Confrontation, cooptation and collaboration : the response and reaction of the Labour Party of South Africa to Government Policy, 1965-1984
- Authors: Du Pré, Roy Howard
- Date: 1995
- Subjects: South African Labour Party -- History Colored people (South Africa) -- Politics and government South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1994
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2539 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002391
- Description: The Labour Party was a prominent political party amongst coloured people for more than twenty-five years. Formed in 1965 to contest elections for the Coloured Persons' Representative Council (CRC), the Labour Party at the outset adopted an anti-apartheid, anti-separate representation and anti-eRe stance. During the first five years of its existence, the party tried to muster coloured support for its policies. Its promise to cripple the CRC by refusing to occupy seats in the council became the rallying call. The Labour Party won a majority of the elected seats in the first CRC election in 1969 but the government nominated progovernment candidates to all the nominated seats, depriving the Labour Party of an overall majority. Thwarted in their bid to "wreck" the CRC, Labour Party members instead took their seats in the council, vowing to destroy it from within. For the next five years the Labour Party pursued a policy of "confrontation. " By using a "boycott" strategy, it not only hamstrung the effective working of the CRC but thwarted the government in other areas of its "coloured" policy. In the 1975 election the Labour Party won an outright victory, giving it the power to cripple the CRC. However, it did not seize this opportunity. Its decision to "govern" in the CRC constituted a decisive step in the change from confrontation to cooptation. The Labour Party's continued support of the CRC drew widespread criticism from supporters and opponents alike. Its leaders tried to hold together a disaffected party and eventually agreed to the dissolution of the CRC in 1980 in an effort to paper over the cracks in party unity, and to forestall growing coloured opposition to the CRC at the next election. In 1983, the Labour Party displayed a decisive shift in its anti-separate representation stance by lending support to the tricameral system. By doing so, it laid itself open to the same charge of collaboration it had levelled at the other CRC parties. This thesis will examine the history of the Labour Party from its formation in 1965 as an anti-government party, to one of cooperation with its erstwhile opponent by 1984.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1995
Conservatism and change: the refashioning of gender relations from 1870 to 1914: a case study of East London
- Authors: Vernon, Gillian Noël
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Women -- South Africa -- East London , Women -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Women's rights -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2567 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002420 , Women -- South Africa -- East London , Women -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Women's rights -- South Africa
- Description: This is a case study of East London from 1870 to 1914 with gender as the critical analytical category. The focus is on change in the structure of gender relations, evaluated in terms of the recognition of the rights of women and their status in society and women of all race groups are dealt with. A feature of the source material has been the use made of oral history where interviews were conducted with the descendants of women who lived during the study period. There were many indirect factors which had a retrogressive influence on progressive change in the rights and position of women. The initial small size of the population and unbalanced gender ratios, the few natural resources, a small and limited port and periodic unpredictable natural disasters gave rise to a 'boom and burst' economy with very little industry. The result was that initially the women were very conservative and unwilling to make social changes. The military occupation and the outbreak of hostilities in the late 1870s affected social and racial attitudes detrimentally. The entrenched patriarchal system, under which both black and white women lived, and the legal controls, particularly in the marital situation, reinforced the subordination of women, making the system difficult to break. Further conservative forces were at work with the European class system being well entrenched, with most women working for upward mobility, gentrification and respectability. Wealth was critical in determining status and those women from the working class, who had achieved some degree of wealth and status, were not prepared to challenge the system. Religion was important for nearly all white women and converted black women, but was a retarding influence in the growth of feminist consciousness. Little progress was made in improving the condition of women who transgressed the law, the non-respectable women, and ethnicity made no difference. Progress was made in gender relations for women in some fields. The reduction in family size and the improvement in health, gave women more time and energy for public affairs. Participation in sport helped women discard the image of being weak and frail and also improved health. Educational opportunities allowed some to get tertiary training and obtain proper qualifications to earn a living for themselves. Xhosa women who came into the town, made a major break with traditional society and many became independent. The major impetus for change came through women's associations, where women actively worked together and achieved some positive results. Middle class white women could earn an independent living without losing respectability, although it was accepted that women should give up paid employment on marriage. Black women broke traditional ties and many urban women became independent. Conditions for working class and non-respectable women changed very little. A deduction is that many women, both white and black, had sympathy for one another and they created a fund of goodwill on both sides of the colour line.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
