Mthandizi

A Ulere barge on the Zambezi in the 1950s, from Scott, ‘Migrant Labour in Southern Rhodesia’, Geographical Review, Vol. 44, No. 1, (January 1954).

In 1947 the Southern Rhodesian government established the Rhodesian Native Labour Supply Commission - know within Malawi as Mthandizi. With competition for labour increasing across the southern continent, the commission was established to ensure labour for Zimbabwe's farms and mines. As part of its operations, Mthandazi ran the Ulere transport services which provided travel for Malawians heading to Zimbabwe.

In 1952, 7634 Malawians travelled via train from Salima (in red), another 13 651 travelling on the green routes by lorry on the Misale-Mtoko road. At its peak year in 1955 Ulere transported 39, 299 - 73% of all those going to Zimbabwe - mostly by lorry. Ulere however also extended to other forms of transport. Barges were used to transport migrants up and down the Zambezi, ferry tickets along Lake Malawi were paid for by Mthandizi, and train fares from Salima and Blantyre were also covered. Whilst on the road, free food and accomodation were provided at depots lining the route.

Mthandizi transport routes into Zimbabwe in 1952, adapted from Scott, ‘Migrant Labour in Southern Rhodesia’, Geographical Review, Vol. 44, No. 1, (January 1954).

Though transport services became increasingly dominant, walking remained an important means of travel, and was an integral to reaching rail heads and pick-up points. Depots especially in the early years of Mthandazi also provided support for those making their own way on foot to Zimbabwe.

These depots were complemented however by an extensive network of African stores. Colonial officials noted that even had the Ulere service not been in place flows would have been considerable. Reporting on the Mwera route in Zimbabwe, officials noted that migrants "seem to prefer to camp out on their own if they can. At Batsonnire 16 miles north of Mtoko there is a native store which sells food; 20 natives had just spent the night under the trees across the road when I arrived there...Further on an enterprising Salisbury native named Adam has a native store and has built some huts in which natives may rest free of charge; he recompenses himself selling them cups of tea and other articles from his store." Alongside these African owned services, Zimbabwe’s renowned Ulere service was itself almost entirely be African-run, except for two Europeans stationed in Barotseland.

Though Zimbabwe enjoyed a considerable in flow of migrants from Malawi throughout this period, the Rhodesian government consistently saw this supply as insecure. Tens of thousands of migrants continued on from Zimbabwe to South Africa where wages and working conditions were consistently more favourable. Though Ulere drew labour into Zimbabwe, workers would often desert jobs and head on down south to SA, with tens of thousands crossing the Limpopo each year, posing as Mozambicans or destroying their identification certificates and registering as members of kraals in South Africa. Even as numbers going to Zimbabwe were rising in the mid 1950s, P Scott noted "Southern Rhodesia is facing a chronic shortage of labour at the time of her greatest expansion in her history".

Numbers of travel permits issued to women, 1952 to 1960, from the Annual Reports of the Labour Department, for the Years ending 31st December 1932 to 31st December 1960, The Government Printers, Zomba, Nyasaland.

Although unable to compete with South Africa in terms of wages offered, Rhodesia could respond in part by transporting wives and children to Zimbabwe for free along Ulere routes - encouraging migrants to settle in Rhodesia and constitute a permanent work force. In contrast to South Africa, which wanted a transitory migrant work force (encouraging competitive tribal dancing in mine compounds and sorting compound accommodation along ethnic lines), the Rhodesian government encouraged families to settle in Zimbabwe. Whilst almost no Malawian women migrated to South Africa officially - considerable numbers travelled via official means to Zimbabwe in the 1950s.

A Ulere lorry in 1954, from Scott, ‘Migrant Labour in Southern Rhodesia’, Geographical Review, Vol. 44, No. 1, (January 1954).

Blantyre Railway Station – migrant workers journeying to Zimbabwe, from J.G. Pike & G.T. Rummington, Malawi, a Geographical Study, (Oxford, 1965).

A Ulere depot in 1954, from Scott, ‘Migrant Labour in Southern Rhodesia’, Geographical Review, Vol. 44, No. 1, (January 1954).

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