Namibia

Abstract

Introduction provided by author:

The interlocking of ownership of Namibia's economy by white settlers and foreign capital has ensured that today the great majority of Namibians depend wholly or partly on wages for their subsistence

The South African regime has, for purposes of labour control, divided the African working population into a hierarchy of legal categories. The working population is divided almost equally between those with the right to live permanently on the farms or in the towns where they work, usually with their families, and migrants, most of whom cannot hope to achieve that 'right' in a lifetime of wage-labour. Those from the smaller central and southern reserves are permitted a limited choice of work and some continuity of employment. But those from the densely populated bantustans in the north, who make up 30 percent of the black workforce, are given no choice of job or place of work and no chance to bring their families with them. These so-called contract workers endure the poorest living and working conditions and often the lowest wages of all except women domestic servants (see Figures 1 & 2)

The situation became so unbearable for African workers, in particular the contract workers, that in December 1971 the country witnessed one of its major general strikes in its labour history. The demands of the strike included, amongst others; the abolition of the contract labour system and improvement in wages, living and working conditions

The South Airlcan regime made some concessions. Wage increments were granted. The contract labour system was not abolished. Instead, its recruiting monopoly agency - the South West Africa Native Labour Association (SWANLA) - was replaced by labour bureaus in the bantustans. However, this did not go even half-way to meeting the demands of the African workers, and workers continued making their protest in any manner feasibly available to them

It was not until July 1978, in a wave of legal and 'political surgery', that the regime amended its Industrial Conciliation Ordinance of 1952 which until then governed the country's labour relations. African workers were for the first time included in its definition of "employees". This meant that African trade unions could be registered and be included in the state-conciliation machinery. This reform in Namibia's industrial relations must be seen as part of a package of reforms carried out in the country since the latter half of the 1970s. These reforms came about due to pressure on the South African regime brought about by a combination of factors. Amongst these factors were: The impact of the triumphs of the independence struggles in Mozambique, Angola and lately Zimbabwe; the ever- escalating popular and class struggles inside South Africa, particularly since the days of the 1976 SOWETO uprisings, the workers' struggle and the intensification of the armed struggle; most importantly, before the wounds of the colonial economy inflicted by the, as yet to be surpassed, 1971-1972 general strike healed, the struggle for Namibia's independence waged by the South West Africa Peoples' Organisation (SWAPO of Namibia), rose to a higher level. This happened as SWAPO was able to open-up new fronts and escalated the war of national liberation on all planes. That this was felt as much on the industrial plane is therefore no surprise. The extent of international political and diplomatic pressure on South African regime for reforms was of no lesser significance

The purpose of this dissertation is therefore to examine the origins, nature and impact of the reformed framework of labour relations with specific reference to African workers in the mining and fishing industries. To this end, in Chapter One, we shall discuss the process, pattern and level of industrial development in Namibia. The aim is to seek the causality between this development and the labour process as well as the class formation of the industrial worker. It is our belief that it is only when we study the political economy of a country that we can trace and begin to understand the origins of its labour force. To this effect, this dissertation will also pay careful attention to the extra-economic measures that have been employed, since the time of German colonialism, in the creation of the labour force

In Chapter Two, we shall examine the development of the African labour force, considering its organisation, control and regulation. It is our understanding that it is the requirements of the particular features of the Namibian economy (foreign owned, export oriented, extractive and non-manufacturing) which led to the development of an inchoate labour force (least skilled but largely unskilled, low paid and low status). In describing labour organisation we argue that whilst a complex network of legal control and regulation, administrative measures, company policies and practice, and white trade union protectionism have all hindered effective organisation, they have, however, not prevented African workers from taking militant action in their own interests

Chapter Three brings the analysis of the preceding discussion to bear on an understanding of the amended Industrial Conciliation Ordinance (1952). The title of this legislation was changed to the Wage and Industrial Conciliation Amendment Proclamation of 1978, and for the first time it included Africans in its definition of "employees". This legislation was modelled on that prevailing in South Africa but is different in certain significant ways. We argue that this divergence was brought about by the pressure of militant workers' action which engendered a crisis of a different character for the system in Namibia. Instead of admitting the failure of its system and recognising the full right of African workers to direct participation in collective bargaining, the state and captains of industries imposes it on the African workers in order to control them more. We shall examine how both labour and capital/management responded to this change

Chapter Four suggests a broad structural outline, rather than detailed aspects, of a possible industrial relations framework, its attendant structures of collective bargaining and viable union structures for a independent Namibia. In making such suggestions, we proceed from the widely held opinion that, whatever the outcome of the present national liberation struggle, SWAPO will form the government of an independent Namibia. It is therefore that SWAPO policy statements with regard to future economic programme and the role of trade unions will be used as guidelines. Whenever necessary, examples from Tanzania, Zimbabwe and maybe Mozambique will be cited to justify one choice among policy options rather than another