‘Is it Lawful for People to have their Things taken away by Force?’1 High Modernism and Ungovernability in Colonial Zimbabwe

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Comment by a delegation from Filabusi to the Chief Native Commissioner – NAZ S2808/2/6, ‘Record of a Meeting’, undated [c. 1961]:1. 2. The following discussion of the main provisions of the NLHA is based on Southern Rhodesia Citation1952a:893–916; Pendered and Von Memerty Citation1955:99–109; Bradford Citation1955:165–170; Bulman Citation1970:5–10. 3. For a detailed discussion of these interventions, see Fairhead and Leach Citation2000:44–45; Hodgson Citation2000:56–57; Van Beusekom Citation2000:80, 96–97. For contemporary accounts and discussion of these interventions by colonial officers and academics, see Meek Citation1953:158–166; Thomson Citation1953:66–69; Maserfield Citation1954:41–51; Colson Citation1958:86–89; Clayton Citation1959:144–150. 4. For example, see National Archives of Zimbabwe (hereafter NAZ) SRG-4, ‘Report of the Southern Rhodesian Government to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations for the Year 1949/1950’; NAZ SRG-4 ‘FAO: Seminar on Land Policies in East and Central Africa to be held in Uganda, October 1960: Southern Rhodesia Country Paper’; SARCUS, Extension Methods in Southern Africa: Report of the Proceedings and Findings of the Extension Methods Workshop, Salisbury, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, May 1962 (Pretoria: Government Printer); NAZ S483/2/75 ‘Prime Minister's Office: Land Utilisation Legislation’, Officer Administering the Government, Government House, Accra, Gold Coast to Governor, Southern Rhodesia, 27/7/50, requesting information on the draft NLHA as the Gold Coast administration was considering similar measures. 5. The Swynnerton plan has not yet been the subject of in-depth historical research. While there are numerous brief references to the scheme, the only significant publication focusing on the plans is a booklet published by the Cambridge African Studies Centre: Thurston Citation1987. 6. Howman, then an administrative officer at NAD headquarters, complained that the Act gave too much authority to technical staff, so implementation would cut across the ‘fundamental social structure of the people’ ignoring the ‘natural political unit of the Dunhu’ in Shona areas; his concerns were summarily dismissed by the Superintendent of Native Affairs. NAZ, S2818/12 NLHA Circulars, Roger Howman's 1952 handwritten comments attached to Circular No 309, Addendum C, ‘Centralisation and Individual Allocation of Arable Land in the Reserves and the Special Native Areas’ dated 31/7/52; H/O 129/359/71/2, SNA to R. Howman, 31/1/53; Director of Native Agriculture to Assistant Secretary for Native Economic Development, 14/10/52. 7. For examples of the extensive promotion of the NLHA, see Southern Rhodesia Citation1955; Southern Rhodesia Citation1952b; the annual reports of the Chief Native Commissioner 1951–1961 (especially the report for 1959 which has an extensive report on the NLHA Coordination Centre); the newspaper Nhume (published for African staff of the government); and the two films made by the Central African Film Unit to promote the NLHA, The New Acres and Changing the Land. 8. This discussion of the disciplinary regime is derived from Foucault 1979, especially pages 26–27, 38–39, 80, 89. In Decolonization and African Society, Cooper argues that Foucault's model of the disciplinary regime cannot be used to explain the second colonial occupation because Foucault was vague about how the disciplinary regime was formed and how elite ideas shaped the behaviour of the disciplined, and because he questions the applicability of the idea of surveillance in a colonial situation (1996:15, 335). I contend that Foucault's model of the disciplinary regime works in this situation because it provided the conceptual basis for the officials who drafted the law, and encapsulates common assumptions that they held about the way the state and economy should operate. On this abstracted level, I hold that the problems of historicity with Foucault's model that Cooper identified are not important. 