Cartografía Nocturna

89 Magistrate. 90 Ibid., para. 70. 91 Ibid., para. 80.

011 African construction and ownership of houses on serviced plots, rather than the

previous policy of governmental construction of housing built for leasing on unserviced estates to meet what had been up till recently a shortage of African accommodation. ‘If we are to encourage the formation of a stable and contented urban middle class African populace,’ he observed, ‘house ownership must be encouraged in every way, together with security of tenure.’92 With this in mind greater use of the ‘African Urban Housing Loan Fund’ was encouraged as was the establishment of a tenant-purchase scheme.

Molohan also addressed what many officials felt to be the most pressing problem; that of the drift of population from the country areas to the towns. Whilst he acknowledged the impracticality of establishing some form of pass system to control rural-urban migration, he nevertheless counselled -contrary to the recommendations contained in the EARC report- measures aimed at reducing this drift. Above all, he deemed it ‘essential to strengthen the administrative powers for getting rid of drones and spivs, which are contained in the Townships (Removal of Undesirable Persons) Ordinance,’93 By the mid- 1950s use of this ordinance had come to be the principal means of attempting to limit the urban population.

On the question of labour, Molohan made a number of proposals which modestly advanced what he acknowledged as the ‘accepted policy of encouraging the stabilisation of the working population.’94 The regulation of casual employment was recommended which, in the absence of ‘any effective scheme to control entry into and residence in the town’, was felt might be of value as ‘employers would be forced progressively to rely on a more permanent labour force.’95 It was advised that a casual labour registration scheme recently established in Mombasa should be examined with a view to implementing a similar system in Tanganyika. Second, measures to encourage greater employment of women in domestic service should be encouraged. Not only would this free ‘able-bodied men in this unproductive sphere of employment for which women are far better suited and equipped’96, but it would also increase the earning power of urban families, better equipping them for the expense of town life. Third, action needed to be taken against the

92 Ibid., para. 112. 93 Ibid., para. 95. 94 Ibid., para. 156. 95 Ibid., para. 102. % Ibid., para. 103.

employment o f children in the town, which was common, chiefly taking place in domestic service. Whilst child labour had been acknowledged as having a depressive effect on wages since the late 1930s, administrators had yet to come up with adequate controls over the phenomenon. Molohan counselled the strengthening of the Employment Ordinance along with an increase in the inspectorate staff of the labour department. He also hoped ‘that Ward Councils when revivified and properly established will take an interest in this matter and enlist public opinion in their support.’97 Finally, employers were encouraged to play a greater role in meeting the social needs of their employees including providing housing and other amenities and by establishing provident fund schemes for as many of their employers as possible, although they were not to be made legally responsible to do so.98 Meanwhile, the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in 1957 -before Molohan had submitted his report- along with the ongoing process of industrial mechanisation and ‘the gradual accretion of settled workers’, was having the effect of encouraging the transition from a casual, migrant labour force to one which was better paid and more permanent.99

The Ndola Conference

In late 1956, whilst Molohan’s report was still under preparation, the Tanganyikan Government were informed of a Colonial Office proposal for a conference to be held on urban problems in East and Central Africa, to which representatives from each of the British territories’ administrative and social services staff should attend.100 Whilst it appeared that the policy of encouraging more permanent African urban settlement had been endorsed by the Colonial Office,101 officials in London clearly felt there was still much left to discuss regarding the implementation of such a policy. The conclusions eventually arrived at by conference participants were in the event modest and cautious; a reflection perhaps, of the widely differing circumstances to be found in each of the participating territories. It was observed that the ‘division of labour’, a process which was

97 Ibid., para. 104. 98 Ibid., paras. 106 & 156. 99 Iliffe, M odern H istory, p.541.

100 Gorrell-Barnes to Gov. Twining, 2 IldNovember 1956, TN A/225/UW 80.131/VoI. 1.

101 According to an undated (c.1956) Proposal for a Professional Conference on Urban Problems in East and Central Africa in PRO/CO/955/40 it was ‘assumed that policy in all territories is now directed towards the growth o f a permanent African population in the towns.’