Continuity and change in Xhosa historiography during the nineteenth century : an exploration through textual analysis
- Authors: Tisani, Nomathamsanqa Cynthia
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2563 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002416
- Description: This study is an exploration of the making of Xhosa historiography from the end of the eighteenth century to the close of the nineteenth century. Continuity and change are key features that are identifiable in the writing of Xhosa history over the period. Selected documents provide evidence on how different writers built on the works of their predecessors. At the same time, over a period of hundred years, due to changing socio-political contexts, new ideas and perceptions crept into Xhosa history. European writers, who dominated the writing of Xhosa history, were made up of colonial officials, missionaries, and travellers. Sharing a common European Christian background these writers brought along their particular understanding of history, and held assumptions about the indigenous people and their past. However such assumptions were always in a state of flux. South-east Africans were also major contributors to the making of Xhosa history. Their oral traditions were important sources from which Xhosa history was produced. The African and European encounter in the making of Xhosa history meanHhat historioracy and historiography came together in the production of Xhosa history. At the end of the eighteenth century there were a handful of European travellers who explored the interior of southern Africa and recorded their observations of indigenous communities. These observations of south-east Africans, whom they divided into three racial groups, formed the basis of later writings about the indigenous communiti~s. The beginning of the nineteenth century brought the establishment of British rule at the C,ppe. This introduced new players into the African-European drama that was being acted out on the frontier. Colonial officials set out to inform themselves about the indigenous people, and this meant writing up their history. From the 1820s missionaries were a main source of information on amaXhosa. Xhosa history produced under the missionary influence included works by African converts, among whom Noyi was the most noteworthy. As British imperialism gained ground from the middle of the nineteenth century, history was increasingly used by British officials as a tool to justify their colonial expansion. Under Governor Grey there was a deliberate production of a Xhosa history that depicted amaXhosa as having a barbaric past and in need of civilisation. Theal who consulted Dutch and British archives as well as oral tradition made a major contribution to the writing of Xhosa history. But Theal later began to select evidence to show that amaXhosa were recent immigrants into southeast Africa. During the last quarter ofthe nineteenth century a band of literate Africans, using newspapers like Isigidimi and later Imvo Zabantsundu, embarked on writing African history. This study highlights the development of certain themes in Xhosa history, themes which remained central in later years. The royal theme became pivotal and in the process displaced other histories in African communities, like clan histories. This study has also traced the roots of some historical myths. For example claims by early travellers about an empty land fed into the migration theme which sought to explain amaXhosa as recent immigrants into south-east Africa. Xhosa historiography, just like its European counterpart, marginalised ordinary people, especially women, and became primarily an account of the lives and activities of ruling men.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
Defoe and Scottish politics after union
- Authors: Gathorne, R
- Date: 1954
- Subjects: Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731 -- Political and social views , Scotland -- History -- 1689-1745
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2605 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011941
- Description: It would indeed have been a difficult matter for anybody possessing a taste for self-expression, a facility with words and an insatiable imagination to avoid becoming involved in political controversy in England during the early part of the Eighteenth Century. For one who, in addition, was confident in his ability to solve problems of state of whatever complexity it was clearly an impossibility. Daniel Defoe's close connection with politics during the first years of the Eighteenth Century involved him in numerous hardships. In later years it brought him much less fame than his excursions into fiction; but it was the means of providing him, albeit sparsely at times, with sufficient money to keep his creditors at bay. On more than one occasion the protection he gained helped to rescue him from imprisonment. Intro., p. 1.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1954
Die Ndzundza-Ndebele en die blankes in Transvaal, 1845-1883
- Authors: Van Jaarsveld, Floris Albertus, 1922-1995
- Date: 1986
- Subjects: Ndebele (African people) -- History , Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2578 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004379 , Ndebele (African people) -- History , Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
