Microsoft Word - PhD Thesis Final.pdf - University of Limpopo ...

facilities for lonely men in those single-sex compounds to keep themselves
busy 558 .
The compound system had many advantages for the job owners, at the
same time severely exploiting the migrant workers. With all the workers
living together and their movements restricted, it was easier to control the
labour force, ensure punctuality and maintain strict discipline. It also helped
to minimise desertion by labourers. The employers’ labour costs were cut
since compounds provided a cheap way of housing and feeding labourers.
In the mines, tight control over compound workers helped the companies in
their efforts to prevent mineral theft. The system also entrenched racial and
ethnic divisions among the workers. Although Black labourers of the same
ethnic group were inclined to spend time together, this was also encouraged
and formalised by the authorities in order to prevent solidarity among the
labourers.
For the Black labourers, the compound system was just suffering. Food
supplies were insufficient so that the men had to spend their meagre wages
to buy extra food. In general, compound life was unpleasant and unhygienic
and placed great psychological stress on the workers who had no privacy as
they found it very difficult to adjust to the abnormal life they led away from
their families and friends.
558 Interview, Jim Mpoeleng Ramoroka, Early Dawn village, June 2004.
317