held to be accelerating in the region, should be encouraged. This was important both for reasons of industrial efficiency, and from the point of view of establishing a more affluent -and ‘progressive5- (rural) agricultural sector in which increasingly cash crops were being produced on land held under individual tenure. An ‘essential part of this process [was] the stabilisation of some Africans as town-dwellers.5'02 On the other hand, it was considered wise that not all African workers5 links with their rural homes should be severed. The colonial state could not afford to provide for old people or those made redundant in the event of recession. Better to maintain a proportion of migrant labour and for some of the Africans who spent their working lives in towns to be encouraged to retire to the countryside. Nevertheless, the conference concluded that

th e gradual m o v e tow ard s a greater d iv isio n o f labour, and as part o f that p r o ce ss the sta b ilisa tio n o f in cr ea sin g num bers o f A frican s in to w n s, is an e sse n tia l co n d itio n o f the a d v a n c e o f A fr ic a n s ... C o n se q u en tly w e co n sid er that it is a p r o c e ss w h ic h sh o u ld be carefu lly en cou raged and w e b elie v e that it is a m ovem en t w h ich in any ca se w ill gradually take p la c e .103

At the same time it was acknowledged that conditions in the various territories ‘differ considerably and the pace at which this aim of policy can be achieved may equally differ from territory to territory.’104

A number of stratagems to produce an environment conducive to stabilisation were advanced by the conference. First, for the stated purpose of building integrated urban communities it was considered ‘highly desirable that Africans living in towns should have their wives and families with them.5105 To this end the conference advised that ‘the needs of a married man rather than the individual should be progressively taken into account in determining wages.5106 Second, home ownership was identified, as it had been by Molohan, as making a valuable contribution to the stabilisation of urban populations. A number of suggestions were made to encourage African ownership of ‘sufficient accommodation to enable a family to live in conditions of decency5107 including construction of permanent housing for tenant purchase either by Central Government or Local Authorities, the provision of demarcated and serviced plots, and the provision of

102 ‘N dola Report’, p.5, TN A /U W 80.131/V ol.l. 103 Ibid., p.6-7.

104 Ibid., p.7. 105 Ibid., p.27. 106 Ibid., p.29. 107 Ibid., p. 15.

loans by public authorities or by private lenders such as Building Societies. Third, the question of the social security of urbanised Africans was addressed. Whilst the past importance of the reciprocal links between rural and urban dwellers was acknowledged, the observation was made that:

T h [e] partial op eration o f tribal so c ia l secu rity is apt h o w e v e r to b e c o m e in cr ea sin g ly d isa d v a n ta g eo u s to both parties. T h e ob lig a tio n s o f the exten d ed fa m ily , in so far as th ey are fu lfille d by the to w n d w eller and w a g e earner, b eco m e a drag upon h im ... A t the sam e tim e the fu lfilm e n t o f cu stom ary o b ligation s b eco m e s m ore and m ore o f a burden upon the rural com m u n ity to w h ich a to w n d w eller returns...108

Governments were advised to conduct investigations into social security problems with a view to establishing schemes operated by either local or central government. The extension of provident funds and pension schemes organised by public authorities and private employers was also recommended.

In the final section of the conference report the ‘control over movements of Africans to, within, and out of urban areas’ is discussed. At the outset the consequences of a policy of urban stabilisation for such movement is identified:

P o ssib ility o f gain fu l em p lo y m e n t and the am en ities o f to w n s are lia b le to act as a m agn et to rural p o p u la tio n s, and in particular to th e y o u n g m en from th e v illa g e s . T h ere is, th erefore, a ten d e n c y for m ore p e o p le to drift to the to w n s than th e to w n s can readily absorb; and the surplus is apt to b eco m e a danger to law and order and/or a so c ia l secu rity p rob lem .109

It was recognised that the long-term solution to this problem was the improvement of economic conditions in the rural areas. In the meantime, administrators would have to make do with the piecemeal -and largely ineffective- measures already in place in the various territories. Any concerted attempt to control movement by central or local government would involve the introduction of an effective system of identification which would require ‘fingerprinting and the maintenance of a central registry’ and would be politically unacceptable.110 With regard to removing those unwanted immigrants who had reached the towns it was concluded that:

W h ere there is a la ck o f b alan ce b etw een urban and rural e c o n o m ie s or w h ere there is no sy stem o f so c ia l security op erative in the tow n s, w e con sid er that there sh ou ld b e p rovision for se n d in g b ack to their last p lace o f perm anent resid en ce u n e m p lo y ed or u n d erem p loyed

108 Ibid., p.31. 109 Ibid., p.63. 110 Ibid., p.66.

p erso n s w h o are n ot p erm an en tly u rb anised and w h o can n ot rea so n a b ly b e e x p e c te d to secu re em p lo y m en t in the im m ediate future.111

Those individuals who failed to find a niche in the formal urban economy had no place in colonial towns. As was also the case with both the EARC report and Molohan’s Deti'ibalisation, there was no acknowledgment of the role that informal economic activities could play in providing a livelihood to the growing number of town-dwellers. Although urban social surveys, such as Leslie’s in Dai’ es Salaam, had brought to light the existence of a flourishing informal sector, to urban administrators this represented a loss of control over the urban arena, and not the reassertion of government influence over the course of urban development which they were attempting to achieve.

