J. E. Read, 'The Trail Smelter Dispute', The Canadian Yearbook of International Law 1 (1963): 213-229;
28. and D. H. Dinwoodie, The Politics of International Pollution Control: The Trail Smelter Case, International Journal 27, 2 (Spring 1972): 219-235.
29. Aiken, '"Not Long Ago a Smoking Chimney was a Sign of Prosperity'";
30. See also, Randall Rohe, 'Mining's Impact on the Land', in Green Versus Gold, 125-135.
31. K. Morse, The Nature of Gold: An Environmental History of the Klondike Gold Rush (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003).
32. Chad Montrie, To Save the Land and People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003).
33. Report of the Commission to Enquire into the Preservation of Natural Resources of the Colony, 1939 [chaired by Sir Robert McIlwaine] (CSR - 40 - 1939], Hereafter referred to as the McIlwaine Report).
34. Murray, The Governmental System in Southern Rhodesia, 121.
35. S.J. Du Toit, Rhodesia: Past and Present (London: William Heinemann, 1897), 123-124.
36. NAZ: S1215/1081/4: Notes of Conference between Miners and Farmers, 18 Oct. 1933;
37. and the Bulawayo Chronicle, 30 Mar. 1935.
38. Arthur. Keppel-Jones, Rhodes and Rhodesia: The White Conquest of Zimbabwe, 1884-1902 (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1983), 363.
39. Henri Rolin, Les Lois et l'Administration de la Rhodesie cited in Philip.
40. Mason, The Birth of a Dilemma: The Conquest and Settlement of Rhodesia (London: Oxford University Press, 1958), 270.
41. NAZ: S480/59C: Conference of Miners and Farmers, 1925, 7
42. [National Archives, UK] DO 35/841/95/3: Mining, House of Commons, 8 Jun. 1939.
43. Mason, The Birth of a Dilemma, 253.
44. Chimurenga/Umvukela are respectively Shona/Ndebele terms meaning 'uprising'.
45. Robin Palmer, Land and Racial Domination in Rhodesia (London: Heinemann, 1977).
46. Henry. V Moyana, The Political Economy of Land in Zimbabwe (Gweru: Mambo Press, 1984), 70.
47. For a detailed outline of the administrative and political structures of the mining industry, see Murray, The Governmental System in Southern Rhodesia, Chapter 5, 'The Mining Sector', 118-161.
48. Keppel-Jones, Rhodes and Rhodesia, 581.
49. Gann, A History of Southern Rhodesia, 161.
50. Keppel-Jones, Rhodes and Rhodesia, 370.
51. Gann, A History of Southern Rhodesia, 162;
52. Phimister, 'History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia to 1953', 58.
53. Gann, A History of Southern Rhodesia, 162.
54. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 58.
55. Phimister, 'History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia to 1953', 99.
56. Henri Rolin, Rolin 's Rhodesia, (First published in Brussels, 1913), Reprinted, Volume 21 (Bulawayo: Books of Rhodesia, 1978), 244.
57. Phimister, 'History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia to 1953', 200.
58. Murray, The Governmental System in Southern Rhodesia, 120.
59. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 61-62.
60. National Archives of Zimbabwe [hereafter NAZ] S.1246, General, 1917-1945: Memorandum on Titles to Land on the 'Gold Belt' of Southern Rhodesia: The Rights of Miner and Farmer. Issued by the Department of Lands, 1928?.
61. Southern Rhodesia: Handbook for the use of Prospective Settlers on the Land, (Issued by Direction of the Hon. Minister for Agriculture and Lands), Sixth Edition (No Date), 27.
62. Phimister, 'History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia to 1953', 62.
63. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 58.
64. The Matabele Times and Mining Journal, 25 Feb. 1899.
65. The Matabele Times and Mining Journal, 4 Mar. 1899.
66. The Matabele Times and Mining Journal, 18 Feb. 1899.
67. The Matabele Times and Mining Journal, 18 Feb. 1899.
68. Hodder-Williams, White Farmers in Rhodesia, 53.
69. Southern Rhodesia: Report of the Department of Agriculture for the Year ended 31 Mar. 1905, presented to the Legislative Council, 13.
70. Report of the Department of Agriculture for the Year ended 31 Mar. 1905, 13.
71. Gann, A History of Southern Rhodesia, 171.
72. Gann, A History of Southern Rhodesia, 171.
73. Gann, A History of Southern Rhodesia, 167.
74. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 62.
75. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 62;
76. also cited in Lee, 'Politics and Pressure Groups', 84. The direct quotation derived from the Proceedings of the Rhodesia Agricultural Union Congress, 1906, 102.
77. The Gold Belt title was applicable to Mashonaland only because most of Matabeleland was alienated under the Victoria Agreement Title. Here miners did not enjoy any special privileges in the form of reservations. See NAZ S. 1246: Memorandum on Titles to Land on the 'Gold Belt' of Southern Rhodesia.
78. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 96.
79. NAZ S.1246: Memorandum on Titles to Land on the 'Gold Belt' of Southern Rhodesia.
80. An Agricultural Survey of Southern Rhodesia: The Agro-Economic Survey, Part 11 (Salisbury: The Government Printer), 15-16.
81. Rhodesia Herald, 19 Aug. 1910.
82. Rhodesia Herald, 9 Sept. 1910.
83. Rhodesia Herald, 14 Oct. 1910.
84. Rhodesia Herald, 14 Oct. 1910.
85. Cross's lengthy observations were reproduced verbatim in the Bulawayo Chronicle, 10 Aug. 1907.
86. Bulawayo Chronicle, 10 Aug. 1907.
87. Bulawayo Chronicle, 10 Aug. 1907.
88. Southern Rhodesia: Handbook for the use of Prospective Settlers on the Land, (Issued by Direction of the Hon. Minister for Agriculture and Lands), Sixth Edition (No Date), 25-26.
