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Abstract
This paper examines the origins and consolidation of agricultural enterprise in the white farming areas of Ghanzi and the Tati in Botswana. It argues that similarly to the white settler colonies in Africa, namely Kenya, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the success of white settler agriculture depended on state support at the expense and neglect of African farming in peripheral areas and the country in general. The paper shows how through credit, favourable and racially biased land sales, collusion with white farmers, and the provision of infrastructural developments and extension services, the state propped up white farmers' agriculture in the two areas. This paper also demonstrates the plight of Africans in the African reserves adjacent to the farms and African tenants and the so-called ‘squatters’ in the farms because of the numerous dues imposed on them by farm-owners. The article reveals that the Ghanzi Land Settlement Scheme, whose aim was to assist emergent white farmers, had many features similar to the assistance provided to early white settler farmers in Southern Rhodesia. This, together with other similar aspects in the settler enclaves of the two countries necessitated the adoption of a comparative approach.
Notes
1. M. Tamarkin, Cecil Rhodes and the Cape Afrikaners: The Imperial Colossus and the Colonial Parish Pump (London: Frank Cass, 1996), 8, 13; 89–90.
2. See, among others, N. Parsons, ‘The Evolution of Modern Botswana: Historical Revisions’, in L. Picard, ed., The Evolution of Modern Botswana: Political and Rural Development in Southern Africa (London: Rex Collings, University of Nebraska Press, 1985), 29–30; P. Maylam, Rhodes, The Tswana and the British: Colonialism, Collaboration, and Conflict in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980); J. Halpern, South Africa's Hostages: Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland (London: Penguin, 1965), 81–86; S. McCarthy and C. Colclough, The Political Economy of Botswana: A Study of Growth and Distribution (New York: OUP, 1980), 30–31.
3. Botswana National Archives, BNA, File Botswana National Bibliography (BNB no. 486). Bechuanaland Protectorate, Census 1921 and 1946.
4. See, among others, I. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems in the Tati’, Botswana Notes and Records, 3, 1971: 219–245; H. Tapela, ‘The Tati District of Botswana, 1866–1966’ (PhD thesis, University of Sussex, 1976); M. Russell and M. Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Man in a Black State (Cambridge: CUP, 1979); P. Mgadla, ‘The North East and the South East’, in F. Morton and J. Ramsay, eds, The Birth of Botswana: A History of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1910 to 1966 (Gaborone: Longman, 1990), 15–19; J. Croston, ‘An Economic and Social History of the Freehold Land Tenure Districts of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (Botswana), 1903–1966’ (PhD thesis, Boston University, 1993); I. Mazonde, ‘The Development of Ranching and Economic Enterprise in Eastern Botswana’ (PhD thesis, University of Manchester, 1987); C. Kerven, ‘Underdevelopment, Migration and Class Formation in the North East District of Botswana’ (PhD thesis, University of Toronto, 1977); B. Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy of Land Reform in Post-Independence Botswana, 1966–2000: A Case Study of the North East District’ (MA Thesis, Hiroshima University, 2008); M. Russell, ‘Slaves or Workers? Relations between Bushmen, Tswana and Boers in the Kalahari’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 2, 2 (1976), 178–197; W. Morapedi, ‘Comparative Aspects of Farm Labour in Twentieth Century Botswana’, African Studies, 66, 2–3 (2007), 343–363; P. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter? Perspectives from the North East District of Botswana (Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International, 1996); M. Mogalakwe, Inside Ghanzi Freehold Farms: A Look at the Conditions of Farm Workers (Gaborone: Government Printer, 1986); G. Silbarbeuer, Report to the Government of the Bechuanaland Protectorate on the Bushmen Survey (Gaborone: Government Printer, 1965); G. Childers, Report on the Survey/Investigation of Ghanzi Farm Basarwa Situation (Gaborone: Government Printer, 1976) ; W. Morapedi, ‘The Boer Trekker Settlement in Ghanzi and its Impact on Indigenous People, 1898–1966’, (BA History Research Project, University of Botswana, 1989); J. Mupindu, ‘Creation of the Tati Company and Land Alienation: A Case Study of the Tati District of Botswana, 1888–1930’ (BA History Research Project, University of Botswana, 1983); M. Mogotsi, ‘Failure to Reclaim Lost Land: The Khurutshe and British Tati Imperialism, 1890–1913’ (BA History Research Project, University of Botswana, 1983); K. Kobokobo, ‘Labour Migration and its Economic Impact on the North East District: The Case of Bukalanga, 1870–1939’ (BA History Research Project, University of Botswana, 1982).
5. I. Mazonde, ‘The Development of Ranching and Economic Enterprise in Eastern Botswana’ (PhD thesis, Manchester University, 1989), 22; 42; A. Best, ‘General Trading in Botswana, 1890–1968’, Economic Geography, 46, (1970), 598–612.
6. Botswana National Archives, File no. BNB 325. Ghanzi District Development Plan, 1997–1982, 1.
7. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 1.
