Empire Cricket Booklet

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RICHARD PARRY

Despite this legislation, and the efforts of Ling and others to maintain white control over the diggings and the debris piles, 24 by 1875, 120 of the 757 claims owners mining the 'poor man's kopje' at Bultfontein were black - including Mfengu, Ngqika, Griqua and coloureds. 25 But African independent claims holders disappeared as the industry began to enter its monopoly capital phase. The Reverend Gwayi Tyamzashe, one of the early arrivals at the fields after completing his theological training at Lovedale, was the last African to hold a Dutoitspan claim in 1883, though a few 'non-Europeans' continued to hold claims in the poorer diggings which had not been consolidated until well into the twentieth century. 26 Inevitably, a small number of hands began accumu lating claims, notably J.B. Robinson, 27 Barney Barnato, and Cecil Rhodes, empire builder and financier extraordinary. 28 All three also acted as diamond buyers in the 1870s but the real money only arrived when Kimberley opened a Stock Exchange in 1881. Soon more and more prospectors were squeezed out of the market by the big three and fortunes were won and lost amid frenzied trading on the Exchange. The original 3 600 claims in the four big mines in Kimberley were reduced in 1885 to 98 properties held by 56 private companies or individuals. The mergers continued until each mine was worked as a unit, and by the turn of the century Rhodes's De Beers Consolidated Mines controlled all of Kimberley's and 90 per cent of the world's diamond production. 29 The drive towards monopoly was partly a result of economies of scale as the mines sank ever deeper and difficulties and expenses increased. A critical expense was the control and maintenance of the black labour force. Given the key role played by the digging of huge quantities of ground without mechanical aids, the real tone for the town was set by the struggle to control black labour. From the early 1870s, black workers flooded into the town, drawn by comparatively high wages and the availability of guns. The mechanics of diamond mining required the removal of endless tons of earth, and the culture of the sub continent made it inconceivable that the heavy pick and shovel work would be done by whites. Blacks did the digging, whites sifted for the

stone which would make their fortunes. But black workers were just as aware of the value of a single stone and the tensions between digger and white claims holders were palpable. Illicit diamond buying (IDB) was the claim holders' nightmare and fortunes were amassed through deals struck in the dead of night. Many of the largest owners, according to Louis Cohen, made their start by acting as middlemen in the trade and then as leading consolidators became vociferous in condemning the practice. 30 IDB was a complex issue. While blacks were the main 'engine' of IDB - inevitable given their numbers and their role in the diggings - there was always a white at the other end of the transaction. Furthermore, whites deliberately played up IDB: those who failed in the great consolidation were excused on the grounds that they were victims of IDB. Those who succeeded had even more reason to play up IDB, since all the mechanisms of labour control that were developed in Kimberley were sold to parliament and the government of the day as necessary to avoid or minimise IDB - right down to the fact that the companies paid no tax, as tax on top of IDB losses would, they said, make their operations uneconomic. Rhodes himself was both the political representative of the mining companies and ultimately, as prime minister and mine owner, the chief beneficiary of his own political largesse. Once the Stock Exchange opened, the large listed companies could not afford a parallel market in diamonds which might challenge their monopoly over prices and shake investors' confidence. By 1880, a special court had been set up to deal directly with IDB cases. On an average day in February 1887, the Kimberley magistrate heard several such cases. An African listed in the record as 'Bye and Bye' was seen by his overseer to put his right hand to his mouth. As was standard procedure, he was kept in close custody for a few days until the object was found and then he was sentenced to three years' hard labour. Despite the risks, the rewards were simply too tempting. The same sentence was passed on Jack who was earning 30s per week as a driller and had managed to swallow a rough stone weighing 68 carats worth about £150. 'I came here' he explained, to work like everyone else and I wanted something too.' 31