PREFACE
The articles included in this volume represent a selection of papers presented at the Second Annual Conference of the Historical Association of Eastern and Southern African Universities held at the University of Swaziland, Kwaluseni Campus, from 4 to 8 December, 1989. The only exception is Joseph Mtisi's paper, Relationship between Government and Private Enterprise in the Forestry and Timber Industry: The Case of Zimbabwe 1923-75, which was discussed at the First Annual Conference, which met at the National University of Lesotho in August, 1988.
The Swaziland conference was sponsored by the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern Africa(OSSREA) and the University of Swaziland. The editor would like to thank Dr. Eshetu Chole, the Executive Secretary of OSSREA, for his support during the course of preparing the collection for publication. He would also like to thank Drs. Ackson Kanduza and Joseph Mtisi for their general assistance.
Owen J.M. Kalinga
Roma, Lesotho
April 1991
The issues discussed in papers in this volume pertain to agriculture, land and the environment and, in terms of chronology, the contributions cover the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods of African history. The first two papers deal with changes in agriculture and agrarian systems and the evolution of pre-colonial societies. The next five examine the formulation of policy and its practical implications on societies upon which such policy is implemented. The last one questions the lineal proletarianisation thesis and argues for a multifaceted approach to research into the development of classes, especially among peasants. Indeed, as will be obvious from the summaries of their contents which follow, all the papers call for researchers to broaden their approach to research in order to achieve more accurate results.
Kings Phiri's examination of migrations and agricultural change on the western side of Lake Malawi is an attempt to go beyond the majority of studies on the pre-colonial history of Malawi, which have tended to be carried out within the framework of trade and politics. He seeks to demonstrate that immigrants did not concentrate on state formation and commerce but that many of them took advantage of the fertile soils and the abundant waters of the lake and perennial rivers of the area to get involved in, and encourage, agricultural production. Using archaeological and oral evidence Phiri describes the development of agricultural techniques, tools and food crops in the region starting with the pre-1600 period. The contribution of each major `wave' of immigrants is discussed at length: the Ngulube who arrived in the sixteenth century followed by the arrival of the Lowoka which took place in the eighteenth century and, finally, the nineteenth century migrations of the Swahili and the Yao.
Ndebesa Mwambutsya's main concern is to show relations in the early social formation of Ankole. In the latter state tribute paying was the dominant mode of production, and Mwabutsya traces the development of relations between the pastoralists, the Bahima, who were the dominant class, and the cultivators, Bahiru, who constituted the `commoner' class. Besides showing how the two classes were kept together by the Bahinda and Bashambo clans, Mwambutsya also demonstrates how, in this complex formation, possession of land for cultivation and pasture, and ownership of and access to water sources were at the centre of social relations.
A challenge to policy makers, project planners and social scientists to take researches of an historical nature more seriously than is currently the case is made by Ackson Kanduza in his paper, History and Agricultural Change in Zambia. Kanduza's main argument is that many of the recommendations of policy makers and development specialists are often impractical and, therefore, irrelevant primarily because historical data on related issues is ignored in the early stages of project planning or because appropriate research is not conducted in the rural areas concerned before formulating policy. One of the examples which Kanduza uses to prove his point is the reaction of Zambian peasants to the introduction of new technology in agriculture. At independence consultants advised the Zambian Government to increase the instruments of labour by buying tractors and distributing them to rural cultivators. Without carrying out research into the means through which these cultivators had in the past attempted to increase their instruments of labour, the government went ahead to execute the recommendations of the consultants. Tractors were duly bought and distributed and those which fell into disrepair were replaced time and again. This became government policy in the 1960s and 1970s but it had to be abandoned because it failed. Citing the historical works of Muntemba and Chipungu, Kanduza shows that long before the consultants' recommendations, Zambian peasants had appreciated the best and cheapest means of improving and increasing commodity production. Kanduza concludes that because of their training, width and depth and their sophisticated methodology, historians are best equipped to conduct research which should prove most useful to development specialists, policy planners and organizations such as the World Bank.
The question of policy and practice is tackled in the three papers on Zimbabwe. Victor Machingaidze evaluates the Native Land Husbandry Act of 1954 enacted to enforce the government's agrarian and livestock policy. Machingaidze demonstrates how, at the instigation of capitalist interests, the government was determined to restrict the movement of peoples between the urban and rural areas in the hope that this would lead to a self sufficient rural population distinct from an equally satisfied and stable urban working class. According to Machingaidze, the Act failed because government planners had not appreciated the fact that because of the strong link between the Africans in the towns and those in the rural areas, the urban worker was also at times a rural peasant. Machingaidze also shows how the Land and Husbandry Act led to congestion in the rural areas, to soil erosion, to a reduction in agricultural production and, not unnaturally, to protest in towns and villages. Policy, Machingaidze argues, had failed to take into consideration different aspects of the evolution of African society in colonial Zimbabwe. African peoples had not been consulted prior to writing the Act, and no adequate research into possible problems had been carried out by the government department concerned.
Nyambara's paper on the development of the cotton industry in Zimbabwe and Joseph Mtisi's on the relations between government and private enterprise in the timber and forest industry deal with policy governing specific agricultural ventures. Nyambara examines the problems which the cotton industry went through during the early part of this century, and Mtisi discusses the issues concerning control, utility and profit of the timber and forest industry and how it contributed to uneasy relations between government and the private sector.
Cotton production is also discussed by Bonginkosi Sikhondze in his paper, Monopoly Commodity Production in Swazilan The Case of Cotton. Sikhondze starts with a review of the literature on commodity production and then progresses to discuss the evolution of the cotton industry in colonial Swaziland. He shows how originally the industry was dominated by Europeans who grew it and marketed it outside, and how, when it became obvious to them that problems -including labour- were making the crop unprofitable, they began to rely on African grown cotton. Swazi producers sold the crop to the white settlers at agreed prices but, as some local growers realised that cotton could be profitable, they started to challenge the position of the white farmers as middlemen. Sikhondze concludes that this demonstrates the Swazi producers' ability to respond quickly to market forces.
In the next paper Chioponde Mushinge appeals to scholars to reconsider the underdevelopment thesis which, he points out, is still a useful theoretical framework within which to analyse problems in African history. Mushinge then shows how colonial policy on ecology and African cattle production in Botswana led to the healthy growth of settler cattle trade and, at the same time, to a retardation of the African cattle trade. He starts with an analysis of the importance of cattle in the political economy of pre-colonial Botswana and how, due to careful management of the environment, agropastoralism thrived. However, this changed during the colonial period because various government policies resulted in the best land going to settlers and the worst to the Africans. This led not only to a decline in the ecology of the area - especially the African reserves - but also, ultimately, to European cattle being favoured in South African markets. African cattle, reared in the reserves, were considered to be inferior and so sold at much lower prices.
The last contribution is historiographical. The paper does not concern itself with policy as such but it reviews studies which have analysed agricultural and agrarian policies and their effects on societies of Southern Africa. In this paper Michael Neocosmos attacks the manner in which scholars have dealt with the subject of the proletarianisation of the African peasantry of the region. He argues that pre-occupation with proletrianisation has often led scholars to broaden their approach to the study of African societies not only by using different paradigms but also by asking a variety of questions.
Despite the fact that contributors to this volume do not apply a uniform conceptual framework, their conclusions make it clear that the issues raised in the papers are important, and serve to remind us of the central role of agriculture and the rural producer in African development. It is hoped that the studies will provoke a debate and stimulate other scholars to carry out research into these and related matters.
1 * The National University of Lesotho