9. Eric Worby has also advanced a Foucauldian analysis of the NLHA in ‘Discipline Without Oppression’; we appear to have both developed these analyses during graduate work in different institutions – McGill University and University of Minnesota – and different disciplines – anthropology and history. While he also roots his analysis in Discipline and Punish, he takes a very different angle, seeing the NLHA as a mechanism to discipline African hygienic practices, to stabilise and reform the family, regularise tenure and rationalise agrarian techniques – see 2000:103–111. 10. NAZ LAN20/7/D18/53, ‘Land Holding Under the Native Land Husbandry Act of 1951’, p 2. 11. For similar comments on officials' dismissive attitudes towards indigenous knowledge and African abilities, see Cooper Citation1996:123 and Scott Citation1998:349. 12. NAZ S2818/12, Circular No 309, Addendum C, ‘Centralisation and Individual Allocation of Arable Land in the Reserves and Special Native Areas’, dated 31/7/52, p 5 13. NAZ S160/MC/102/4/50. Director of Native Agriculture to Superintendent of Native Affairs, ‘Closer Association in Central Africa’, 20/12/50. 14. For missionary efforts before the Second World War, see Schmidt Citation1992:122–154. There is a briefer discussion in Burke Citation1996:44–50, 54–60. See also Kaler Citation1999 and Ranchod-Nilson Citation1992. 15. ‘X-mas Messages to All Our Readers by Mrs. Helen Mangwende [sic]’, Harvester 7(13):4–5, 5/1/55. See also ‘Good News for African Women and Girls’, Harvester 3(25):3, 16/5/51 and ‘The Woman's Place in the Home', Harvester 4(1):3, 13/6/51. 16. NAZ SRG/4, Arthur Pendered, ‘Report on a Visit to Certain African Colonies to Study Problems of Production, Marketing and Cooperation’, 1948, p 60. 17. See NAZ Oral 241, interview with Rupert Davies, pp 14–15, and NAZ Oral 227, interview with Richard John Powell, pp 22–25. 18. This insight is derived from Arrighi Citation1970:201–202. 19. NAZ RG – P/NAT 3 ‘Secretary of Native Affairs Memorandum and Plan for the Development and Regeneration of the Colony's Native Reserves and Areas, and for the Administrative Control and Supervision of the Land Occupied by Natives’, 1943; NAZ SRG/4 Arthur Pendered, ‘Report on a Visit to Certain African Colonies to Study Problems of Native Production, Marketing and Cooperation’, 1948; NAZ SRG/4 ‘Report of the Committee to Enquire into the Question of Additional Land for Native Occupation’, December 1949. 20. For a more detailed discussion of Zimbabwe's political economy during the late 1940s and 1950s, see Thompson Citation2004; for a more detailed discussion of developments during the war, see Phimister Citation1988:219–296. Duggan Citation(1980) provides a rather different reading of the political economy of this period, one that downplays conflicts between different sectors and interests. 21. This argument is influenced by the work of Beinart and Kate Showers, who have questioned the literal validity of white concerns about the environment, and stressed how a variety of influences shaped official concern about soil erosion. See Beinart Citation1984; Showers Citation1989; and Showers and Malahleha Citation1992. 22. NAZ S2223/26, SRC (50), 48th Meeting, 29/11/50, p 4; General Economic Policy – Analyses of Recommendations made by Cabinet at its 48th Meeting; NAZ S2223/23, 939/47, Chair, Public Services Commission to Acting Prime Minister, 17/11/47, NAZ SRG – 4, Southern Rhodesia, ‘Report to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 1950’, pp 1–2. 23. NAZ S2225/2, SRC (48), 107, ‘Supply of Native Labour for Agriculture’, 7/8/48, p 2. 24. NAZ S2223/26, SRC (50), 5th Meeting of the Cabinet, 24/1/50, p 7; NAZ S160/MC/100/3/50, ‘Minutes of the Native Affairs Advisory Board Meeting’, 17/10/50 and 18/10/50; NAZ S 3240/1,‘Cabinet Conclusions January to June 1952’, SRC (52) 12th Meeting, Confidential Annex, p 1; SRC (52) 44th Meeting, 16/9/52, pp 3–6. 25. NAZ S2223/24, SRC (48) 22nd Meeting of the Cabinet, 1/10/48, p 7; NAZ S2223/22, ‘Resolutions Adopted by the Cabinet’, 8/3/46, p 1; S2225/2, SRC (48), 107, ‘Supply of Native Labour for Agriculture’, 7/8/48, p 2; NAZ S2223/26, SRC (50), 42nd Meeting of the Cabinet, 24/10/50, p 10; SRC (50), 48th Meeting, 29/11/50, p 5, pp 8–9. 