- Description: In 1969 het Leonard Thompson met reg beweer dat Suid-Afrikaanse historici hulle tot op hede hoofsaaklik besig gehou het met die doen en late van 'n Blanke gemeenskap wat die land sedert 1652 oorheers het. Die Swartman was die "forgotten factor" in die geskiedenis van Suider-Afrika. Waar die Swartman die onderwerp van wetenskaplike studie was, is dit aan argeoloë, linguiste, etnoloë en fisiese en sosiale antropoloë oorgelaat. Tereg het Thompson kort hierna opgemerk: "We need to know much more about the complex process by which African chiefdoms became incorporated in white controlled politics in the late nineteenth century. Only when monographs have been written on several individual cases, shall we be in a position to reach definite conclusions about the process as a whole ". Sedert hierdie uitspraak van Thompson het verskeie historici hulle op die terrein van die "forgotten factor" begewe. Omvangryke publikasies oor onder andere die Zulu, Pedi, Sotho asook die Swazi's het sedertdien die lig gesien, terwyl 'n werk oor die Tswana van Wes-Transvaal pas verskyn het. Hierteenoor het heelwat van die kleiner en minder invloedryke swart groeperinge tot op hede steeds agterweë gebly. Wat Noordoos Transvaal betref - meer spesifiek die gebied tussen die Elandsrivier, die Lebomboberg en die Krokodilrivier wat die Ohrigstadse Volksraad in 1846 van Mswati gekoop het, was daar behalwe die Pedi verskeie ander groepe aanwesig wat almal gedurende die loop van die negentiende eeu onder Blanke gesag gekom het. Hieronder het getel die Ndzundza, die Kopa, Tau, Kwena, Ntwane, Koni, Rôka, Kutswe , Pai en Pulana, waarvan die Ndzundza en Kopa die belangrikste was. Ten spyte van die feit dat daar heelwat argivale bronne oor hierdie groepe bestaan, het geen navorser dit tot op hede nog ontgin nie. Oor die onderwerping van hierdie stamme aan Blanke gesag gedurende die negentiende eeu, is daar weinig bekend. Wat die Ndzundza-geskiedenis betref, geld Thompson se opmerking nog steeds dat historici wetenskaplike studie oor die Swartes tradisioneel aan navorsers uit ander dissiplines oorgelaat het. Dit blyk duidelik uit 'n ontleding van sekondêre materiaal wat oor die Ndzundza bestaan. Verskeie studies van volkekundige aard is oor die verskillende kulturele fasette en pre-koloniale geskiedenis van die Transvaalse Ndebele, waarvan die Ndzundza deel uitmaak, gedoen. In die meeste van hierdie studies word die pre-Blanke geskiedenis van die Ndzundza as inleiding aangebied, terwyl daar in sommige gevalle ook na die historiese tydperk verwys word. Op hierdie wyse is die herkomsgeskiedenis van die Ndzundza met behulp van mondelinge tradisies redelik volledig opgeteken. As gevolg van die feit dat geen argivale bronne geraadpleeg is nie, is die volkekundige werke wat die historiese tydperk betref, deurspek met spekulasies, onjuisthede en valse aannames. Met enkele uitsonderings berus verwysings deur die enkele historici wat die Ndzundza-geskiedenis behandel, veral met betrekking tot die tydperk voor 1882, grootliks op die uitsprake van volkekundiges. Dit het meegebring dat die huidige beeld en feitelikhede omtrent die negentiende eeuse Ndzundza-geskiedenis onjuis is, veral soos dit in algemene geskiedenisse opgeteken staan. Hierteenoor het verskeie historici die Mapoch-oorlog van 1882- 1883, waartydens die Ndzundza hul onafhanklikheid verloor het, behandel. In sy biografie oor genl P. J. Joubert het J. A. Mouton die oorlog tot 'n enkele hoofstuk beperk. Vir Mouton gaan dit egter om Joubert se persoonlike aandeel en gee hy gevolglik nie veel aandag aan die belangrikste aspek van die oorlog, naamlik die oorsake, nie. H. P. van Coller het in 1941 'n MA-verhandeling die lig laat sien waarin die oorsake en verloop van die Mapoch-oorlog beskryf word. Van Coller se uiteensetting omtrent die oorsake van die oorlog is egter ontoereikend aangesien dit heelwat onjuisthede bevat, geweldig subjektief is en nie ontkom aan naïewe aannames en uitsprake nie. Die belangrikste oorsaak van die oorlog, naamlik gronddispute, word deur Van Coller geignoreer. Voorts behandel hy die oorlog as 'n gevolg van die moord op Sekhukhune, sodat die Ndzundza "toevallig" betrek word. Ander historici se verwysings na die oorlog is ook ontoereikend omdat dit in die meeste gevalle beperk bly tot enkele bladsye en paragrawe. Tot op hede is die negentiende eeuse Ndzundza-geskiedenis dus nog of onvolledig, of onjuis opgeteken. Met hierdie studie word gepoog om 'n bydrae in hierdie verband te maak. Omdat die historisiese feite omtrent die verloop van die 1882-1883 oorlog grootliks bekend is, val die klem op die tydperk daarvóór. Voorts moet dit gemeld word dat dit in hierdie studie hoofsaaklik gaan om die faktore wat die verhoudinge tussen die Ndzundza en die Blankes bepaal het, te elimineer. Ander aspekte wat ter sprake kom is onder andere die uitwerking wat die Blanke besetting van Noordoos-Transvaal op die Ndzundza gehad het, gronddispute, arbeidsaangeleenthede, Swazi- en die Pedi-deelname in die Blankes se pogings om die Ndzundza te onderwerp van die asook die uiteindelike vernietiging en verlies onafhanklikheid van die Ndzundza. Die spelwyse van sekere name en benaminge wat in hierdie verhandeling voorkom, het in sommige gevalle probleme opgelewer. Die meerderheid Ndebele name is gespel volgens die voorskrifte van die Suid-Ndebele taalraad. Waar die korrekte moderne spelling van Swartes se name nie vasgestel kon word nie, is dit in aanhalingstekens weergegee soos dit in die dokument voorkom. AIle amptelike benamings soos staatspresident of koloniale sekretaris is in die teks met 'n kleinlettertjie gespel maar in die voetnotas met 'n hoofletter. Die motivering hiervoor is die Afrikaanse gebruik om amptelike benamings binne Westerse staatsverband met 'n hoofletter te spel maar benamings in tradisionele verband soos kaptein, opperhoof of hoofman met 'n kleinlettertjie, wat myns insiens op diskriminasie neerkom. Wat die spel van die woord swart betref: Waar dit as byvoeglike naamwoord gebruik word (bv. swart kindertjies), is deurgaans van kleinletters gebruik gemaak. Hoofletters is gebruik wanneer dit as selfstandige naamwoord gebruik word, bv. Die Swartes. Die terme kaffer en meid is waar moontlik, vermy. Die aangehaalde stukke waarin dit weI voorkom, moet nie as beledigend beskou word nie maar as verteenwoordigend van die terminolgoie van 'n bepaalde tyd in die geskiedenis. Die bedoeling was geensins om enigiemand te na te kom nie. wat ter sprake kom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1986
