NAME OF STUDENT ZANELE

SURNAME OF STUDENT MOKOENA

STUDENT NUMBER 222054166

MODULE NAME HIST201

The indentured is a form of contract labour in which labourers enter into an official
agreement with their employer certifying that they will work for the employer for a fixed
length of time. The importation of Indian indentured labour in 1860 was a response to the
labour shortage in British colonies following the abolition of slavery, This essay will explain
the reasons for the importation of Indian indentured labour in 1860 and give reason why this
was halted in 1911 because they were promised very good wages, food, and shelter (better
life), it was an opportunity to escape famine or poverty as their social and economic condition
was not stable and many wanted to search better paying job. However, the indentured came to
an end in 1911 due to working conditions and workers resistance.

Indians before arrived in Natal their journey were shorter but still difficult due to the crowded
rooms, unprofessional accommodation, bad and frequently dirty sheets and clothes, awkward
and careless meal preparation and sleeping arrangements, struggling travellers’ strange
behaviours toward one another, some of the unclean and rough habits of others, and others'
helplessness all contributed to the discomforts of sea sickness.1 Ships were overcrowded
these led to die of many Indians on their way from India to Natal. indentured worked as
cleaners for municipalities, railroads, sugar plantations, coal mines and general farming, since
they were promised good wages, food, and shelter (better life). Many Indians were employed
by the municipality in the health and sanitation departments, but they were primarily
unskilled general labourers who performed tasks like scavengers, street lighting, night soil
men, and grass trimming.2 The Natal Government Railway (NGR) employed 949 indentured
Indians as gatekeepers, pointsmen, signalmen, labourers in gang work, platelayers on the line,
helpers to artisans in the workshops, and clerks. These indentured Indians played a significant
role in the construction of Natal's railway network. With its total 8000 allocation, NGR is the
biggest employer of indentured labour overall.3

Indians made up between 37% and 40% of the coal mine labour force between 1900 and
1910. 4They worked in the coal mines in 1909. Approximately 60% of indentured labourers
were assigned to the sugar sector, where they served as the business's backbone. Both skilled
industrial and unskilled agricultural labour were required in the manufacturing of sugar;
1
Goolam’s slides, Indentured labour in the British empire, 9_ Indentured labour from India_ overview, topic 9,
HIST105, Learn 2023.
2
Goolam’s slides, Indentured labour in the British empire, 9_ Indentured labour from India_ overview, topic 9,
HIST105, Learn 2023.
3
Goolam’s slides, Indentured labour in the British empire, 9_ Indentured labour from India_ overview, topic 9,
HIST105, Learn 2023.
4
Desai, Ashwin, and Goolam Vahed. Inside Indian indenture: A South African story. Cape Town: HSRC Press,
(2010): 10.
skilled workers crushed the cane and boiled it in the mill, while unskilled workers chopped
the cane and carried it to the mill on their shoulders. Speed was crucial as cane had to be cut
and processed within 24 hours. The system was highly unregulated, and the protector’s office
was too close to powerful planters to take action. However, they were employed under
different categories of jobs, but things did not work out according to the plan due to
Indentured labourers got endured harsh treatment and were required to work between 14 and
16 hours a day.5 The experience of being indentured combined with inadequate and
insufficient meals and sexual violence. overworking, failing to pay salaries, making illegal
deductions, using harsh language, and working on Sundays in violation of the law. Plantation
labourers were overworked, hungry, and extremely badly housed, generally in rows of back-
to-back rooms without windows, according to historian Maureen Swan. This led to an
abnormally high rate of disease and death.

Many Indian indentured emigrated because got the opportunity to escape famine or poverty
as their social and economic condition was not stable and wanted to search better paying job,
since Between 1850 and 1900, millions of people died because of famines and disasters
caused by nature, which also increased poverty. These people had to pay high fees and their
wages could not pay for food, shelter, and other needs. When they move to Natal hoping that
their living condition will be better unfortunately situation was getting worst for example,
indentured women being exploited, they experienced exceptional burdens and were subjected
to severe forms of oppression in their role as labour force producers. 6 They had a
responsibility by their male mates or the guys to whom they owed something to bring them
lunch in the fields while they weren't working in the fields or during their breaks. They
cooked the dinner and were expected to handle other household chores like laundry and
cleaning in the evening. They also performed sexual services. Health conditions was very
poor, 90% unskilled workers, high rate of TB, child workers and high rate of indebtedness.
They had poor house this led to high rates of disease and death.

