Chiefs, diggers and African labour

Abstract

In 1920 a public alluvial diamond digging — Tlaping — was proclaimed on the Taung Native Reserve in the northern Cape. It was one of nearly two hundred public diggings proclaimed between 1908 and 1929, but it was unique in that it was the first within a Native Reserve. This essay analyses the Tlaping ‘experiment’ in terms of the class dynamics of rural accumulation in the volatile post‐World War One period. It locates the forces pushing for this proclamation in the alluvial diamond industry and the rural people drawn to it, but also in the articulation of the Native Reserves with the emerging ideology and practice of segregation. An important facet of the politics of proclamation was the role played by the BaThlaping chiefs within the Taung Reserve. Their wider political agendas were played out through the racial and class dynamics of the alluvial industry. This led to alliances and conflicts between the chiefs and diggers which reflected the class interests of both. These were mediated by the changing character of the local and regional labour market as ‘foreign’ men and local women were drawn into common labour for white diggers. This resulting conflict led to a strong coalition based on common interests between the ‘official’ government chief and capitalist diggers.