East London: its foundation and early development as a port
- Authors: Gordon, B C
- Date: 1932
- Subjects: Smith, Harry George Wakelyn, Sir, 1788-1860 D'Urban, Benjamin, Sir, 1777-1849 Harbors -- South Africa -- East London East London (South Africa) -- History -- 1836-1866
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2606 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012046
- Description: The flourishing city of East London has received but scant attention from historians. Its importance has been overshadowed by that of Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, each with a foundation bordering on the romantic. The introduction to this thesis indicates traces of the existence of primitive man in these parts. The historical survey will commence with notices taken of the region by nautical and land expeditions in search of either shipwrecked sailors, or news of native races. The first serious notice of East London taken by the white people came in the time of Sir Benjamin D'Urban who sought a seaport for his new province of Queen Adelaide. Our port was opened in 1836 under the appellation of Port Rex, but faded into temporary insignificance, almost oblivion, with the reversal of Sir. B. D'Urban's frontier policy by Lord Glenelg and the abandonment of the new province in 1837. It was not destined to remain forgotten, for Sir Harry Smith at the end of 1847, saw in the mouth of the Buffalo River the same possibilities as had struck the advisers of Sir B. D'Urban. To him it was the future London of the East, and the connecting link between British Kaffraria and the world outside. From that time East London has grown steadily, and of recent years very rapidly. It is not proposed to carry this survey much beyond 1866 in which year British Kaffraria was annexed to the Cape Colony.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1932
East London: the creation and development of a frontier community, 1835-1873
- Authors: Tankard, Keith Peter Tempest
- Date: 1985
- Subjects: East London (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2580 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004550 , East London (South Africa) -- History
- Description: From Preface: Although East London exists today as one of the major ports of South Africa, the city appears to have been forgotten by historians. Little has been done to chronicle its history. In 1932, Bruce Gordon set out to initiate this research and he investigated East London's history to the end of 1865. However, Gordon's thesis, though accurate, is short and inadequate by today's standards. Furthermore, no-one continued from where Gordon left off. Several articles have been written over the previous six decades, each dealing with aspects of East London's past but these, on the whole, are inaccurate and misleading. The time is ripe, therefore, to begin again the research into the history of East London. East London owed its foundation to the state of unrest which existed on the eastern frontier of the Cape of Good Hope between 1834 and 1847. Although the geographic and climatic conditions were in the port's favour, East London remained in a suppressed condition until about 1870. It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the factors which gave rise to this truncated growth. The thesis will examine first the wider perspective of imperial and colonial policy in which East London was conceived and in which it had its early existence. The implications of this policy for East London at the various levels of the port's development will be explored in subsequent chapters. British and Cape colonial policy, however, evolved in a chronological sequence and so the examination of this policy likewise will tend to follow a chronological pattern within each chapter. The establishment of Port Rex in November/December 1836 enters into East London's story in several ways: its political development, the creation and development of the harbour on the Buffalo River, the evolution of trade, the growth of the community and the status of the black population at the mouth of the Buffalo River. It has been found necessary, therefore, to refer often to this beginning of East London's history. Although several theses have already been written which deal with topics related to British Kaffraria, none of these do more than allude to the creation and development of East London. Although, for example, the German Settlers played an important role in the growth of the port, Schnell's thesis hardly mentions the two communities at Panmure and Cambridge. The research for this thesis led me to two important and little known sources of early information, both in Cape Town. The first was the multiple volumed "Unsorted Archives" on East London which consists of reports and letters to the Resident Magistrate. It is a treasure chest of information on East London's early years. The second source was G.M. Theal's newspapers, The Kaffrarian Recorder and East London Shipping Gazette and, later, The Kaffrarian, East London's second newspaper which was believed to have been lost until copies were discovered recently in the South African Library in Cape Town. Theal, later prominent as a historian, had a clear insight into the problems which confronted the community at East London and the editorials of his newspaper make interesting reading. East London's first newspaper is, unfortunately, still lost. It was the East London Times which had its first issue in January 1863, and lasted a mere two months. It consisted of half a sheet of foolscap printed on one side, the other side being left blank, the editor of the King William's Town Gazette wrote, "'for want of room' or from lack of matter."
