in
a constant turnover of labour. The minimization of this wastage was, of
course, also one of the objectives underlying the scheme for 'Native
villages'.
It
was hoped initially to accommodate about 10 per cent of the Native
labour force. This modest proportion reflected the fact that of the
total number of mine workers, a large proportion came from outside the
Union and for obvious reasons the scheme could not apply to them.
Moreover, of the Union Natives, judging from Witwatersrand experience,
though 55 per cent were married, only 25 per cent of these married men
had no allotments of arable land in the reserves, and even of these
many enjoyed some rights to land or shared occupation with their
relatives. Such men were reluctant to lose rights and to become
permanent town-dwellers.98 It was decided to begin with a 'Native village' of 100 houses, to be increased subsequently to 500.
On
12 June 1952 Harry Oppenheimer, then Member of Parliament for
Kimberley, asked the Minister of Native Affairs (then Senator Verwoerd)
in the course of a parliamentary discussion, 'whether he would be good
enough to define his attitude in regard to the experiment which is
being made on certain of the new gold-mines in the Orange Free State by
the establishment of villages on the mines for married Native
employees'. The Minister replied" on 13 June:
In
regard to married quarters at the mines on the Free State gold-fields I
want to state quite unequivocally that I am opposed to that
development. I, too, have objections, and my department has been
instructed to investigate the position very thoroughly and to stop the
development of such villages as far as possible. Let me give my reasons
for this. Within that Free State gold-mining area every mine can then
establish its own Native town with married quarters. That will then
mean a series of Native towns. While we are already establishing Native
towns in the vicinity of the big cities to provide housing for the
Natives, it will mean that in addition a large number of black spots
will be spread out throughout the whole Free State mining area. Now we
must bear in mind that when the mines stop working one day that large
number of towns will remain there spread out over that area.
popular
with Natives. This evidence is not only in the form of verbal
expressions of approval and gratification; current statistics also show
that a very high percentage of our Native employees in the Free State
consist of those who have sought employment on our mines. This is an
attitude of mind on the part of Natives seeking work which should be
encouraged and developed in the general interests of the gold-mining
industry' (Ernest Oppenheimer at the 34th annual general meeting of
Anglo American Corporation on 22 June 1951).
98 Mr.
Rheinallt Jones, the Native labour adviser to Anglo American
Corporation, in an interview reported in the Johannesburg Star on 25 February 1949.
99 Hansard, vol. 80, cols. 8030-1.
