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were in this office and they agree[d] to allow the 52 families to remain on
the farms for one year after Transfer is past [sic]” 466 .
As time went on, the question of non-buyers became a thorny issue
because while the buyers grew impatient with the non-buyers, the White
authorities failed to come up with a decisive solution to the problem.
Instead, the White authorities shifted responsibility to the chiefs who by
then had no powers of land allocation. To expect chiefs who were
rendered toothless by successive “native” laws was an indication that the
White authorities did not grasp the graveness of the situation on the
ground. Or else, the authorities deliberately did not want to prevent the
brewing Black on Black violence. Still on the example of the farms Early
Dawn and Millstream, on 27 February 1945 the Pietersburg Native
Commissioner wrote:
466 Ibid.
… it is observed that the majority of the Natives who are to
be displaced are members of Matlala’s tribe, the tribe
under the aegis of which the transaction is to be
undertaken. It is assumed that Chief Matlala will arrange
for the accommodation of his followers 467 .
467 Volume 2/2/42, Part 1, Purchase of Farms Early Dawn 995 and Millstream no. 996. Bakone
Tribe under Chief Sekgoare Matlala.
273