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1985
Emancipatory politics and the Mpondo revolts
- Authors: Bruchhausen, Sarah
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Pondo Revolt, South Africa, 1960-1963 , South Africa -- History -- 20th century , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5093 , vital:20765
- Description: This thesis aims to offer a revised view of the Mpondo revolts. The central theoretical concept of the thesis is that of emancipatory politics. Drawing predominantly on archival sources the primary concern of the thesis is to expose and interrogate certain aspects of this historical moment of popular politics which can be seen as emancipatory. In particular the notions of egalitarianism and universal human dignity will be analysed in relation to the popular political subjectivities, formations and praxes of the Mpondo revolts. In so doing this thesis attempts to make a meaningful contribution to present day debates concerning alternative theories of human emancipation by showing what emancipatory politics looked like historically and in practise within the context of the Mpondo revolts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Evictions, migrations and epidemiology in Gokwe during the colonial era
- Authors: Mudzimu, Asa
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6946 , vital:21203
- Description: Gokwe, being infested with tsetse and mosquito was seen as a ‘diseased’ environment by the Europeans. Thus, colonial anti-disease campaigns were introduced during the first decade of the 20th century. Initially, the campaigns sought to address economic challenges in the colony as they involved African relocations for the benefit of the Europeans. However, this study argues that these anti-disease campaigns were modified with time and space. The key thrust of the paper is to examine the imbrication between evictions, migrations and disease control in the context of colonial public health system. Apartfrom examining the development of Western medical practices in Gokwe the dissertation explores how this colonial public health system coalesced or clashed with African worldviews. Gokwe matters as a ‘frontier’ society in many senses. Given colonial efforts to occupy Gokwe and the influx of new evictees and migrants in the 1960s, the study depicts Gokwe as a frontier. The study sees evictions and displacements as programmes tailored to arrest tsetse and the associated diseases in the Zambezi Valley.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Exploration, monetization, disillusion: a history of upstream oil development in the onshore Algoa basin
- Authors: James, Jonathan Scott
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3870 , vital:20551
- Description: The onshore Algoa basin has, since the mid-1960s, been an area of interest for oil and gas exploration. Despite the general lack of knowledge and publicly available information on the topic, a large amount of geological and geophysical data has been collected on the region owing to the oil and gas exploration. The intended aim of this thesis is to compile and construct a historical narrative of the oil and gas exploration that took place within the onshore Algoa basin, and to then contextualize that localized narrative within the greater macro-narrative of the global oil and gas industry. This thesis is primarily concerned with the time period beginning in the early 1960s up to mid-2014, however reference is also made to events pre-1960. For the purposes of compartmentalizing the various areas of research covered, the thesis has been divided into three broad areas of interest: the geology of the onshore Algoa basin, the global oil market and its impact on exploration therein, and the attempts to monetize the leases that came to be purchased post-exploration. The narrative on the geology of the onshore Algoa basin is aimed at providing a summarized account of the most important details pertaining to the search for petroleum systems in simplified, yet accurate, language. The aspects of the geology which command the most attention are those which are necessary in functioning petroleum systems such as suitable permeabilities, porosities, reservoir rocks, trapping mechanisms and cap rocks. The global oil and gas market is also used to contextualize the search for oil and gas within the onshore Algoa basin and is explained against the backdrop of the global oil trade and the sanctions imposed on the apartheid state. Furthermore, the analysis of the attempts to monetize leases within the onshore Algoa basin will provide a financial reference point to the shortcomings of the exploration and monetization efforts. The purpose of this thesis is to construct a historical narrative of the onshore Algoa basin which not only gives an accurate portrayal of the exploration efforts that have taken place thus far, but to also provide a enough detail of those exploration efforts to indicate the future of the onshore Algoa basin as an exploration play.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
F C Erasmus and the politics of South African defence, 1948-1959
- Authors: Boulter, Roger Stephen
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Erasmus, F C (Francois Christiaan) South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1948-1961 South Africa -- Armed Forces -- History South Africa -- Military policy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2534 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002386
