Labour In South Africa Research Articles

Indentured Labour in South Africa

This essay traces the historiography of Indian indenture in South Africa, paying particular attention to shifts in approaches and interpretation and the evolution of the extant archive. Studies of Indian indenture in the 1970s focused on how the system originated and operated, the conditions under which migrants laboured, and their contribution to the colonial economy. Digitizing immigrants’ registers and quantitative studies followed in the 1980s and 1990s and laid the basis for (colonial) archival-based studies that focused on the agency of migrants, their resistance and resilience. The years since 2010, when Indian South Africans commemorated 150 years since the arrival of the first indentured migrants to the country, have witnessed an explosion of family histories and works of fiction. These publications have expanded the archive of indenture and enriched our knowledge and understanding of the system. Studies of indenture have been criticized for framing the system within a neo-slavery paradigm and suggest that works of fiction can best capture the stories of indenture. This essay demonstrates that historiographical developments since 2010 underscore the importance of personal contact, determination and imagination to take us beyond what is recorded in the official colonial archives, facilitating conversation across the oceans and bringing the individual and collective agency of indentured migrants centre-stage. It shows the richness of the work on indenture resulting from the expansion of the archives, the constantly changing view of the past, and different ways of communicating the story. This study contends that the Natal colonial archive remains relevant while acknowledging that writers of historical fiction and family histories are asking new questions about the past and broadening the lens through which we approach the story of indenture.

Migrant labour in South Africa's mining economy: the struggle for the gold mine's labour supply, 1890-1920

Migrant labour in South Africa's mining economy: the struggle for the gold mine's labour supply, 1890-1920

Capital’s Preference for Foreign African Labour in South Africa: Reflections on Liberal Anti-xenophobia Research

In South Africa, in many economic sectors, foreign blacks are more likely to get a job than a similarly skilled black South African. This paper is about why employers prefer foreign African labour in South Africa, how this contributes to seeing South African black workers as inferior and how job hoarding networks in employment niches have emerged. We examine this in the context of literature on ‘xenophobia’. Both discursive and material practices of racist-ethnicist employers are significant. In a new hierarchy of fictive labour imaginaries which reflects a new labour ‘frontier’ in a diversified post-apartheid southern African pool. The new frontier reflects neoliberal flexible labour systems which also operate within a human rights free-market framework.

Global Issues in Obstetric Anesthesia: Perspectives From South Africa, Japan, China, Latin America, and North America

(Int J Obstet Anesth. 2023:54:103648) Anesthesia provision varies worldwide, and obstetric anesthesia in particular is highly variable. The first country discussed in this article is South Africa, which is classified as a low-income to middle-income country. South Africa has high patient mortality related to cesarean delivery. The epidural rates for labor in South Africa are <5%, which is considered extremely low. Approximately one-third of maternal deaths investigated occurred following the administration of spinal anesthesia. In South Africa, it is 3 times more likely for maternal mortality to occur following cesarean delivery than vaginal birth. The mortality rates following a cesarean delivery in South Africa are also 50 times higher than in other regions of the world. Training has been implemented to reduce these statistics, although the level of preparedness following this training has been questioned.

Satyagraha After Cancel Gandhi: Race and Caste through Labor and Architecture, C. 1896-1942

In the early twentieth century M.K. Gandhi articulated Satyagraha as a decentering quest for truth through everyday politics. Satyagraha privileged the “minor” or the marginalized over the dominant and everydayness and dwelling over history. In light of the contemporary criticisms of Gandhi, this paper examines Gandhian Satyagraha as a minor force that may hold him accountable for his entrenchment within dominant race and caste relations. The paper is divided into three sections devoted to “minor” matters of dwelling and ordinariness. I begin with an examination of Gandhi’s politics through race and labor in South Africa, between 1896 and 1905. To understand Gandhi’s racism in South Africa it is necessary to pay attention to his marginalization of social and legal narratives related to labor, agriculture, rent and places of habitation such as the hut. I then foreground Gandhi’s marginalization of architecture in his discourses around Akash (the sky) and his body in 1932 and in 1942 during his incarcerations in Pune. Finally, I focus on the architecture of the huts built for him in Wardha in 1936–37 and the conflict that emerges between his conception of the social reproduction of labor as a minor voice within the self and his embrace of caste through varnashramadharma.

