Page 90 - Demo

In gold mining, black South Africans’ real wages declined. White workers’ wages were up to 12 times more than those of their black colleagues.
Education was no different. Black South Africans depended heavily on Christian missions for education facilities, but only a few enrolled to high school level. The South African Native College (called KwaNokholeji in isiXhosa, one of the 11 official languages) at Fort Hare offered some Bachelor’s degree courses. Over time, these missionary schools and colleges produced teachers who, in turn, enabled the further growth of schools in the ‘reserves’.
The reserves were reservoirs of cheap, unskilled labour. By 1936, about 10% of the population in these reserves comprised migrant labourers, temporarily absent from their families and communities. These workers transferred remittances back home, establishing a pattern of money flows that survives in present-day South Africa, although the structure and skill levels of that labour force have since changed.
When World War II broke out in 1939, South Africa’s economy prospered, buoyed by manufacturing and service industries. This incentivised further urbanisation by black South Africans. Despite the influx of control laws, the number of black South Africans living in the cities grew.
The Union Hall and gardens of the University of Fort Hare in 1930. (Wikimedia Commons)
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Early 20th Century Fort Hare University