- Description: FC Erasmus became South Africa's defence minister in 1948 after two decades as a leading political organiser for the National Party. Although an architect of the Nationalists' post-war election victory he was not considered a minister of the first rank. Erasmus initiated a process of ridding the defence force of officers who he believed were associated with the Smuts government and replacing them with party supporters. As a result the military often lost experienced and talented officers. Erasmus felt that the armed services had been too British in ethos and appearance. He inaugurated tighter regulations on bi-lingualism, reintroduced boer rank titles, launched new uniforms and original medals and decorations, to the acclaim of the volk. His purpose was to have a defence force which was uniquely South African. Many of his policies came under attack not only from the United Party but also groups such as the Torch Commando and the veterans organisations. With the apparent lack of an imminent military threat to the apartheid government Erasmus never received substantial budgetary allocations from finance ministers. The defence force, one without conscription, remained small with largely antiquated equipment for the important air and land forces. However by the decade's end the navy was gradually receiving modern ships under the terms of the Simonstown agreement, which Erasmus had negotiated with Britain. The events of the Sharpeville crisis, just after Erasmus left defence, demonstrated that the armed forces as moulded by the minister were in poor condition to assist the civil power in suppressing disturbances. Overseas Erasmus hoped to increase the acceptability of the Union as a defence partner among Western countries by providing personnel for the Berlin Air Lift and the Korean conflict and promising a contingent for the Middle East. He attempted unsuccessfully to instigate anti-communist alliances for the land and maritime defence of Africa when the European powers were leaving the continent. These actions were primarily to obtain political support for the Union, whose prestige was rapidly decreasing as apartheid became better known. The external initiatives with the exception of the Simonstown naval agreements were not lasting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1998
From Frontier to Midlands : a history of the Graaff-Reinet district, 1786-1910
- Authors: Smith, Kenneth Wyndham
- Date: 1975
- Subjects: Graaff-Reinet (South Africa) -- History , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- History , South Africa -- Politics and government -- History , Frontier and pioneer life -- Graaff-Reinet
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2615 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013242
- Description: The study of local history in South Africa is still in its infancy and has not been accorded the same recognition as elsewhere. There is no convenient manual to guide the would-be local historian of the Cape. There are few models that provide an insight into the main problems encountered by the local historian of a Cape community. In such local histories as exist, attention has been focussed predominantly on the foundation and physical growth of towns, the naming of streets, the establishment of schools and hospitals. Many of these accounts were written for publicity purposes or to commemorate the founding of towns. Although there is no history of the Dutch Reformed Church in Graaff-Reinet, the history of local congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church has generally been well covered in the form of Gedenkboeke and other studies. These frequently have a particular relevance as many towns such as Burgersdorp and Colesberg were founded as a result of the initiative of the church. Preface.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1975
GDR development policy with special reference to Africa, c. 1960-1990
- Authors: Van der Heyden, Ulrich Klaus Helmut
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Germany -- Foreign relations -- Africa , Germany -- Foreign economic relations -- Africa , Africa -- Foreign relations -- Germany , Africa -- Foreign economic relations -- Germany , Africa -- Politics and government -- 1960- , Africa -- History -- 1960-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2531 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001860
- Description: This thesis explores the political, economic and theoretical underpinnings of the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR’s) development policies towards the Third World between c.1960 and 1990. Particular attention is paid to Africa. Case studies of assistance to SWAPO and the ANC further focus the attention of the reader on southern Africa in particular. Aspects of both military and civilian aid are considered, including both development initiatives overseas in Africa, and development training for Africans within the GDR itself. Since German “reunification”, the GDR’s history has been explored largely from a West German perspective. The present work attempts to provide a more balanced view of successes and shortcomings of the GDR’s policies towards, and interaction with, African countries and liberation movements. It also aims to bring to the attention of English-speaking readers German archival sources, other primary sources and published works which they would otherwise have been unlikely to encounter. From its formation, the GDR made strenuous efforts to develop relations with countries which were either free from colonial dependency or were struggling for freedom. Over the course of thirty years, it followed a number of different approaches, and developed diverse objectives. These were shaped in the wider context of the cold war, the Hallstein doctrine (which established that the FRG – and, in effect, its allies - would not establish or maintain diplomatic relations with any state that recognised the GDR), the relationships between the GDR and partner socialist states, and the economic difficulties faced by the GDR. Arising from this complex situation, from time to time, both internally in the GDR and in terms of its foreign affairs, tensions and discrepancies arose between theoretical objectives and political and economic reality. Despite these severe constraints, during the period under review, the volume and range of the GDR’s relationships with developing countries increased dramatically. For example, between 1970 and 1987, the number of developing countries with which the GDR had foreign economic relations on the basis of international agreements grew from 23 to 64. Viewed within its economic context, the state was arguably far more committed to development aid than the Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, there is a great deal of evidence that “solidarity” with developing nations and the oppressed enjoyed a considerable degree of popular support.