Working conditions of Indian indentured labour, the conditions of the workers' contracts,
which met with Indian government rules and provided an adequate but extremely poor level
of subsistence, determined their way of life. However, the provisions of the contracts were
too often broken, especially on the labour-intensive sugar plantations where 60 to 70 percent

5
Desai, Ashwin, and Goolam Vahed. Inside Indian indenture: A South African story. Cape Town: HSRC Press,
(2010).
6
Beall, Jo. "Women under indenture in colonial Natal 1860-1911 Jo Beall." South Asians overseas: Migration
and ethnicity (1990): 57.
of enslaved Indians worked and where extreme cost-cutting measures were taken to make up
for a long-term drop in soil productivity and price.7 For many of these workers, their daily
lives included dirty, poor-quality housing and malnourishment. These conditions were major
contributing factors to the high disease and death rates of the injured workforce, according to
modern medical professionals. Informal social control was promoted by employers and
government officials throughout the indentured labour. The most common ones were money
laundering, gambling, and drug and alcohol abuse. The sugar estates were also noted for
having stricter management, such as gang commanders with sjamboks and a punishing task-
work system. Additionally, even if the workers had complained about a contract violation but
they did not get help because the system was illegal and subject to jail sentences. Indeed,
without a formal leave ticket, an indentured Indian could not travel more than two kilometres
from their place of employment.8 In terms of the contract which they signed indentured
workers agreed to work for five years for the employer to whom they were allocated, they
were promised fair wages, decent working conditions and the possibility of a better life in
new land. However, the reality of their situation was fair from the promises made to them and
the contracts of Indian indentured labours in Natal were often exploitive and very unfair that
led to many labourers found themselves trapped in a cycle of debt and poverty and unable to
return to home or make a better life for themselves. They were subjected to abuse and
mistreatment by their employers, who saw them as little more than disposable commodities.

Indians in South Africa were discriminated against by the South African government. The
Indian government announced that unless conditions improved, they would stop indenture.
On 3 January 1911 the Indian government announced that indenture would be terminated
from 1 July 1911.9 After everything happened toward Indian indentured labour decided to
resist, before 1909-1910 the incidence of collective action was extremely low. There were no
more than a handful of 'strikes', and these were short-lived, rarely transcended the
accommodation units or work gangs into which plantation, mine and railway workforces
were further sub-divided, and were generally concerned with specific gross abuses of the
contract. The elaborate network of controls erected by employers and the state was almost
enough to have ensured this. Only when a unique combination of reasons, a prolonged,
widespread work stoppage became possible in 1913. However, there is more than enough

7
Desai, Ashwin, and Goolam Vahed. Inside Indian indenture: A South African story. Cape Town: HSRC Press,
2010.
8
Goolam’s slides, Indentured labour in the British empire, 9_ Indentured labour from India_ overview, topic 9,
HIST105, Learn 2023.
9
HIST105: Indenture Servitude: ‘A New System of Slavery?
evidence to indicate that though they may have lacked an appropriate ideological framework
within which to organize and structure protest more suited to industrial employment,
indentured workers did feel a profound sense of grievance about their living and working.
Conditions. The tax was meant to force Indians to return to India after completing their
indenture or re-indenture, ensuring that Natal was controlled by European settlers. when
Gokhale, a high-ranking Indian diplomat, visited South Africa, the tax was the most common
issue among Indians. He reviewed the tax with the Union leadership and assured local
Indians that it would be repealed. When the government refused to abolish the tax, Gandhi
announced a strike.10 Other issues included interprovincial migration, refusal of commercial
licenses, and non-recognition of Indian marriage. Gandhi led a strike of 4,000 Indian workers
on 16 October 1913 at the coal mines in Northern Natal

This essay explained the reason for the importation of Indian indentured labour in 1860 and
gave reason why this was halted in 1911, the reasons was because they were promised very
good wages, food and shelter(better life), were used this opportunity to escape famine or
poverty as their social and economic conditions was not stable and wanted to search better
paying job, the indentured came to an end in 1911 due to working conditions and workers
resistance. The importation of Indian indentured labour had a significant impact on the
history of British colonies and the lives of many Indians labourers who were brought to work
in harsh condition and got mistreatment.

Bibliography

Beall, Jo. "Women under indenture in colonial Natal 1860-1911 Jo Beall." South Asians
overseas: Migration and ethnicity (1990): 57.

10
HIST105: Indenture Servitude: ‘A New System of Slavery?
Desai, Ashwin, and Goolam Vahed. Inside Indian indenture: A South African story. Cape
Town: HSRC Press, 2010.
Goolam’s slides, Indentured labour in the British empire, 9_ Indentured labour from India_
overview, topic 9, HIST105, Learn 2023.
HIST105: Indenture Servitude: ‘A New System of Slavery?