1. This is a straightforward question requiring the candidate to outline the settler government’s policies that were designed to frustrate African economic activities as a way of forcing them to submit to the colonial capitalist system as labourers
2. A knowledge of various African activities
is essential e.g. crop cultivation, pastoralism, mining, tool making,
hunting and gathering, trade, tribute and raiding
3. It will be important to examine the settler government’s policies to hinder the above and other African economic activities
SOME OF THE KEY ISSUES TO CONSIDER INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
1. Expropriation of land- the Europeans started the process of grabbing
the Africans’ land in 1890 when they occupied a part of Mashonaland.
More land was forcibly taken away from the Africans in 1894 after the
defeat of the Ndebele in the Anglo-Ndebele war of 1893-4. The land-grab
was followed up by the creation of reserves for Africans in the Gwayi
and Shangani areas that were arid and infertile. Given the fact land was
the mode of production for the Africans whose most important economic
activity was Agriculture it is not difficult to understand that the
land-grabbing and subsequent creation of reserves severely frustrated
and undermined the Africans’ way of life.
2. Confiscation of
cattle- apart from pegging out huge farms for themselves on land that
had been taken away from the Ndebele in 1894, the Europeans also went on
to loot large herds of the Ndebele cattle. Pastoralism was also an
important economic activity and cattle were significant as a form of
wealth. They were used to pay the bride-price, for trade, for meat and
milk as well as for ritual purposes. The expropriation of large herds of
African cattle had negative results for the Africans leaving many of
them poorer and unable to live a self-sufficient life. Many were
ultimately forced to sell their labour rather cheaply to the Europeans
on their farms and mines in order to survive.
3. Forced labour- the
Europeans often resorted to forcing Africans to work for them on their
farms and mines. Such measures removed Africans from their independent
and traditional economic pursuits of agriculture and pastoralism and
prevented them from being self-reliant. The practice of forced labour
was extremely brutal to the point that it became a major African
grievance leading up to the first Ndebele-Shona uprising popularly known
as the First Chimurenga/Umvukela of 1896-7
4. Taxation- different
kinds of taxes were imposed on the Africans by the settler governments
in a clear attempt to uproot them from their traditional agricultural
and pastoral way of life and get them to participate in the money-based
colonial and capitalist economy as manual labourers. There was a Hut
Tax, a Poll Tax and even a cattle tax among others and all these had to
be paid in cash in order to induce the Africans to take up paid
employment on the European farms, mines and manufacturing industries.
5. Discriminatory and oppressive laws- perhaps the best known was the
Land Apportionment Act first passed in 1930 and amended so many times
afterwards. This divided the country’s land into African and European
areas. Europeans were given 48 million acres in the prime farming
regions that were closest to transport and telecommunications
infrastructure while over one million Africans were allocated only 21
million acres of mostly arid and barren land far removed from the
markets and transport and telecommunications facilities. Overcrowding
and a severe deterioration in African agriculture quickly followed and
the settler government attempted to redress the consequent environmental
degradation by passing the equally discriminatory and oppressive Native
Land Husbandry Act in 1951. This law further frustrated and undermined
African economic activity and way of life by imposing limits on land
owned, cattle owned as well as prohibiting tree cutting which was a
source of firewood for rural energy requirements. The Maize Control Act
discriminated against African farmers causing their produce to be
classified as inferior to that of the Europeans and therefore attracting
a lower purchase price. The Masters and Servants Act as well as the
Industrial Conciliation Act were some of the oppressive pieces of
legislation that prevented African workers from effectively organizing
themselves in trade unions that could negotiate with employers for
higher wages and better working conditions.
6. Having outlined and
discussed the measures stated above, it will remain for the candidate to
conclude that the combination of all those measures succeeded in
frustrating and progressively destroying African economic activities