The ordinary lives of crisis: transformations in the realm of work in South Africa and Romania

ABSTRACT 2020 emerged as a ‘crisis in the world of work’. Reflections upon how the pandemic would accelerate pervasive joblessness and changes in the workplace abounded, while academics and technocrats alike have translated its predicaments as a catalyst for a rapidly coming postwork future. Using illustrative vignettes from our own work on labour in South Africa and Romania, we discuss how the current labour/technology crisis has moved along structural axes of inequality and disempowerment in the world of work. We suggest that, as historians documenting the shifting nature of work and its relationship with technology, we should go against the grain when chronicling the current pandemic as a series of dramatic shifts and spectacular snapshots, and affirm non-eventful ways of writing history.

Deliberate delays in offering abortion to pregnant women with fetal anomalies after 24 weeks' gestation at a centre in South Africa.

South Africa has an abortion law which codifies the broad themes of reproductive rights set out in the Constitution of South Africa, other laws and national guidelines. Certain wording of the conditions in the Choice Act for abortion after 20 weeks' gestation, are open to interpretation, being 'severe malformation of the fetus' and 'risk of injury to the fetus'. From 24 weeks onwards, abortion is carried out by feticide/induced fetal cardiac asystole ('IFCA') and subsequent induction of labour in South Africa. Some maternal-fetal units have developed guidelines to assist clinicians and patients in decision-making around eligibility for abortion after 20 weeks' gestation, given the broad terms in the law. We consider the guideline used by an institution in the Western Cape for abortion after 23 weeks and 6 days gestation, in terms of its alignment with the law on reproductive rights and its compliance with fair and transparent procedures. We also note its effect on respect for patients and on staff professionalism.

The Indian diaspora, cultural heritage and cultural transformation in the Colony of Natal (1895–1960) during the period of indenture

The article chronicles diasporic cultural heritage in Natal during the period of indenture in an Indian community in colonial South Africa. Using the qualitative ethnographic research methodology the focus is on the period 1895–1960. This methodology was chosen as it is a qualitative method where observation and/or interaction has taken place in real-life environments. In this article, the Indian cultural heritage as experienced by Mrs Takurine Mahesh Singh who arrived in Port Natal in 1895 is chronicled through the reflective memories of her South African-born eldest grandson, Mr J.S. Singh (b.1930). Further to this, her life in South Africa is explored as she lived in different worlds through various political systems and this life experience extended to include a cultural transformation. During 1960, the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the indentured Indians to the Colony of Natal was commemorated. Hence, this study considers the period 1895–1960. Moving across continents, the indentured Indians arrived in the Colony to work on the sugar plantations. Cultural heritage may be viewed as a sense of one’s subjective self-perception based on one’s language, ancestry, values, rituals, traditions and religion. During the political era of colonisation and indenture, the Indian nationals became displaced. This displacement created an intrinsic emotional threat. This emotional threat compromised their cultural heritage and consequently led to other forms of cultural transformation. During the oral history interviews, it emerged that the Indian nationals and their descendants in South Africa did not experience abject deculturalisation as they were able to practise aspects of their cultural heritage without the complete loss of their identity. This is one of the findings of the article. The findings indicate that complete deculturalisation did not take place even though cultural transformations resulted in the Indian diaspora in Natal.Contribution: With a unique focus on aspects of cultural heritage in the Indian diaspora, this article contributes to the knowledge of the social memory historiography with a spotlight on descendants of Indian indentured labourers in South Africa. The overarching contribution of this article focusses on the cultural transformation during the period under review.

