Review:By the 1860’s, Natal’s large commercial farms (sugar) were very labour intensive (needed lots of workers)Zulu farmers could not be persuaded to work there - terrible conditions Government introduced taxes - didn’t work as Zulus paid their taxes through what they produced Result: Huge labour shortage Farmers had to look elsewhere for work force --> indentured labourers from India

Unit 7.3: Indentured labour from India

Between 1860 - 1911, 152 almost 140,000 indentured workers came from India to work on sugar cane fields in Natal. Most were Hindu men from Madras. Later almost half were women. The Indians worked on sugar cane plantations plus railways, dockyards, coalmines.Indenture lasted for 5 years - after that:- they could work for another 5 years- they could stay in Natal for another 5 years, then the government would pay their fare back to India- they could accept a piece of land = to value of a return ticketAbout half stayed - market gardeners, fishing, domestic service, coal mines, railways, traders.

Coolie = unskilled labourer in India, probably from the Urdu or Hindi word Kuli, meaning a porter. It was used in a derogative, way in South Africa to refer to all Indians.

An indentured labourer agrees to work in another country for a set period of time, in exchange for the fare to that country. All indentured labourers signed contracts which stated the working conditions - these were often ignored and workers were often badly treated.

Indentured Indians working in the Natal sugarcane fields

When indentured Indians arrived in South Africa, they were identified by number only.

WORKING CONDITIONS - could be up to 17 hours a day, 7 days a week- machinery in the mills could be dangerous- no safety measures - often whipped by employer- often no pay- even children had to work- language - not understood- families often split up- often snakes in sugar cane

Although farmers needed the Indian workers, they and the government didn’t like them being in Natal: segregated and discrim-inated against them from the start.

In 1893, a 24-year-old Indian lawyer arrived in Durban to take part in a lawsuit in Transvaal. He booked a first-class train ticket to Johannesburg – and was ordered out of the train because of his colour. He spent a cold

night in the non–European waiting-room at Pietermaritzburg railway station. The lawyer’s name was Mahatma Gandhi. His experience made him decide to remain in Natal and help the growing community of Indians imported to work on the sugar plantations. In 1894, Gandhi founded the Natal Indian Congress to agitate for Indian rights. In 1896, Gandhi began to teach a policy of passive resistance to, and non-cooperation with, the South African authorities. Gandhi considered the terms passive resistance and civil disobedience inadequate for his purposes, however, and coined another term, Satyagraha (Sanskrit, "truth and firmness").