The recommendations made by conference participants were broadly in line with the existing policy of the Tanganyikan Government.112 The one area with which issue was taken was the wisdom of establishing any state-administered social security scheme. Tanganyikan officials displayed a distinct reluctance to assume the burden of social insurance. As Gower, the Governor’s Deputy, pointed out: ‘The underlying philosophy, that social security is not the responsibility of the individual or of his family, is alien to

1 1 T

Africa.’ Notwithstanding this minor difference, the remainder o f the conference

recommendations were endorsed in the despatch. Indeed Gower indicated the Tanganyikan government’s prior implementation of many of the proposals made by officials at Ndola. He could thus boast of the high proportion of African-owned houses in Dar es Salaam and of the ‘comprehensive wage’ received by the majority of urban workers.114 The unanimity displayed between the authors of the conference report and Tanganyikan officials was hardly surprising. By 1958 most of the arguments raised at Ndola had been well rehearsed and a consensus had emerged amongst those responsible for the administration of urban areas throughout British East and Central Africa. The Ndola conference simply served to strengthen this consensus whilst at the same time giving an opportunity to discuss the ways and means of achieving the fundamental objectives of late colonial urban policy.

111 Ibid., p.69.

1,2 R.H. Gower to Secretary o f State for the Colonies, 22nd June 1959, PRO/CO/955/83. 113 Ibid.

Conclusion

Throughout the British colonial period officials in Tanganyika retained, with regard to the ‘native’ population, a distinctly anti-urban outlook. This anti-urbanism was most marked in the first twenty years of British rule. At this time such attitudes were the logical corollary of a policy of indirect administration. With the post-war shift to a local government strategy, and the emergence of a more developmental agenda, this anti­ urbanism was tempered and the stabilisation of an urban African workforce was actually encouraged. The urban arena was now acknowledged to be the ideal location to mould a new non-tribal (not ‘detribalised’) African, who had internalised Western attitudes to work, and whose tribal values had been replaced by civic ones. However, the state of the colonial economy restricted the number of Africans who would form the new urban communities. Urbanisation amongst the remainder of the African population continued to be a cause for concern. Existing outside the planned residential estates and employment in the formal sector, this African ‘residuum’ was as much as ever a cause for concern. The colonial response was to attempt to restrict its expansion. At the same time as the African urban presence was gradually accepted, a stricter definition of what constituted a ‘legitimate’ town-dweller was inserted in successive versions of the Townships (Removal of Undesirable Natives/Persons) Ordinance. In 1944, in order to have a right to urban residence you had to have paid poll tax in a town the previous year. A decade later this was amended to having lived in a town for eighteen months out of the past three years. In 1958 qualification was extended to four out of the past five years, making it even more difficult to be legally classed a townsman or woman. Throughout the period the colonial urban vision was always an exclusive one. What a policy of stabilisation required was

p e o p le w ith regular em p lo y m e n t w h o can settle d o w n to a sta b le life and by b e in g g o o d c itiz e n s can m ak e th eir con trib ution to the h igh reputation that th e cap ital o f T an gan yik a sh ou ld e n jo y .115

Tellingly, the colonial period produced (or imported) a rich vocabulary to describe those Africans who, failing to conform to this description, were held to have no place in the urban areas. In addition to wahuni, loafers, idlers, town roughs, waifs, strays, spivs, drones, rogues, vagabonds, destitutes, paupers, hooligans, guttersnipes and seini-occupied natives were all deemed ‘undesirable persons’ in Dar es Salaam and other Tanganyikan

towns. And they remained so throughout the period under consideration. Whilst the 1950s was a time when the respectable Africans’ place in the colonial urban vision was at last confirmed, it was also a time when more concerted action was simultaneously taking place against the growing numbers of Africans who did not fit this vision. In their forty years in Tanganyika the British colonial rulers had helped create a society in which the lure o f the towns grew ever stronger. They had also been engaged in a constant struggle against the consequences of this attraction.