| Abstract: | By concentrating on the rural dimension, this essay offers an alternative to the analysis that gives to the South African state a determining role in the origins of the migratory form of labour. Secondly, it shows that an understanding of the nature of migrant labour as an institution demands its periodisation, for in its early phases, independent chiefs and elder were able to protect the migrants from the super-exploitation that was to characterise later phases. Concomitantly, the chiefs were able to benefit from migrant labour and, despite its disruptive potential, were thus able to entrench their dominance in the labour supplying rural areas. The third object is to examine the effect that 'extra-economic' forces had in creating the conditions needed to reproduce a migratory flow. Foremost amongst these was kinship, which was essential to production and crucial in its transformation. Notes. |
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