89. Lee, 'Politics and Pressure Groups in Southern Rhodesia', 141.
90. Southern Rhodesia Legislative Council Debates, First Session, Sixth Council, Volume 4, Number 1, 1914, columns, 86 and 84.
91. Also cited in Phimister, 'History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia', 201.
92. NAZ S480/92: Petitions and Protests to Legislative Assembly against Amendment affecting Gold Belt Titles 1924: Petition from the Rhodesian Small Workers' and Tributor's Association to Sir Charles Coghlan, Premier of the Colony of Southern Rhodesia, 1924.
93. NAZ S480/92: Petitions and Protests to Legislative Assembly against Amendment affecting Gold Belt Titles 1924: Minutes of the Rhodesia Chamber of Mines.
94. The Importance of the Mines to the Farmers, issued by the Chamber of Mines, the Chamber of Mines, Salisbury, (Bulawayo, May 1924).
95. The Importance of the Mines to the Farmers.
96. Phimister, 'History of Mining in Southern Rhodesia', 202.
97. Palmer, 'Agricultural History of Rhodesia', 236.
98. An Agricultural Survey of Southern Rhodesia: The Agro-Economic Survey (Salisbury, Government Printer, Part II, no year of publication), p. 17.
99. See also Palmer, 'The Agricultural History of Rhodesia'. Between the 1930s and 1950s the state introduced statutory Marketing Boards to oversee the marketing of the main agricultural products such as maize, cotton, tobacco, beef and dairy products, either solely by those boards or in conjunction with a European co-operative movement. This was done to undercut competition from African farmers, among other things.
100. Palmer, 'Agricultural History of Rhodesia', 235.
101. RhodesianManual:African Manual on Mining, Industry, and Agriculture(lncorporating Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa (Johannesburg: Mining and Industrial Publications of Africa, Ltd., 1927), 93.
102. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference between representatives of the Mining and Farming industries held at Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, 24 and 25 April 1925.
103. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference.
104. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference.
105. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference, 8
106. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference, 61.
107. NAZ: S480/59C, Miner versus Farmer: Memorandum prepared by Acting Assistant Director of Lands, Department of Lands, 23 Feb. 1927.
108. NAZ: S480/59C, Miner versus Farmer: Memorandum prepared by Acting Assistant Director of Lands.
109. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference, 127.
110. NAZ: S480/59C, Miner versus Farmer: Memorandum prepared by Acting Assistant Director of Lands.
111. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference, 6.
112. For more on this see Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 227-229.
113. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 228.
114. NAZ: S480/59C, Miner versus Farmer: Memorandum prepared by Acting Assistant Director of Lands.
115. NAZ: S480/59C, Miner versus Farmer: Memorandum prepared by Acting Assistant Director of Lands.
116. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference, 26.
117. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner versus Farmer: Conference, 26.
118. Rhodesian Manual, 94.
119. NAZ: S480/59C, Miner versus Farmer: Memorandum prepared by Acting Assistant Director of Lands.
120. NAZ: S480/59C: Miner Versus Farmer: Minutes of a meeting held in the Legislative Assembly Chamber, Salisbury, 12 & 13 Feb. 1926.
121. NAZ: S480/59A: Farmers versus Miners: Copy of Letter from the Secretary of the Rhodesian Agricultural Union, Salisbury, to the Secretary for Mines and Works, Salisbury, 23 Aug. 1927.
122. Rhodesia Manual, 94.
123. Rhodesia Manual, 94.
124. 102NAZ: S1215/1081/4: Conference between Miners and Farmers, 1933:
125. Notes of Conference between Miners and Farmers held at the Legislative Buildings, Salisbury, 18 Oct. 1933.
126. NAZ: S1215/1081/4: Conference between Miners and Farmers, 1933.
127. NAZ: S1215/1081/4: Conference between Miners and Farmers, 1933.
128. NAZ: S1215/1081/4: Conference between Miners and Farmers, 1933.
129. Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Economic Position of the Agriculture Industry, (chaired by Mr. Max Danziger) (CSR -16 - 1934),1. (Hereafter referred to as the Danziger Report). The Committee identified about eighteen causes of the poor state of the farming industry among which were a heavy slump in the value of farming commodities on export as well as local markets, redundant creameries, unrestricted imports of agricultural commodities, etc. For more details on the causes see pages 2-3 of the Report.
130. The Danziger Report, 1.
131. The Danziger Report, 29.
132. The Danziger Report, 29. Colonial officials had, in the past, a field day blaming African agricultural methods for being unscientific and hence causing wanton environmental degradation while at the same time they paid scant attention to the European farmers' so-called scientific methods which equally caused soil erosion - as the Enquiry into the Economic Position of the Agriculture Industry was to reveal. For further discussion on this see: McGregor, 'Conservation, Control and Ecological Change', 261-266;
133. Terence Ranger, Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe (London: James Currey, 1985), 68-69.
134. The McIlwaine Report, 15-16.
135. The McIlwaine Report, 16.
136. The McIlwaine Report, 19.
137. The McIlwaine Report, 36.
138. The McIlwaine Report, 34.
139. A cord was assumed to represent a 'pile of wood eight feet long, four high and four wide', definition given in McIlwaine Report, 34.
140. The McIlwaine Report, 36.
141. The McIlwaine Report, 37.
142. C.H. Thompson and H.W. Woodruff, Economic Development in Rhodesia and Nyasaland (London: Dennis Dobson Limited, 1953), 50.
143. D. Anderson, 'Depression, Dust Bowl, Demography, and Drought: The Colonial State and Soil Conservation in East Africa During the 1930s,' African Affairs 83 (1984): 321-344, p. 324.