8. Tapela, ‘The Tati District’, 22–36; Mgadla, ‘The North East’, 136; Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 77.
9. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 221; Tapela, ‘The Tati District, 22–36; Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 72–83.
10. Botswana National Archives (Hereafter BNA) S. Secretarial Files, S. 192/1 Bechuanaland Protectorate Annual Report, 1938 District Commissioner's Reports. However, the Lobatse area was better than the others, with quality cattle which were fattened and intended for the Johannesburg market, see Mgadla, ‘The North East’, 137–138.
11. BNA, RC (Resident Commissioner's files) 14/3, Official Papers, 1929–1935, vol. 1 (Tours in the BP).
12. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 15.
13. BNA, RC 14/3.
14. BNA, V. 7/1 (Veterinary) Veterinary Department Annual Report, 1939.
15. Robin Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, in R. Palmer and N. Parsons, eds, The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa (London: Heinemann, 1979), 221–254.
16. BNA, S. 97/5, The Tati Future of: Press Statements and Debates in Southern Rhodesia Legislative Assembly, 1933.
17. Tapela, ‘The Tati District’, ii; Mgadla, ‘The North East’, 136.
18. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History’, 231.
19. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 28.
20. M. Russell, ‘Slaves or Workers?’, 139.
21. Silberbauer, Report to the Government, 15.
22. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 228.
23. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 228–230.
24. I. Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 1980–1948 (London & New York: Longman, 1988), 58.
25. See, C. Bundy, ‘The Transkei Peasantry, c.1890–1914: Passing through a Period of Stress’, in Palmer and Parsons, The Roots of Rural Poverty, 216; Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 230–239.
26. B. Shrestra, ‘Arable Land Development Programme and Rural Development in Botswana’ (PhD thesis, University of Hull, 1987), 54.
27. Alan Pim, Financial and Economic Position of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (London: HMSO, 1933), 95.
28. BNA, S. 291/15, Atg. Financial Secretary to Resident Commissioner, 30 September 1934.
29. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 273; BNA, S. 263/6, Bechuanaland Protectorate, Colonial Annual Report 1939
30. BNA, S. 585/3, Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, 1961.
31. For details on general dealer trading stores and the exploitative cattle trade including the use of ‘good-fors’, see, among others, W.G. Morapedi, ‘Cattle Trade and the Peasantries of Botswana: The Case of Ghanzi and Ngamiland, 1930–1966’, PULA: Botswana Journal of African Studies, 18, 2 (2004); Best, ‘General Trading in Botswana’ 598–612; K. Eikmeier, ‘The Good-fors’ System and the Intervention of the Colonial State in the Economy: The Case of Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1924–1945’ (Seminar paper, History department, University of Botswana, 1991); I. Mazonde, ‘The Development of Ranching’, 22; 42.
32. BNA, S. 291/15 Russell England, Dairy Expert to Resident Magistrate (Francistown) 21 January 1935.
33. BNA, S. 291/15, High Commissioner to Resident Commissioner, 6 November 1934.
34. BNA, S. 291/15, High Commissioner to Resident Commissioner, 6 November 1934.
35. BNA, S. 295/15, Resident Commissioner to High Commissioner, 6 November 1934. Emery Roe states that there were a series of severe droughts between 1930 and 1961 and hence these years are known as the 30 years of drought in the region: see Roe, Development of Livestock and Water Supplies in Botswana before Independence: A Short History and Policy Analysis (Occasional Papers, Rural Development Committee, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 1980), 4.
36. Mazonde, ‘The Development of Ranching’, 24.
37. BNA, S. 356/3/2, Ghanzi Settlement Scheme, 1957–1964.
38. BNA, DCF (District Commissioner, Francistown) 5/12 G. Wallington to All District Commissioners, 21 August 1937.
39. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 231.
40. See Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 231–239; C. Stoneman, ‘Agriculture’, in C. Stoneman, ed., Zimbabwe's Inheritance (New York: St Martin's Press, 1981), 139.
41. BNA, DCGH (District Commissioner Ghanzi) 3/5, Tour Reports, Native Areas 1939–1941.
42. BNA, DCGH 3/5.
43. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 227.
44. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 122.
45. BNA, S. 356/3/2, Ghanzi Settlement Scheme, 1957–1964.
46. BNA, S. 356/3/2, Ghanzi Settlement Scheme, 1957–1964.
47. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 122
48. Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 81.
49. BNA, S. 356/3/1, Ghanzi European Ranching Scheme. Development Secretary's Report and Recommendations, 1960–1964.
50. BNA, S. 356/3/2, Ghanzi Settlement Scheme, 1957–1964.
51. Russell, ‘Slaves or Workers?’, 195.
52. BNA, S. 356/3/2, Ghanzi Settlement Scheme, 1957–1964
53. S. Stedman, Botswana: The Political Economy of Democratic Development (London: Lynne Reiner, 1993), 19; 37.
54. Mazonde, ‘The Development of Ranching’, 22.
55. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 31
56. BNA, S. 356/3/1, Outgoing Saving Telegram from the High Commissioner to Secretary of State, 2 June 1957.
57. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 231–232.
