Swaziland: Settlers, colonialism and the struggle for national identity (1907 - 1945)

Updated July 2008

Notwithstanding the work of the special court of 1890 considerable confusion existed in 1907 around the nature and extent of the various concessions, especially conflicting claims between the Swazis and the concession holders, and the Swaziland Concessions Commission was appointed to bring order to the situation (Crush 1979, 187; Simelane 1991, 719). After a general survey in 1905-06 and intensive lobbying by settlers the Crown Lands Order and the Concessions Partition Proclamation of 1907 allocated 43% to settlers and corporations, 22% to the crown, and the remaining 33% to reserves for the Swazi people (Crush 1979, 187; Simelane 1991, 719). Queen Labotsibeni and the Royal Council (ligcogco) were led to believe that the crown land would eventually be made available for use by the Swazi, but in fact this did not materialise (Macmillan 1989, 293; Simelane 1991, 720).

A Special Commissioner was appointed to demark the allocations made and in 1909 the work was finished; the Swazis were allocated over 30 reserves scattered across the country and were given until 1914 to move from private (settler) concessions to these reserves or to become wage labourers on the land, but by that date some 20 00 peasants still squatted there or were engaged in tenancy relations with the concession owners (Simelane 1991, 719; Macmillan 1985, 645). Attempts by Queen Labotsibeni to buy back alienated land for the nation were blocked in 1915 by a proclamation by the High Commissioner that prohibited them without his permission and restricted land sales to individuals (Simelane 1991, 720). Large scale land alienation and the heavy tax imposed in 1903 forced Swazis into wage labour and most were recruited to work on the mines of the Witwatersrand (Crush 1979, 187; Macmillan 1985, 645). Hugh Macmillan (1985, 645) observes "As a consequence of these unusually strong pressures of land alienation and taxation the Swazi had become primarily a nation of labour migrants by World War I, and remained so until the large-scale creation of local employment opportunities after World War II".

The future of the British protectorate over Swaziland was not resolved by its High Commissioner Territory status. In 1910 Swaziland joined the Southern African Customs Union along with the other High Commission territories, Basutoland (Lesotho), Bechuanaland (Botswana) and the Schedule to the Union of South Africa Act envisaged their eventual incorporation into the Union (Macmillan 1989, 294; Booth 1983, 23). Up to this point the focus of Queen Labotsibeni and the Royal Council had been on avoiding incorporation into the Transvaal and resisting the land alienation, but now the likelihood of incorporation into South Africa was accepted, and the Queen set about building wider alliances through Pixley kalsaka Seme, a founding member of the African National Congress (ANC. Macmillan 1989, 294, 295). She supported her son Prince Malunge when he joined the ANC, gave support to the struggle against the South African 1914 Land Act and petitioned unsuccessfully for the allocation of land to the Swazis in the eastern Transvaal (Macmillan 1989, 294, 295, 296).

In 1921 King Sobhuza II attained his majority and revived the ncwala, but petitions in 1921 and 1922 to have him recognised as king of the Swazi in South Africa and Swaziland were unsuccessful and, indeed, the British denied him the title of King at all preferring the of Paramount Chief (Macmillan 1989, 296). The following year he left for London and in 1923 petitioned there unsuccessfully for the land partition that came into effect in 1914 to be reversed and subsequent test cases were lost (Beemer 1937, 59; Booth 1983, 30). By way of contrast, in 1921 a European Advisory Council was created to represent the interests of the white settler population, which at that point numbered some 2 000 people, before the colonial government, while their lobbying power was enhanced by a variety of farmers organisations (Booth 1983, 24, 26; Levin 1997, 42). Dominated by English speakers these bodies became increasingly opposed to incorporation with South Africa and advocated measures to secure the British character of the colony, especially those aimed at increasing British settlement such as settlement schemes, expanded infrastructure, improved administration and guaranteed loans (Booth 1983, 24, 26; Levin 1997, 42, 45).

References

BEEMER, H 1937 "The Development of the Military Organization in Swaziland", Journal of the International African Institute , 10(1), January, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/1155846 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

BOOTH, AR 1983 Swaziland: Tradition and Change in a Southern African Kingdom, Boulder, New York, 1983.

CRUSH, JS 1979 "Settler-Estate Production, Monopoly Control, and the Imperial Response: The Case of the Swaziland Corporation Ltd", African Economic History, 8, Autumn, 183-197, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/3601564 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

LEVIN, R 1997 When the sleeping grass awakens: land and power in Swaziland, Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg.

MACMILLAN, H 1985 "Swaziland: Decolonisation and the Triumph of 'Tradition'", The Journal of Modern African Studies, 23(4), December, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/160683 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

MACMILLAN, H 1989 "A Nation Divided? The Swazi in Swaziland and the Transvaal, 1865-1986" IN Vail, L (ed) The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, University Of California Press, [www] http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft158004rs& chunk.id=d0e7328&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7328&brand=eschol [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

SIMELANE, HS 1991 "Landlessness and Imperial Response in Swaziland 1938-1950", Journal of Southern African Studies, 17(4), Dec, 717-741, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/2637367 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).