Knowledge is preciousUniversity of Venda
Discourses on Difference and Oppression

Dance,ethnic differences and oppression:Instruments of labour and social control at the Messina copper mines, 1920 - 1960

Felix Malunga
( Department of History, University of Venda )

Introduction

The thesis of this paper is to investigate how African mineworkers at the Messina copper mines responded to the harsh social and economic conditions which were pervalent in the mine compounds. Mine management subjected workers and their families to coercive social control measures in the compounds in order to ensure maximum productivity from the workforce. African responses to these measures took the form of traditional ethnic dances which helped he mineworkers and their families to seek to retain their individual dignity and identity amidst a dehumanising compound environment.

The Messina copper mines of No. 5 Shaft, Harper, Campbell and Artonvilla were mainly dependent on foreign migrant workers from across the north of the Limpopo River. These foreign migrant workers included the Atonga, Alikoma, Anyanja and Angoni from Malawi; the Ndebele and Karanga from Zimbabwe; and the AbaBemba from Zambia . From within the borders of South Africa, the mining company derived most of its workforce from the Vha-Venda of the Sibasa and Soutpansberg districts and to a limited extend the Sotho from the Blaawuberg district.

The African mineworkers sought to reassert their individual and ethnic identity amidst the exploitation and dehumanising conditions of work and living to which they were subjected to by taking part in traditional ethnic dances. These dances were performed over weekends and on public holidays. Participation in traditional ethnic dances enabled the mineworkers to retain strong links with their culture and contributed in strenghtening some of the mineworkers not to succumb to the mine culture. Between 1905 and 1920 mine management showed no interest in supporting such traditional ethnic dances since they were regarded as products of inferior cultures which would have no bearing on the welfare of the mining company.

After 1945 ethnic dances were supported by mine management as an important instrument of social and labour control of the workers and their families. Ethnic dances kept the workers ‘constructively’ engaged over weekends thereby ensuring that Monday morning copper productivity would not be disrupted by absentism. To some compound dwellers, the traditional ethnic dances became vechiles of voicing grievances against mine management oppression or provided a platform for harassed and brutalised compound women to air complaints against their husbands.

The traditional dances of the migrant workers portrayed ethnic origin , attributes of manhood , praise to the ancestors , military victories and historic achievements . In the 1940’s traditional dances became more organised and competitive . Often the clerical staff and leading team leaders at the four mine compounds played, supported by the mine management, an important role in organising their own respective ethnic group’s performance .

Mganda dance

Among the foreign migrant workers from Nyasaland , the mganda dance was the most popular form of entertainment . Participation was based on ethnicism and teams of Atonga , Anyanja , Alikoma and Angoni dancers competed against each other . Women were active participants especially as singers and alulaters . Thus mganda dance at Messina was ethnic -specific but class - and gender - neutral . Before a mganda team could be formed , the group held a meeting where a leader was chosen . Captains and other officials were also elected in order to carry out administrative and welfare functions among the membership . Members of the team pledged financial contributions towards a fund for the payment of the teams requirements such as an animal skin to be used for making the drum , gourds for making trumpets , uniforms and shakers .

Each mganda team consisted of between 30 and 100 members and had its own name . In most cases team formation reflected the districts or towns which the foreign migrant workers originally came from. . Thus mganda team such as Limbi and Zomba reflected patterns of labour migration to Messina . During the dance , team members wore the same kind of clothes - white shorts , white shirt and tie, long stockings and black shoes . Members had to pledge themselves to a disciplinary code of conduct and respect among themselves . The dance itself consisted of formations of 3 to 5 rows of dancers each led by an ‘officer. ’ Once everybody was ready , the captain would shout instructions : " Attention , stand at ease , slope arms , march one , two, three , go .’’ The dancers would then blow their trumpets , singing and marching in unison . Women cheered them on and presented the best dancers with gifts .

Mganda dance had a positive impact on the majority of the dancers. It instilled in them a sense of discipline and financial sacrifice .For instance , mganda team members who were returning home did not hesitate to buy uniforms for their village mganda teams thereby emphasising the tie the migrant worker felt for his community. This act also represented the African traditional value of redistribution of wealth . In addition mganda unwritten code of conduct condemned the practice of mine wives , abuse of alcohol and drugs . The dance promoted ethnic cohesiveness and identity and members always comforted each other in times of grief or sickness . Thus mganda dances which were frequently held by teams from the four mine compounds greatly contributed in establishing and strengthening friendly relations with fellow home boys .

