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

These developments highlighted the policy of the colonial state in Swaziland to privilege the interests of the small minority of settlers at the expense of the indigenous population at every turn (Crush 1979, 183; Levin 1997, 41). Alan Booth (1983, 26) summed matters up thus: "As for the Swazis themselves, British policy in the interwar years... was one of one of studied neglect". By 1927 the colonial government's efforts were restricted to financial aid to eleven mission schools, while healthcare was wholly a mission function (Booth 1983, 27; Levin 1997, 40). The rapid spread of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) in the 1926 in the eastern Transvaal and parts of Swaziland, though a spent force by 1928, pointed to the profound social and economic changes that had taken place over the previous two decades and the degree of discontent that had emerged (Macmillan 1989, 298, 299). Towards the close of the decade Sobhuza, concerned by the decay of Swazi institutions as a result of colonial incursion, the emergence of migrant labour and the division between traditionalism among the illiterate as against the growth of Christianity along with literacy, set on a path of ethnic mobilization aimed at restoring traditional institutions, especially the authority and power of the monarchy and the Swaziland National Council (Macmillan 1989, 300; 1985, 646).

The traditional policy of British colonialism, "indirect rule", was increasingly favoured by the colonial government, the settlers and the monarchy, though for very different reasons. For the colonial government and the settlers it provided a cheap administrative cushion between themselves and the indigenous population while simultaneously transforming potentially independent and subversive traditional rulers into paid lackeys of the colonial authorities (Macmillan 1989, 300; 1985, 649). For the monarchy it presented the opportunity to recover lost power and jurisdictions and revitalise the legitimacy and functioning of traditional structures and for that reason Sobhuza vigorously resisted efforts at turning traditional office bearers into paid functionaries (Macmillan 1985, 300; 1985, 649). By the 1930's the latent conflict had become explicit and continued to be so until 1950, when Sobhuza finally has his way (Macmillan 1985, 649). In a further measure by the government to curb the influence of the traditional authorities, the Swaziland Progressive Association was formed in 1929 to represent the interest of emerging intellectuals, but the election of a leadership close to the royal family and its confinement to expanding economic opportunities for its members negated its ability to challenge the authority of the monarchy and the Swaziland National Council (Macmillan 1989, 300, 301).

Sobhuza's efforts at reconciling the traditional and the modern, along with the revival of traditional practices and institutions that had become moribund, embraced initiatives aimed at the youth. The first of these was the establishment in 1931 of the Swazi National High School, in cooperation with the government, which "was intended to become 'a genuine national undertaking and cater for the cultural, social, and industrial development of the Swazi people'. There was to be an academic stream leading to the matriculation class at Fort Hare University College, but it also had a strong emphasis on agricultural training (Macmillan 1989, 301; 1985, 649). Sobhuza also revived the incorporation of Swazi youths into age regiments (Ibutho) to provide education in traditional culture and values, military training and tribute labour, against strong opposition from settlers, missionaries, some Swazi intellectuals and the pupils of the National High School, but with the support of some white intellectuals (Macmillan 1989, 301).

The rapid growth and influential role that Christianity had come to play led to another of Sobhuza's initiatives. The first effective missions had been established in the 1880s and African separatist churches began to emerge with the arrival in 1904 of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Cummergen 2000, 372). Catholicism, introduced in 1914, grew rapidly as a result of its flexible and eclectic approach to traditional culture and institutions, as by comparison with the other more conservative white controlled mission, but it was with the emergence of Zionist churches in the same year that Christianity really expanded (Cummergen 2000, 372, 373; Kuper 1963, 67, 68). The Zionists, like the Catholics, were more accommodating to traditional beliefs and practices and rejected the firm control exercised by white missionaries over the native churches and soon established close relations with Queen Regent Labotsibeni (Cummergen 2000, 372, 373). By 1920 there were 14 missionary organisations operating in Swaziland and by 1921 4% of the population was Christian and in 1929 the mission churches formed the umbrella Swaziland Missionary Conference (Cummergen 2000, 372; Booth 1983, 51).

References

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).

CUMMERGEN, P 2000 "Zionism and Politics in Swaziland", Journal of Religion in Africa, 30(3), August, 370-385, [www] http://www.jstor.org/stable/1581497 [opens new window] (accessed 10 Mar 2010).

KUPER, H 1963 The Swazi: a South African kingdom, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

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).