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- Date Issued: 2013
German immigration to the Cape, with special reference to (a) the German military settlers of 1857; and (b) the German immigrants of 1858
- Authors: Schnell, E L G
- Date: 1952
- Subjects: Germans -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope , Immigrants -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope , Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History , Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2613 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013168
- Description: South Africa is a multi-racial society in more than one sense. There are the broad divisions of Colour, but in addition there are further divisions within each group. The European section is mostly of Dutch and British origin, but there are important other strains, notably the French and the German. The history of the Dutch and British sections has been written, and that of the French too, but the story of the German element is still incomplete. Preface.
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- Date Issued: 1952
Graaff-Reinet and the Great Depression (1929-1933)
- Authors: Minnaar, Anthony de V
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Graaff-Reinet (South Africa) -- History , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1961
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2518 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001847
- Description: The Depression of 1929-1933 was a world-wide phenomenon, in which "no aspect of the economy, no part of the world, escaped devastation". ¹ Accordingly the study of a medium sized rural town in South Africa during the period of the Depression, should show effects and reactions that were, in general, indicative of worldwide trends. In choosing Graaff- Reinet, I felt that being a close-knit community , with its urban and rural populations closely associated with each other, and the white, coloured and black sections of the population interdependent, it adequately represented a microcosm of South Africa as a whole. Then, too, Graaff- Reinet was ideally suited to illustrate the reality, that in South Africa during the Depression " the farmers were the most heavily hit of all". ² The single most significant product of the Graaff- Reinet district was wool, which at the time of the Depression was South Africa's second most important export, and consequently the well-being of the whole district depended largely on the market performance of this product . During the Depression the price of wool dropped drastically and the Graaff-Reinet farmers suffered in consequence . Graaff-Reinet also went, almost according to a blueprint, through the general phases of the Depression. The privations of the farming community led to the financial embarrassment of the local financial institutions causing their collapse , which in its turn led to the widespread hardship of everyone in the town. But these events all had a particular Graaff-Reinet quality, and the twists to the general outline are rooted deep in the local character of the district . Historically Graaff-Reinet is extremely interesting. It is the fourth oldest town in South Africa, being established in 1786, and in studying Graaf-Reinet one cannot but become conscious of the immense tradition and the awareness of history , which all its people have. The study itself starts with a general outline of the Worldwide Depre ssion, its causes and results, then moves on to the Depression in South Africa . The study of Graaff-Reinet in the Depression is divided into three basic sections, the Farmers, the Townspeople, and the Politics of Graaff-Reinet during the Depression. All three contain their own sub-divisions dealing with different aspects. In the Graaff-Reinet sections are included references to national events, tying them to, and explaining the course of, local happenings. In short the study becomes the story of how the Depression effected the people of Graaff-Reinet, how they suffered during this period and how they reacted to it. A final concluding section deals with their general recovery from the Depression. ¹ Heaton, H. : Kruger, D. W. The Economic History of Europe. p. 696. ²The Making of a Nation; a history of the Union of South Africa 19l0 - 1960. p. 158.
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- Date Issued: 1979
Grandmothers, mothers and daughters : transformations and coping strategies in Xhosa households in Grahamstown
- Authors: Schwartz, Linda Mary
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Women, Xhosa -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Poor women -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Women -- South Africa -- Social conditions Women -- South Africa -- Economic conditions Women -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2585 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006190
- Description: The aim of this oral history study is to explore the ways in which constructions of gender have brought women to the point where they now bear most of the burden of responsibility in their relationships with men and for the wellbeing of children. This study speaks into the gap of the undocumented history of women's lived experience as told by women themselves. It is a generational study which charts the transformations and coping strategies of women in Xhosa households since the 1940s. The study found that the familial burdens related to women's sexuality and fertility, raising of children and financial responsibilities in a time of HIV / AIDS have increased. Teenage pregnancies, the discipline of children, HIV / AIDS and the ever present aspects of poverty are major issues these women face. The stress of day to day demands on their lives precluded them the opportunity to reflect on the underlying causes and historical roots of their circumstances. Little understanding of the gendered order of their lives was expressed by the respondents. The use of feminist methodology authenticated the women's stories as they produced knowledge of their lived experience. The interview questions raised awareness of the gender bias underlying much of their struggles at home. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
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- Date Issued: 2007
History on trial: a study of the Salem commonage land claim
- Authors: Bezuidenhout, GJW
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South Africa. Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 , Salem (South Africa) -- History , Land tenure -- Law and legilstion -- South Africa , Land reform -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146647 , vital:38545