Witnesses interviewed maintained that mineworkers from the same region or district used the mganda teams as a means of sharing their resources , burying their dead and offering hospitality to newcomers .In caring for new arrivals and the sick , mganda teams were actually performing social functions which the mine management and indeed the South African government were unwilling or unable to spend money on. Thus mganda was firmly fixed in the context of African mineworkers’ social self-help , amusement and competition . For team members it became an expression of African communalism .

In his research work on labour at the copper mining industry in Northern Rhodesia , Moore found that mganda dancers developed a " latent resentment of the limitless resources and wealth of their White counterparts with whom they worked at the mines ." However , at the Messina mines no evidence could be found to suggest that mganda dance instilled some form of African hatred for the White mineworkers or indeed the mine management . Witnesses interviewed expressed the opinion that mganda was primarily concerned with the recreation and social welfare of its members .

For their part the Messina company mine management embraced mganda as a means of labour and social control . The smartness in dress of the dancers and apparent discipline were welcomed by the compound managers as essential tools of subjecting , at least part of the labour force , to compound control . Visiting United Kingdom directors and shareholders of the company , local White friends to compound managers and even government officials were often privileged with the opportunity to witness special mganda performances . This created a false impression that the mineworkers were satisfied with their employment conditions and cared less about the exploitative wages and dehumanising living conditions in the compounds . Finally , mine management also refrained from imposing control over the administration and organisation of mganda save for providing transport to the dancers from one compound to the other .

Witnesses interviewed maintained that after 1955 there was a noticeable decline in the popularity and performance in mganda dance at all the Messina mine compounds . Several factors appear to have contributed to this state of affairs .One reason seems to have been the changing attitude of the new generation of young men and women who were born and bred at Messina . There was a reluctance from these youth to take over from the middle aged men and women who used to dance mganda in the 1940’s and early 1950’s .These youth had grown up under a different culture .

S . Banda states that young men and women had fancy ideas put into their heads at the local Musina primary school which taught them choral music . Phiri attributed the change of attitude to the unwillingness or laziness by the youth to exert energy in organising mganda teams and to live by the strict mganda code of discipline . The witness further claimed that the youth preferred the easy route of securing a gramophone and music records and then dance with their friends . Another witness, A. Moyo, claimed that the declining interest in mganda was largely due to the individualistic attitude of the new generation . Whereas mganda had been a unifying force for the foreign migrant workers , it now had no bearing on their children who easily found company with other children in the compounds and at the local primary school . This indictment of the youth by former mganda generation for lack of interest in the dance is a clear sign that the dance was gradually dying out at the Messina copper mines . Mganda dance teams completely ceased to perform in the 1960’s due to lack of interest .

Gule - wa -Mukulu dance

Another popular traditional dance at the Messina mines was the Gule-wa-Mukulu performed by the Chewa ethnic group from Nyasaland . Membership of the dancers remained a closed book to the public . Gule-wa Mukulu was a ritual traditional dance which could start on Friday evening and end on Sunday afternoon to remember the dead , celebrate an annual ritual of the Chewas or the end of the initiation of Chewa girls .

Because of the secrecy of its membership , except for the drum beaters, it was not known how many Chewas actively took part in this dance . The venue of the dance was always outside the compound quarters at a camp where spectators would flock in their hundreds from various mine compounds to witness the mystical dance. Gule-wa-Mukulu was held quarterly and the mine compounds alternated in staging the dance .

There were four varieties of Gule-wa-Mukulu :

* Ngombengombe which was a dance by an "ox" made of cardboard boxes with a male dancer inside performing the ngombengombe dance . This dance was performed only at night at full moon

* Champion was a male dancer wearing a wooden red mask, dressed in long khaki sacks gear depicting a White male . The champion was a gifted dancer who performed his act by following the rhythmic beatings of the drums .

* Maria-Maria was a male dancer wearing female attire and covered in a female black mask . This dancer who posed as a wife of the champion was very popular with the spectators because of his dancing skills .

* Maphula was a male dancer who instilled fear among the spectators . He was aggressive and regarded as a mentally deranged performer . He wore dirty and tartared shorts and washed his upper body with ash . Nonetheless , the " mentally deranged " Maphulas were skilled dancers . The number of Maphula dancers could range from 10 to 15 and they usually danced in pairs .

Mine management regarded the Gule- wa- Mukulu as a typical example of the "barbarism " of African culture . Because of the secrecy surrounding its membership ,the dance encountered bitter mine management hostility . Some of the compound managers thought that Gule-wa-Mukulu had an elaborate network of communication among the Chewa ethnic group . They saw the Champion and Maria-Maria dancers as its mockery of Whites. The attitude of mine management was that an organised but secret association or organisation of Africans would increase the danger of strikes or become the basis of a labour movement which would confront management on labour related issues if the occasion presented itself .