Living, not just surviving: The politics of refusing low-wage jobs in urban South Africa

This paper explores why young Black South African men refuse low-wage jobs in a time of mass joblessness. Drawing on in-depth qualitative data from an informal settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg, the paper examines the work histories and social aspirations that underpin young men’s decision to voluntarily quit low-wage employment. This inquiry is animated by a long history of urban young men rejecting the wage relation in favour of alternative livelihoods. It shows that the refusal of low-wage jobs is sustained by other forms of inequality and is closely entangled with race, gender and citizenship. The paper argues that the refusal of low-wage jobs is at once a critique of precariousness and racialized inequality, and a political demand for social and economic inclusion. In taking this demand seriously, the paper maintains that voluntary quitting is a relatively unrecognized form of worker resistance, with implications for how we understand labour market volatility, and the place of wage labour in South Africa’s policy debates and politics.

‘My mother was a kitchen girl’: legal and policy responses to the problem of care for women who provide care in South Africa

ABSTRACT Domestic labour or care work creates the conditions through which other labour can occur, however, the value that this work provides is scarcely recognised when lawmakers consider its remuneration and regulation. This paper investigates legal discrimination against providers of domestic labour in South Africa, especially at home involving women in relationships and domestic workers. This is done by considering how labour law and gender equity law as well as the Constitution produce inequitable outcomes for women providing care services and contrasting the realities of care workers with legal protections. It also considers the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the reality of care. Lastly, it outlines the ways in which the law can enable more equitable dispensations of labour.

Ability within disability: Reflective memories shared with Dr Kasturi Varley

In a post-apartheid South Africa, the value of reflective memories and their impact on community history gives credibility to their relationship with personal struggles such as disability, be it physical or political. Shaped by South African Indian heritage, an isolated individualised case of a second-generation descendant’s ability–disability experience is researched and narrated in this article. The respondent, Dr Kasturi Varley is a woman of the South African Indian community, who was born almost 101 years after the first shipload of Indian indentured labourers arrived in the then Colony of Natal. Her memories shed light on a unique Indo-African-European experience. Her indentured paternal grandfather arrived in the African continent in August 1900. Her reflective memories and shared experiences of various episodes of the ability–disability paradigm add to the body of knowledge of the Indian indentured labour system that already exists and partially fills up the prevalent gaps in the research on this topic. Her story is unique in that she worked wheelchair-bound at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria and subsequently settled in the United Kingdom. This study applied a qualitative research methodology.Contribution: This article provides insight on reflective memories within the domain of social memory and contributes to an understanding of the historiography of the descendants of Indian indentured labourers in South Africa. In 2020, this community commemorated the 160th anniversary of the arrival of the labourers to the Colony of Natal.

COVID-19 en dagloners in die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie: Die impak op hul lewens en daaglikse bestaan

Die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie was reeds voor die COVID-19-pandemie in 'n benarde posisie. Dagloners en andere in die informele ekonomie was struktureel selfs meer kwesbaar vir so 'n eksogene skok. Die doel van hierdie oorsigstudie was om die impak van die COVID-19-pandemie op die lewensomstandighede van dagloners op die navorsingsagenda te plaas. 'n Oorsig van tersaaklike elemente uit die enigste nasionaal verteenwoordigende databasis van dagloners, afkomstig vanuit die Blaauw (2010) studie, in Suid-Afrika, was die vertrekpunt. Daarna is die jongste beskikbare navorsingsinligting oor veranderinge in die daglonermark gebruik om die moontlike kort-, medium- en langtermynimpak van die pandemie te bespreek. In 2008 was die dagloners in die Wes-Kaap en Gauteng se loonvlakke hoër as dié van die dagloners in die res van Suid-Afrika. Selfs dagloners in hierdie twee provinsies was steeds kwesbaar met lae en onsekere inkomstevlakke. Sedert 2008 het makro-ekonomiese faktore en 'n derde golf van oorgrensmigrasie 'n verdere verswakking in dagloners se posisie meegebring. Die vraag na hul arbeid het verminder en reële lone het in verskeie stede gedaal. Die COVID-19-pandemie het dagloners op die kort termyn voor hongersnood te staan gebring. Die talle mense wat vanweë die pandemie hul formele werk verloor het of nog gaan verloor sal die daglonermark onder verdere druk plaas. Die minimum loonvlak waarvoor dagloners bereid is om te werk, sal selfs verder daal. In die lang termyn kan duisende van die leerlinge wat hul skoolopleiding te midde van die pandemie staak ook dagloners word, met rampspoedige gevolge vir die maatskaplike bestel in Suid-Afrika.