58. Stoneman, ‘Agriculture’, 130.
59. W.G. Morapedi, ‘The State and its Failure to Transform African Crop Production in Botswana, 1930–1939’, South African Historical Journal, 65, 2 (2013), 214.
60. R. Palmer, Land and Racial Domination in Rhodesia (London: Heinemann, 1977), 57.
61. Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 81.
62. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 225; Mogotsi, ‘Failure to Reclaim’, 6; Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter?, 60; Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 78.
63. Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 78.
64. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 237.
65. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter? 133.
66. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter? 133.
67. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 239.
68. Kerven, ‘Underdevelopment, Migration’, 180.
69. Tapela, ‘The Tati District’.
70. Tapela, ‘The Tati District’, 140.
71. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter?, 61.
72. BNA, RC 10/4, Resident Commissioner to High Commissioner, 13 October 1903.
73. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 237–238.
74. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 237–238.
75. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 227–228.
76. In 1943, the migration rate in the Tati was 51.8 per cent as compared to 43.5, 46.8 and 36.9 per cent for the bigger Bakwena, Bangwaketse and Bangwato Reserves, and in 1971 outmigration in the Tati was very high with about 50 per cent of total adult males absent while a total of 32 per cent of all the population was absent from all the rural areas in the country: see I. Schapera, Migrant Labour and Tribal Life: A Study of Conditions in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (Oxford: OUP, 1947), 36; Kerven, ‘Underdevelopment, Migration’, 124.
77. Tapela, ‘The Tati District’, 123–124.
78. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter?, 60.
79. Tapela, ‘The Tati District’, 130; Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 228.
80. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter?, 61.
81. BNA, S. 238/4, Nettleton to Resident Commissioner, 28 August 1931.
82. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter?, 146.
83. BNA, S. 238/4, G. Nettleton to Resident Commissioner, 28 August 1931.
84. Kinlund, Does Land Degradation Matter?, 146
85. BNA, S. 238/4, Nettleton to Resident Commissioner, 28 August 1931.
86. BNA, S. 238/4, Nettleton to Resident Commissioner, 28 August 1931.
87. Kerven, ‘Underdevelopment, Migration’, 210.
88. BNA, S. 238/6 District Commissioner to Government Secretary, 24 July 1936.
89. BNA, S. 238/7/2, Resident Commissioner to Government Secretary, 26 June 1947.
90. Schapera, ‘The Native Land Problems’, 228–237.
91. BNA, S. 238/7/1 R.H. Thornton to High Commissioner, 10 September 1943. The Tati communities received less help than the people in other equally small Reserves such as the Balete and Batlokwa Reserves, see BNA S. 238/7/1, The Native Land Problems in the Tati District (BP) Report and Recommendation submitted by Isaac Schapera, April 1943.
92. Palmer, Land and Racial Domination, 66; Phimister, An Economic and Social History, 65.
93. The effects of the continuous evictions were recently echoed by an elderly man, one Mbakile in the Tati who witnessed them and described the brutality of the exercise in which houses were burnt and people kicked out, ‘Tati Co. Stole our Land’, The Voice, 30 March 2007; Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 73.
94. BNA, Div. Comm. N. 12/1, Tati Company, General.
95. BNA, S. 97/4, Ritcher to Resident Commissioner, 26 February 1942.
96. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 234.
97. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 238.
98. Palmer, Land and Racial Domination, 89.
99. BNA, S. 263/6, Bechuanaland Protectorate, Colonial Annual Report 1939.
100. Quill Hermans, ‘A Review of Botswana's Financial History, 1900 to 1973’, Botswana Notes and Records, 6, (1974), 50.
101. Palmer, Land and Racial Domination, 244.
102. Manatsha, ‘The Political Economy’, 163.
103. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 79.
104. Mgadla, ‘The North East’, 134.
105. BNA, S. 597/8, High Commissioner to Secretary of State, 1 April 1957.
106. BNA, S. 356/3/2, Ghanzi Settlement Scheme, Development Secretary's Report and Recommendations, 1957–1964.
107. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 38.
108. Russell, ‘Slaves or Workers?’, 194.
109. BNA, S. 463/3, Petition.
110. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 44.
111. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 44.
112. M. Legassick, ‘Gold, Agriculture and Secondary Industry in South Africa, 1885–1970: From Periphery to Sub-metropole as a Forced Labour System’, in Parsons and Palmer, The Roots of Rural Poverty, 175.
113. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 33
114. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 5.
115. BNA, Div Comm. N. 1/12, Ghanzi District 1954–1955.
116. BNA DCGH 3/8, Tour Reports Native Areas, 1939–1941.
117. BNA DCGH 3/8, Tour Reports Native Areas, 1939–1941.
118. Russell and Russell, Afrikaners of the Kalahari, 132.
119. Palmer, Land and Racial Domination, 147.
120. Palmer, ‘The Agricultural History of Rhodesia’, 235.