the political economy of the BaFokeng chieftancy, South Africa, 1837-1994 /
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
2010
Ph.D.
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
2010
This thesis presents a materialist analysis of the modem African chieftaincy. Chieftaincy isconceived as a dialectical unity of local state and corporate land relations that are both formand effect of the contradictory development of the capital relation in sub-Saharan Africaunder conditions of colonial imperialism. As a state institution the chieftaincy is everywhereconstituted as a territorialised tribal authority, while as a landed institution it has the potential(though by no means the necessity) to assume the `class function' of modern landed propertyin relation to agrarian and industrial capital. The thesis terms this phenomenal form `tribal landedproperty'.Drawing on oral histories, institutional interviews and archival data collected during a year'slocal-level fieldwork (2000-2001), the thesis applies this theoretical framework to a detailedcase study of the BaFokeng chieftaincy. It proceeds at two increasingly concrete levels ofanalysis. The first explores how the core relations of tribal authority and corporate landedproperty that have defined and dynamised the modern BaFokeng chieftaincy were historicallyconstituted in the course of South Africa's `racial capitalist' development (1837-1977). Thisestablishes that the institution was a creation and, in key ways, a beneficiary of the emergentcolonial, segregationist and apartheid orders, while casting new light on key themes in ruralSouth African historiography.The second focuses on the (celebrated) struggles between this chieftaincy and an alliance ofthe Bophuthatswana homeland regime and the Impala mining company over the rights to thevast platinum reserves in BaFokeng and the distribution of their revenues (1977-1994).Analysis of the 'economic' dimension of this struggle demonstrates the utility of conceivingthe BaFokeng chieftaincy as a distinctive form of modem landed property in contradictoryrelationships with mining capital, mine labour and the state. This also contributes an oriýtinalaccount of the increasingly important platinum industry. The logic of this 'tribal landedproperty' approach may open the way to a more general materialist conception of`communal' tenure forms typically considered beyond the reach of political economy.
Capps, Gavin James
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)