The vulnerability of day labourers in South Africa and the role of community development in an integrated approach to achieving sustainable livelihoods

Poverty and unemployment are significant barriers to growth in South Africa and are reflected in low levels of income and high levels of unemployment and human deprivation. Rising unemployment is forcing the majority of deprived people to venture into a variety of survival activities such as day labouring in the informal sector of the South African economy, to eke out a meagre livelihood. As the vulnerability of day labourers in South Africa is socially and economically unjust, the main thrust of this article concerns the role of community development in an integrated approach to achieving sustainable livelihoods for South African day labourers. This article takes the form of a review of relevant available literature to provide a coherent account of the vulnerable circumstances of day labourers in South Africa. The inevitable conclusion that can be drawn from the review is that the hardships to which day labourers and their families are subjected, as a consequence of the nature of their work and the poor remuneration that it generates, when they are able to secure a day’s work, effectively condemn them to being obliged to cope in circumstances that could best be described as untenable.

Ability within disability: Reflective memories shared with Dr Kasturi Varley

In a post-apartheid South Africa, the value of reflective memories and their impact on community history gives credibility to their relationship with personal struggles such as disability, be it physical or political. Shaped by South African Indian heritage, an isolated individualised case of a second-generation descendant’s ability–disability experience is researched and narrated in this article. The respondent, Dr Kasturi Varley is a woman of the South African Indian community, who was born almost 101 years after the first shipload of Indian indentured labourers arrived in the then Colony of Natal. Her memories shed light on a unique Indo-African-European experience. Her indentured paternal grandfather arrived in the African continent in August 1900. Her reflective memories and shared experiences of various episodes of the ability–disability paradigm add to the body of knowledge of the Indian indentured labour system that already exists and partially fills up the prevalent gaps in the research on this topic. Her story is unique in that she worked wheelchair-bound at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria and subsequently settled in the United Kingdom. This study applied a qualitative research methodology. Contribution: This article provides insight on reflective memories within the domain of social memory and contributes to an understanding of the historiography of the descendants of Indian indentured labourers in South Africa. In 2020, this community commemorated the 160th anniversary of the arrival of the labourers to the Colony of Natal.

Trading Time: Retail working time and precarious labour in South Africa, 1960s–1980s

Abstract This is a historical piece that traces debates and struggles over store trading times (which determined working time) from the 1960s to the 1980s in Johannesburg, South Africa, to explore the connection of working time debates to the precarianisation of retail labour in South Africa over the ensuing decades. Debates about trading time and working time, and how unions engaged therein, were fundamentally linked with changes to the labour market of service workers over this period. This paper explores how the emergence of precarious labour in sectors like retail can be explained as conjunctural moments written from the global South. This research is based on extensive archival research which links regulatory changes, union politics, national debate and labour market changes to how shift systems in retailing changed between the 1960s and the 1980s.

