South Africa

LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA

There is a train that comes from Namibia and Malawi
there is a train that comes from Zambia and Zimbabwe...

From all the hinterland of Southern and Central Africa.
This train carries young and old, African men
Who are conscripted to come and work on contract
In the golden mineral mines of Johannesburg
And its surrounding metropolis, sixteen hours or more a day
For almost no pay.

Deep, deep, deep down in the belly of the earth
When they are digging and drilling that shiny mighty evasive stone,
Or when they dish that mish mesh mush food
into their iron plates with the iron shank.
Or when they sit in their stinking, funky, filthy,
Flea-ridden barracks and hostels.

They think about the loved ones they may never see again Because they might have already been forcibly removed
From where they last left them
Or wantonly murdered in the dead of night
By roving, marauding gangs of no particular origin,
We are told. they think about their lands, their herds
That were taken away from them
With a gun, bomb, teargas and the cannon.

And when they hear that Choo-Choo train
They always curse, curse the coal train,
The coal train that brought them to Johannesburg

Hugh Masekela, Stimela

Hugh Masekela recollected migrants in the Transkei would "walk along the road, and I used to find them, you know - Wow! They'd have these little silver bells sewn into the legs of their trousers to make a rythm as they walked, and they'd be playing the pennywhistles. Magical sounds!" Throughout the Forties, Fifties and Sixties migrants were a constant of South African urban life. On the mines, Malawians were the third most populous group of workers in South Africa, numbering over 60,000, but there were also an unknown number on the farms of the Transvaal. Agents of cultural exchange migrants brought varying musical styles and fashions both into South Africa and back to Malawi. Dressed in Stetson hats and leather boots, cowboy migrants returning to Lilongwe in 1954, mirrored the Copperbelt cowboys who have been described as moving beyond an ethnic identity through the reworking of Western films shown on mine compounds.

"The 'cowboys' below are in fact miners, newly returned to Central Africa on completion of their contracts in the South and assembling their kit before boarding the airport coach." From Flight Magazine, 26/11/1954.

Through a range of cosmopolitan conversations, connections with Malawi were numerous and varied. Many migrants moved completely beyond their locally rooted affiliations. Around 20-25% of migrants would never return to Malawi - many taking on a Zimbabwean, Zambian or South African identity. Religious affiliations were also varied, with many integrating within existing Muslim and Christian communities.

There were however also a number of Malawians who joined specifically Malawian associations. Among those in South Africa there was strong support for the Nyasaland African Congress in Malawi, with migrants in South Africa providing half of its funds in the early 1950s, and there were also numerous Nyasaland African Congresses founded in South Africa. The fact that there were numerous organisations under similar names however suggests a divided diaspora. There were also allegations of Congress Presidents using funds for their own benefit.

Numbers of Malawians in different sectors of the South African economy

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