- Description: This thesis critically examines the Salem commonage claim, a dispute that has shaken the hamlet of Salem to its core. On ground level it has caused racialized fault lines to reopen, while suspicion and distrust has also grown between the black Africans of the area as well. On a national level, the Constitutional Court judgement has potentially set a precedent with regards to its jurisprudential approach in determining the validity of land claims in South Africa. Its interpretation of the law was determined by the restorative justice jurisprudence enshrined in the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 (the Act). It based its own understanding of the history of the commonage on this jurisprudence. In a bold step towards realising the aims and purposes of the Act, the Constitutional Court found that both the black African claimants as well as the white landowners have equal rights to the land. One of the reasons why the decision of the Constitutional Court is ground-breaking is that the dispute involves a former commonage – land used for common purpose. The Constitutional Court emphasised that the Act was an “extraordinary piece of legislation” and had to be interpreted in such a way so as to address the injustices of the past. This included provisions of the Act which dealt with how oral testimonies from claimants would be dealt with. Another interesting feature was the heavy reliance by all parties on expert witnesses in the persons of eminent historians, Professors Martin Legassick and Herman Giliomee. This case gave much-needed clarification as to what the appropriate role of an expert historian witness may be in a land claim. The success or failure of land claims often depend on the weight of the evidence supplied by the expert historian witness. But the historian must also take cognisance of the fact that the evidence s/he gives is appropriate according to the scope of law. This case also dismisses the assumption that colonial instruments of land assignation are beyond reproach. These instruments which grant rights to land may also be scrutinised in a court of law, just like when oral testimony is tested for its credibility. This is important to note, especially when balancing land rights of the claimants against those of the landowners. This thesis agrees with the decision taken by the Constitutional Court in this instance. However, it also cautions that such softly-softly approaches may appear as a suitable compromise on paper, but the feeling on the ground may not be as receptive to reconciliation as what the courts would have hoped for. To the jurist, this judgement accurately encapsulates the purpose and aims of the Act. However, such a judgement may not seem satisfactory to the people of Salem. The decisions of the Salem commonage case are sure to inform the discourse of land claims in South Africa.
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- Date Issued: 2020
In time of plague : the Basotho and the rinderpest, 1896-8
- Authors: Phoofolo, Pule
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: Rinderpest -- Lesotho -- History Epidemics -- Africa -- History Livestock -- Diseases -- Africa Sotho (African people) -- Social life and customs Lesotho -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2553 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002405
- Description: Rinderpest, the most dreaded bovine plague, struck the cattle of the BaSotho in British Basutoland early in 1897. By December the murrain had spent itself, having reduced the cattle population by half As it did so, the rinderpest claimed the primary historical significance of an epidemic. By sharpening behaviour and illuminating latent or developing tendencies, the rinderpest helped to reveal the nooks and crannies of contemporary historical processes that would have otherwise eluded historical visibility. This thesis brings out the complexities and ambiguities surrounding the epidemic. It uses the crisis occasioned by the panzootic in its multifaceted manifestations as a prism through which we might view the complex aspects of contemporary historical processes. It goes beyond the narrow limits of the crisis itself to discerning the broader and wider historical patterns that the rinderpest helped to highlight.
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- Date Issued: 2000
Information and propaganda in the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland with special reference to print and radio propaganda for Africans, 1953-1963
- Authors: Zimudzi, Tapiwa Brown
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6957 , vital:21204
- Description: This thesis contributes to the history of the information and propaganda policy and practice of the government of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland by examining this government's pro-Federation print and radio propaganda for Africans in the Federation. Using a multi-theoretical approach, it analyses the character of this propaganda, highlighting its main methods and themes as well as the policy considerations, plus political and economic circumstances that gave rise to it. It also discusses how Africans in the Federation reacted to this propaganda and assesses its effectiveness in gaining the support of these Africans for Federation and the policies of the Federal government. The thesis argues that Federal government propaganda aimed at gaining the support of Africans for Federation was predominantly panic-driven propaganda and was the product of an information panic that lay at the heart of the very idea of Federation itself. This information panic arose out of the Federal government's belated recognition of the strength of African opposition to Federation and of how this opposition seriously threatened the continued survival of the Federation. It is also argued that this panic-driven pro-Federation propaganda elicited largely hostile reactions from the majority of Africans in the Federation and failed to persuade them to support Federation.
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- Date Issued: 2017
J C Chase: 1820 settler and servant of the Colony
- Authors: McGinn, M J
- Date: 1975
- Subjects: Chase, J. C, 1806-1876 , British settlers of 1820 (South Africa) , Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2610 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012872
- Description: J.C. Chase was an 1820 settler who travelled to the Cape with Bailie's party. He was a man of some standing and education. There is evidence that he was a member of the Worshipful Company of Founders, whose arms were later adopted by Aliwal North, but he was reputedly a bookseller in London in 1819. Clearly the reading and writing of books were among his chief preoccupations at the Cape. He was particularly interested in travel and exploration and was one of the early white visitors to Griqualand. But his main objective at the Cape was probably to seek the security of a government appointment, and he held quite a succession of offices until he secured a permanent post in the administration. Even then he was moved from Graham's Town to Albert before he found his niche at Uitenhage, where he was Civil Commissioner and Resident Magistrate from 1849 to 1863. Intro., p.1.
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- Date Issued: 1975