As a result mine management adopted a hostile attitude to Gule-wa-Mukulu and attempted on several occasions to disrupt , albeit unsuccessfully , the performance of the dance on its mine property .

This attitude of the mine management was based on information received through a spy network system which was part of the compound control machinery . Evidence from some of the witnesses suggest that the majority of the songs sung during the Gule-wa-Mukulu dance were the custodians of their history and legends . However , some of the interviewees maintained that some of the songs reflected the Chewa’s dissatisfaction with the economic and social conditions at the Messina mines and encouraged the mineworkers to support the activities of the local branch of the African Mineworkers Union . Apparently it was through the latter songs that the Chewa music invoked ancestral heroes and spiritual forces for guidance , assistance and comfort . As a result one might venture to suggest that Gule -wa -Mukulu songs served the same purpose as editorial columns in modern day newspapers and journals for the public at the Messina mines . This was most probably the case if one bears in mind that the majority of the people at the Messina mines were illiterate and even for the minority literate , the print media was not easily available to them.

Nonetheless , known members of Gule -wa-Mukulu maintained that the dance was primarily concerned with recreation and the welfare of its members . If their assertion was true then their only fault would appear to have been in their desire to keep their cultural heritage a complete secret from other groups and the mine management at the Messina mines .

Muchongolo and Machikunda dances

Other foreign dances from countries north of the Limpopo River also found their expression in the Messina compounds . Shangaan male dancers performed the muchongolo dance which celebrated the role of women in society , war victories and ritual ceremonies . The Sena from Mozambique performed the machikunda dance (magic dance ) especially during the festive seasons as part of the annual Sena ritual . This dance took different forms of entertainment such as turning sugar into sand , man rolling on nails without getting injured or eating fire flames . Whereas payment of a fee was not a pre-requisite for watching such magic , spectators generously offered money to magicians for more spectacular performances .

Tshigombela , Malende and Tshikona dances

Unlike foreign migrant workers , the Venda migrant workers through their traditional dances of tshigombela , malende and tshikona reported and commented on current affairs at the Messina mines . They used their songs to concientise fellow mineworkers about their economic and social plight . These songs often reflected and attempted to mould public opinion on certain issues relating to their daily lives within the mine compounds . Another social dynamic to emerge from the Venda traditional dances was that Venda compound wives used the songs to air in public their displeasure concerning their ill-treatment at the hands of wife bashing husbands .

H.A. Stayt states that " music , dancing and songs are an integral part of nearly all the social activities of the BaVenda . These songs sung at different social functions , for women take the place of correspondence columns of newspapers and are the chief means of molding public opinion ."

The tshigombela dance was ethnic - and gender - specific in that only Venda women and girls were participants . Traditionally tshigombela was performed in autumn when weeding was completed and the first maize cobs were available . It was dropped for a few weeks during the harvest season . However , at the Messina mines , it was performed whenever the organisers decided to hold the traditional dance . The tempo of the tshigombela dance is fast and sharp . Whilst singing the dancers kick and stamp their feet on the ground . The climax of tshigombela is reached when the women and girls do what is known as " u gaya " In all tshigombela songs there is a leader who sings the main points while others background her .

At the Messina mine compounds tshigombela dances were very popular partly because they were sources of compound social gossip and other events . Venda compound wives used the dance to express protest , mockery , praise or encouragement . Protest here should be read to mean criticism , rejection or objection to some decision or event as a result of actions by mine management or mine husbands . More often Venda compound wives used the tshigombela songs to protest against ill-treatment meted out by mine husbands . A wife who was assaulted by her husband would " go public " by actively taking part in a song in which the assailant would be ridiculed for assaulting a women . Such a song would expose the husband to fellow mineworkers , other compound women and children . In the course of time tshigombela dance had the social impact of reducing the level of domestic violence at the mine compounds because violent mineworkers were afraid of public exposure and humiliation .

One popular tshigombela song at the mines ran as follows :

"Fools will always resort to physical force

To impose their will on their wives

Prudent men will never beat their wives

For it is us who bear them children

It is us who cook and feed them when

they are hungry

if you are so strong

Why not prove it by beating other men at musango

Answer us VhaDau ! "

In the absence of any legal instruments to protect and promote the rights of women , the tshigombela dance became the " commission for gender equality and protection of women " against abuse by the mineworkers . Wife bashing foreign migrant mineworkers who were married to foreign or Union females were also subjected to this public criticism .Thus Venda tshigombela dancers became the spokespersons of the non - Venda females who were victims of assault or ill- treatment by their husbands . Venda compound wives also used tshigombela dance to apply economic pressure against the compound managers and compound indunas , demanding among others , better quality of raw food rations , improved wages for their husbands and relaxation of regulations prohibiting the brewing of African beer .

