Witwatersrand Native Labour Association
Encyclopedia
The Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, more usually known by its initials WNLA or more popularly as "Wenela" was set up by the gold mines in South Africa as a recruiting agency for migrant workers.
Eventually it comprised a large organisation, with its own depots, buses and aeroplanes, spread over the whole of Southern Africa - South Africa, Basutoland
, Swaziland
, South West Africa
, Bechuanaland, Northern Rhodesia
, Southern Rhodesia
, Nyasaland
, Angola
, Mocambique, extending into the Belgian Congo
and Tanganyika
.
Each depot had administrative and medical staff and a "barracks" to house recruits both before departure and on their return. Some had clinics and even schools, where the recruits were taught, first, Fanagalo
, the lingua franca of Southern Africa (fifteen hours of tuition was enough to be useful), and then the rudiments of what mining was all about.
Tours were usually of six months duration, but many spent their entire working lives as migrant workers.
In Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia
) the Government had instituted a "hut tax" of quite a small amount, payable annually for each hut. It was a form of "tribal initiation" for each teenager to go down to the mines for at least one tour, and would bring back enough money to pay the hut tax for the entire village.
Thus Fanagalo
became the lingua franca of the whole of Southern Africa.
Eventually it comprised a large organisation, with its own depots, buses and aeroplanes, spread over the whole of Southern Africa - South Africa, Basutoland
Basutoland
Basutoland or officially the Territory of Basutoland, was a British Crown colony established in 1884 after the Cape Colony's inability to control the territory...
, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
, South West Africa
South West Africa
South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa....
, Bechuanaland, Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia
Northern Rhodesia was a territory in south central Africa, formed in 1911. It became independent in 1964 as Zambia.It was initially administered under charter by the British South Africa Company and formed by it in 1911 by amalgamating North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia...
, Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
, Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
, Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, Mocambique, extending into the Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
and Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
.
Each depot had administrative and medical staff and a "barracks" to house recruits both before departure and on their return. Some had clinics and even schools, where the recruits were taught, first, Fanagalo
Fanagalo
- External links :* * *...
, the lingua franca of Southern Africa (fifteen hours of tuition was enough to be useful), and then the rudiments of what mining was all about.
Tours were usually of six months duration, but many spent their entire working lives as migrant workers.
In Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
) the Government had instituted a "hut tax" of quite a small amount, payable annually for each hut. It was a form of "tribal initiation" for each teenager to go down to the mines for at least one tour, and would bring back enough money to pay the hut tax for the entire village.
Thus Fanagalo
Fanagalo
- External links :* * *...
became the lingua franca of the whole of Southern Africa.
Sources
- http://www.jstor.org/pss/3002372
- http://www.queensu.ca/samp/Treaties/Wenela.htm
- http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001831/Migrant_labour_Kanyenze_March2004.pdf
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4620369