The Roots of Apartheid in the Construction of Buchuberg Dam

At the start of the 20th century South Africa faced a poor white epidemic. The state justified Apartheid as an "anti-poverty program for whites".[1] This poor white epidemic was caused by various factors, such as drought, diseases and the impact of the Second Anglo-Boer War, namely Milner’s Scorched Earth policy that left farms in ruins.[2] Under these circumstances many impoverished farmers, who later became known as “Afrikaners”, were forced to move to urban centers.[3] As many of these poor whites were unskilled, they were unable to compete with British skilled and semi-skilled workers in the cities and remained unemployed.[4] Poor whites also viewed themselves as racially superior to black workers and demanded higher wages for their labour on farms.[5] The richer white farmers were not willing to fulfil these demands.The Union of South Africa, pressured by 1916 with over 121 000 poor whites demanding financial aid, which grew to 300 000 impoverished whites in 1930, had to implement a solution to uphold the white racial hierarchy. It was against this background that irrigation schemes were started in South Africa as a solution to the unemployment rate and economic decline of poor whites. These irrigation schemes played an essential part in uplifting poor whites to an Afrikaner nation fifty years later that promoted Afrikaner nationalism.[6] These schemes also formed the backdrop of Apartheid as the Union of South Africa wanted to separate economic development based on race, as they did not want poor whites living in slums with poor black labourers.[7] These schemes included the development of the Buchuberg Dam.

Buchuberg Dam, located on the Orange River in the Northern Cape, was constructed during the 1930’s as an irrigation scheme that was meant to uplift unemployed poor whites during the Great Depression and drought of 1929.[8] The plans to develop Buchuberg Dam already started in the 1890’s, but due to the cost and the magnitude of the project it was discontinued. In 1929 the increase in poverty amongst poor whites caused the Department of Irrigation and the Department of Labour to find a financially plausible alternative to construct a dam to employ poor whites.[9] Rather than building a 58 km canal with weirs, they proposed building a 27 km canal without weirs, while also halving the amount of acres irrigated from 28 000 to 14 000 acres.[10] Therefore, in May 1929 the Buchuberg Dam Irrigation Scheme restarted.

This irrigation scheme employed 350 poor whites as manual labourers who formed cement from sand, dug explosive holes by hand and aided in the overall construction of the dam.[11] Even though these men were given meager wages, the government tried toonly uplift unemployed whites through excluding black people from working on these schemes.[12] Black workers were only allowed to cut wood and were compensated with a small amount of food.[13] The rest of the government’s finances focused on uplifting poor white labourers. This was seen through the development of housing, job creation, education and health care provided to poor white families. Even though women were originally banned from living on the dam’s construction site, wives started living with their husbands on site in shelters, which was later replaced with wooden units.[14] Children were also later employed to haul stone.[15] This was done in an effort to provide more money and food for their family. As this scheme grew, the government provided teachers that taught the children under trees, while the Department of Labour also financed a doctor to work in a hospital on site.[16]

The Buchuberg Dam Scheme was one of the many water schemes implemented during the start of the 20th century to uplift impoverished and jobless poor whites. The economic upliftment was racially focused. This was clear as its completion was commemorated with a monument built to both celebrate the Great Trek and the Buchuberg Dam’s construction workers.[17] The upliftment of poor whites set the stage for Apartheid as the government uplifted certain groups based on their race while it neglected others. In this instance, access to water and irrigation schemes were used to employ and empower poor whites, while black South Africans suffered.

End notes:

[1]Bottomley, Edward-John. “Transnational Govermentality and the “poor White” in Early Twentieth Century South Africa.” Journal of Historical Geography, (Vol.54), (2016): 78 ↵

[2]Bottomley, Edward-John. “Transnational Govermentality and the “poor White” in Early Twentieth Century South Africa.” Journal of Historical Geography, (Vol.54), (2016): 78 ↵

[3]Atkinson, D.J. & Field, D.H. New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology, 165. ↵

[4]Bottomley, Edward-John. “Transnational Govermentality and the “poor White” in Early Twentieth Century South Africa.” Journal of Historical Geography, (Vol.54), (2016): 78. ↵

[5]Bottomley, Edward-John. “Transnational Govermentality and the “poor White” in Early Twentieth Century South Africa.” Journal of Historical Geography, (Vol.54), (2016): 78. ↵

[6]Bottomley, Edward-John. “Transnational Govermentality and the “poor White” in Early Twentieth Century South Africa.” Journal of Historical Geography, (Vol.54), (2016): 78. ↵

[7]Atkinson, D.J. & Field, D.H. New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology, 165. ↵

[8]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[9]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[10]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[11]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[12]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[13]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[14]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[15]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[16]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵

[17]Van Vuren, Lani. “Buchuberg: Built on the Backs of Men”, Water History, (Vol 8), (No. 2), (2009), 27. ↵