26. NAZ S2818/12, ‘NLHA Circulars’. 27. NAZ S2808/1/34, ‘Minutes of the NLHA Standing Committee’; NLHA: ‘Minutes of a Meeting in the Office of the Secretary, Native Economic Development’, 8/6/53, p 1; NAZ S3001/, ‘Agriculture, General, Implementation of the NLHA’, dated 21/4/54, pp 2–3; NAZ S2818/12, NLHA Circulars, NRB to Secretary Mines, Lands and Survey, 1/5/54; NAZ S3240/5, ‘Cabinet Conclusions January to June 1955’; SRC (55) 21st Meeting, 6/5/55, pp 1–5. 28. NAZ S3240/5, ‘Cabinet Conclusions January to June 1955’; SRC (55) 18th Meeting, 18/4/55, p 7; NAZ S3240/6, ‘Cabinet Conclusions July to December 1955’, SRC (55) 53rd Meeting, 17/11/55, p 2–3. 29. The first loan came only in 1960, when the World Bank offered £2million to support agricultural programmes for Africans in general, including the NLHA. NAZ S3240/10 Cabinet Conclusions July to December 1958, SRC (58) 44th Meeting, 23/9/55, SRC (58) 46th Meeting, 8/10/58, p 2, NAZ Records Centre, Box 45595 Ministry of Agriculture, MB 1702/LAN 20/12/B NLHA ‘Finance, Accelerated Implementation 1956–1959’, pp 2–5, ‘Financing the NLHA Programme for 1958’, dated 4/1/58, p 2 NEM 2234/MAR 40/3/4 ‘Under Secretary, Native Economics and Marketing to NLHA Committee’, /9/57, pp 3–5, NLHA Standing Committee, Minutes of Fourth Meeting, pp 3–4. 30. For a fuller discussion of these issues in Madziwa, see Thompson Citation2006. 31. Interviews: Chanakira 1998; Barwa 1998; Gono 1998, Chibikira1998; VaMusonza 1998; NAZ S2827/2/2/3, volume 1 ‘Report of the Native Commissioner, Mount Darwin, for the Year Ended 31/12/55’, p 6; NAZ S2797/4539, ‘Meeting of the Madziwa Reserve Native Council’, 28/9/48, p 2. 32. NAZ S2111/11, Court Docket No 17, 1954, 5/5/54; Regina versus Chiwero, NAZ Records Centre Box 62302; Memo Manifold Book, Arbitration Agreements, No 29, NC Shamva to LDO Shamva, 23/11/61; NAZ Records Centre Box 104399, ‘Minutes of the Thirty-fifth Meeting of the Mangwende Reserve Native Council’, 26/6/57, p 2; SBV2/MW/2/57, NC Mrewa to PNC Northern Mashonaland, undated, p 1. Jocelyn Alexander has also advanced a similar argument (Citation1993:39–41). 33. NAZ S2808/1/29, LAN20/7/58, NC Shamva to PNC Northern Mashonaland, 20/5/58, p 1; NAZ Records Centre Box 104399 ‘Minutes of the Madziwa Reserve Native Council’, 17/4/58, pp 1–2, 5; NAZ Records Centre Box 104399 ‘Minutes of the Madziwa Reserve Native Council’, 25/2/59, p 4; ‘Minutes of the Madziwa Reserve Native Council’, 26/5/59, p 2; ‘Minutes of the Meeting of the Madziwa Reserve Native Council’, 13/8/59, p 4; NAZ Records Centre Box 104399 SBV2/24/58, NC Shamva to PNC Mashonaland East, 17/11/58; NAZ Records Centre Box 104399, ‘Minutes of the Madziwa Reserve Native Council’, 13/8/59, p 2. 34. NAZ Records Centre Box 104399, ‘Minutes of the Madziwa Reserve Native Council’, 13/8/59, p 4. 35. NAZ S2808/2/6, ‘Record of a Meeting’, undated [c. 1961], p 1. 36. NAZ S2808/2/6, ‘Record of a Meeting, undated [c. 1961], pp 2–4. 37. See the district reports for 1961 in NAZ S2827/2/2/8, all three volumes. 38. NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3, ‘Report of the Native Commissioner for the Year Ending 31/12/61’, p 3. 39. NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3, ‘Report of the Native Commissioner, Shamva, for the Year Ending 31/12/61’, pp 16–17. 40. NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3, ‘Report of the NC Nkai, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 15. 41. Cited in Carbery Citation1987:48–49, 55–56, from NAZ Records Centre Box 84265, NAZ S2817/2 DSD 39/10/2, ‘Working Party D Interim Report’, [undated, but 1961], p 4, 2. 42. NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3, ‘Report of the NC Umtali, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 14. See also ‘Report of the NC Umvuma, for the year ended 31/12/61’, pp 4–5; ‘Report of the NC Urungwe, for the year ended 31/12/61, p 9’. 43. NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 2, ‘Report of the NC Hartley, for the year ended 31/12/61’, pp 16–17. See also NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3, ‘Report of the NC Makoni, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 11; ‘Report of the NC Nkai, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 8. 44. NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 1, ‘Report of the NC, Nkai for the year ended 31/12/61’, p. 9, 15; ‘Report of the NC Ndanga’, p 10. For other instances of sabotage including arson and attacks on dip tanks and hide sheds, see the annual reports in the three volumes of this file for Makoni, Mangwende, Shabani, Umtali. 45. NAZ S3240/18, SRC (60), 57th Meeting of the Cabinet, 10/10/60, pp 1–5. 46. NAZ S2827/2/2/8 volume 2, ‘Report of the NC, Matobo, for the year ended 31/12/61’, [no page numbers]; NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3, ‘Report of the NC, Sipolilo, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 19; ‘Report of the NC, Nkai, for the year ended 31/12/61, p 15; ‘Report of the NC, Bulalima-Mangwe, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 3; ‘Report of the NC, Makoni, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 17; ‘Report of the NC, Urungwe, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 16; Bhebe Citation1989b:106–107; Southern Rhodesia Legislative Assembly, Hansard, 14 May 1961, pp 1004–1005; NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3; ‘Report of the NC, Umtali, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 28, 14; ‘Report of the NC, Makoni, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 17. 47. NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 3, ‘Report of the NC, Lomagundi, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 19; ‘Report of the NC, Nkai, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 15; ‘Report of the NC, Makoni, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 17; ‘Report of the NC, Sipolilo, for the year ended 31/12/61’, p 19; NAZ S2827/2/2/8, volume 2, ‘Report of the NC, Matobo, for the year ended 31/12/61’, [no page numbers]. 48. NAZ Records Centre Box 84526 DSD 38/1, ‘Special NAAB Meeting, 20–22 March 1961’, Annexure B', p 3. 49. NAZ Records Centre Box 84526, DSD 38/1, ‘Special NAAB Meeting, 20–22 March 1961’, pp 1–3. 50. NAZ S3240/21 SRC (61), 55th Meeting of the Cabinet, 3/10/61, pp 6–11; NAZ S3240/21 SRC (62), 7th Meeting of the Cabinet, 6/2/62, pp 6–8. 51. NAZ Records Centre Box 98229, 1131/DSD, 39/10/2, Working Party D, First Meeting, 6/7/61; NAZ Records Centre Box 84526, ‘Prerequisites to African Development’ by James Green, NAZ S2973/8, Community Development Advisor to Chairman, Natural Resources Board, 31/7/62. 52. Bowman Citation1973:105–128; NAZ S3240/21 SRC (61), 55th Meeting of the Cabinet, 3/10/61, pp 6–11; NAZ S3240/21 SRC (62), 7th Meeting of the Cabinet, 6/2/62, pp 6–8; Southern Rhodesia, ‘Financial Statements, 1961–1962’, p 7; Southern Rhodesia, ‘Financial Statements, 1962–1963’, p 7; Southern Rhodesia, ‘Financial Statements, 1963–1964’, p 7, 10–11, 52–53; NAZ S3240/22 SRC (62), 16th Meeting of the Cabinet, 22/3/62, p 3. 53. The 1967 Tribal Trust Lands (TTL) Act, an RF measure that provided a new legal basis for land allocation in the reserves, and renamed the designated African areas TTLs, gave legal protection to the NLHA allocations that had been enacted. Local decisions and allocations by chiefs and headmen in some cases undid the allocations, so that there is a wide variation in the bases for landholding throughout the Communal Areas today. See Nyambara Citation2001; especially p 774 where he discusses the TTL Act, and Andersson Citation2002. 54. Movement for Democratic Change, Restart: Our Path to Social Justice. The MDC's Economic Programme for Reconstruction, Stabilisation, Recovery and Transformation (Harare, MDC, 2004), p 43. These proposals were also discussed on the MDC's website before the recent turmoil within the party; ‘5.1.2, In Communal Areas, Recommendations, Agriculture Land and Water Policy Statement (June 2000)’; http://www.mdczimbabwe.org/policy/policy.htm, accessed 18 January 2004.

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