During the tshigombela dance a lot of mockery songs were sung . For instance , a compound wife whose husband had a concubine would be the lead singer in a tshigombela dance . The husband , unaware that his wife had discovered his extra- marital affair , would suddenly find himself the subject of a tshigombela mockery song . The wife would use the platform to inform the public about the hardships brought upon her family by her husband’s conduct . In this instance the tshigombela dance served as a "family social worker " for the wife to unload her frustrations and for the husband to be restrained from his unacceptable conduct by public knowledge of his deeds .

Admittedly the causes of women’s domination and abuse are multiple. But at the Messina mine compounds , the pattern of male - female relationships was the end product of the capitalist economic system , which emphasised private property and private ownership of wealth thereby generating unequal relations not only between the mining capitalists and the African working class , but also between the African working class men and women generally . Thus in the working class family of the mine compound community , the husband was the breadwinner and was expected to financially support his non - working wife and family .This entitled him to a privileged position within the marriage . He regarded his wife as a private property that he owned . On the other hand , since the majority of the mine compound wives were dependent on their husbands financially and on their social status, they often lacked a sense of their own identity and freedom within their marriage . This therefore explains why compound women preferred the public platform provided by the traditional dance of tshigombela to vent out their displeasure against abuse and harassement .

Another popular traditional Venda dance at the Messina mines was malende which was usually performed over weekends . whenever people met to entertain themselves by drinking beer . Usually two women and two men , dressed in traditional Venda attire , engaged in the dance while the rest of the group were singing and hand clapping. Some of the malende songs were meant to generate fun while others were intended to moralise the compound community against involvement in " social evils " such as the use of money to buy favours from the compound police . The message in a malende was given ironically . Whilst it was directed against a specific individual , the message was simultaneously conveyed to others to refrain from such practices . Songs to mock people who made it their habit to live by asking for hand-outs in the form of salt , sugar ,or mealie meal from their neighbours were common . In this manner the malende songs were used to built the social and moral fiber of the mine compound community .

Another popular Venda traditional dance at the Messina mines was tshikona . This dance was ethnic - and gender - specific. It was the terrain of men and boys only . Women could only alulate and cheer as the males went about performing their dance . Traditionally tshikona was performed as part of the Thevhula ritual -- remembering and honouring Venda ancestors . However , Venda mineworkers also performed tshikona to honour Rammushwana , the only Venda compound induna at the copper mines .

Tshikona dancers used a variety of reed pipes/flutes called nanga . These included the " palana , mpingi , takhulane , tshihunguvhu , veve , tshiaravhi , thakhuli , pala, tangu , and mboho ." During the tshikona dance , the leading singers blow reed pipes which produce soprano tunes . The rest of the dance blowers join in sounding baratone tunes . Dancers move in a circle , jumping up and down . The leader may change a tune , giving a signal to the dancers to change the style . Drum beaters must watch the style in question and also change the drum beating. Women join the group by doing the " u tangela " -- dancing and alulating outside the dancing group . All four mine compounds at Messina had tshikona teams . Team members were responsible for electing team leaders subject to the approval by the Campbell compound induna . The latter had the right to determine the venue and day on which all tshikona teams would meet for the dance. Although African beer was usually available on such occasions, it was only offered in limited quantities to avoid drunkenness since the tshikona was a solemn dance .

Conclusion

To conclude , the introduction of different ethnic traditional dances at the Messina mine compounds was an expression of the identity of regional groupings . Whilst it is true that these ethnic entities competed with each other through their dances , it is also true that there was a marked and even more intensified competition within the different mganda , Gule -wa- Mukulu , muchongolo , machikunda , tshigombela , malende and tshihona teams .

Performance of these traditional dances which were initiated , organised and administered by the mineworkers themselves positively made a contribution in ensuring social harmony on the mining company’s property . They provided an important pre-occupation for the mineworkers over weekends thereby ensuring that Monday copper productivity would always be at its expected peak . More importantly for the mining company , no financial expenditure was incurred to support the various traditional dance teams .

However , the gradual dying out of the foreign (not South African ) traditional dances after 1956 was certainly bad news for the mining company. It implied that mine management had to come up with an alternative strategy to keep the mineworkers pre -occupied over weekends . On the other hand , local traditional Venda dances of tshigombela , malende and tshikona , although also declining in popularity , never really faced the possibility of dying out at the mines . The proximity of the Messina mines to the Venda rural districts of Sibasa and the Zoutpansberg and the mounting political pressure on the mine management by the South African government to employ more local Union Africans , became a life -line of sustaining Venda traditional dances at Messina .


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