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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Exploitation and Abuse of African Labour in the Colonial Economy of Zimbabwe, 1903-1930: A Lopsided Struggle between Labour and Capital
Author:Makambe, E.P.ISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Transafrican Journal of History
Volume:23
Pages:81-104
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Zimbabwe
Southern Africa
Great Britain
Subjects:black workers
colonialism
Economics and Trade
Labor and Employment
History and Exploration
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Economics, Commerce
history
imperialism
Labor
working conditions
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24520271
Abstract:This paper shows that the exploitation and abuse of African labour in colonial Zimbabwe was widespread and general between 1903 and 1930. Various factors were responsible for this. Firstly, most settler employers were seriously undercapitalized and could only achieve profitability through cost minimization on items that were necessary for the maintenance of a reasonable standard of welfare for African labourers. Secondly, most African labour was foreign, originating from the trans-Zambesi territories (Zambia, Malawi), and was consequently extremely vulnerable to economic exploitation and social control. Thirdly, the colonist employers often hid behind white settler ideology which was transposed from the precapitalist era and tended to relegate African labourers to a non-human status, which justified their exploitation. Finally, the colonial State consistently allied itself with settler capital in the exercise to promote capitalist production and accumulation at the expense of the position of African labour. Note, ref., sum.
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