HISTORY AS A SYSTEM OF WRONGS — EXAMINING SOUTH AFRICA'S MARIKANA TRAGEDY IN A TEMPORAL LEGAL CONTEXT

On 16 August 2012, striking miners in Marikana, South Africa were fired upon by the South African Police Service, resulting in the death of 44 mineworkers. For many the incident has signalled a turning point for the country. This paper suggests that rather than a turning point, the tragedy at Marikana is perhaps only the newest instalment in a centurylong cycle of industrial action and government violence in South Africa's labour history. Marikana is thus not a turning point, but rather a restatement of the ineffectiveness of law. The article then attempts a theoretical analysis of these events, as well as the matter of whether Marikana is a true event that brings about political and social change. Although many consider Marikana a "founding myth" for a popular uprising in South Africa, the article cautiously suggests that it is in fact just "business as usual".

Aesthetic Grammars of Social Justice: Sex Work Reimagined

ABSTRACT Against a backdrop of the persistence of coloniality through structural forms of privilege and bias across socioeconomic manifestations, inequality and racial stratification of labour in South Africa, creative activism offers a lens, voice and perspective of sex workers. We relate these glimpses to rehumanisation and re-membering, challenging historically distinct modes of turning humans into objects as part of decolonial possibilities. We seek to make decolonization a praxis of making human and hence we ask two central questions: what provocations arise from aesthetics of creative activism? And what might rehumanizing/re-membering concretely mean? We consider these questions through an analysis of the activism, exhibitions and performance with participant sex workers that formed part of the GlobalGRACE project launch in South Africa. Ultimately, we argue that art practices fundamentally engage the imagination and open up possibilities for re-imagining, re-storying and re-centering marginalized knowledges.

‘An evil thing’: Gandhi and Indian Indentured Labour in South Africa, 1893–1914

Between 1860 and 1911, 152,184 Indian indentured workers went to the then British colony of Natal to work primarily on the sugar plantations. They were followed by free Indian migrants. White settlers felt threatened by a settled Indian population and passed legislation to curb their immigration, trading, employment and residence rights. The struggle of Indians against this racist legislation was spearheaded by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The most contentious issues surrounding Gandhi’s South African stay between 1893 and 1914 are his allegedly racist attitudes towards Africans and his neglect of indentured migrants and their descendants. This article examines Gandhi’s attitude to, and relationship with, the indentured. While most academic studies have argued that Gandhi was oblivious to them until 1913, this article presents a nuanced picture, drawing on aspects of historical archives that have not yet been fully drawn upon, or re-reading those that have been consulted previously. It shows that Gandhi’s views underwent an observable transformation during the time that he was in South Africa, to the point that he came to describe the system of indenture as ‘an evil thing’. However, his reasons for wanting an end to the system were multiple and complex, relating not just to the plight of the indentured, but also the utility of ending indenture for non-indentured Indians.

Illegible Will: Coercive Spectacles of Labor in South Africa and the Diaspora. By Hershini Bhana Young. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2017; 280 pp.; illustrations. $99.95 cloth, $25.95 paperback, e-book available.

<i>Illegible Will: Coercive Spectacles of Labor in South Africa and the Diaspora</i>. By Hershini Bhana Young. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2017; 280 pp.; illustrations. $99.95 cloth, $25.95 paperback, e-book available.

Child Labour Laws in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe: A Comparative Analysis

This article reports on a study that investigated the effectiveness of child labour laws intended to promote child rights and the protection of children from unfair and forced labour. Legal scholars distinguish between child work and child labour: forced child labour manifests itself in abusing children sexually, forcing children to work on farms, and compromising children’s rights to education. Although South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia have laws in place to protect children from child labour, the abuse of children continues in these countries. Furthermore, although these three countries are signatories to conventions of the International Labour Organisation that seek to eliminate child labour, they have been unable to stem the tide of child labour. This article argues that there is a need for the three countries to work closely together to implement policies that reverse or fight against child labour. The researchers used a qualitative methodology to interpret the variations in the application of child labour laws. They found there are no harmonised laws to deal with child labour in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Hence, this article recommends that an independent supranational organisation be established in Southern Africa to monitor, evaluate, and implement progressive laws to eradicate child labour in line with internationally recognised best practices as set out in child labour laws.