CENPA-324a~06 |
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The finance and trade of Mozambique arc organised to serve non- African at thc expense of African interests. This colonialist orientation can only be eliminated by the transfer of power to the Africans. FORCED LABOUR Forced labour is the cog around which the fly-wheel of Mozambique economy revolves. And as is the case in Settler South Africa the operation of the pass-laws is indispensable to such forced labour. Once a man is made to carry on his person a document to show where he is employed failing which the wrath of the law descends upon him, that constitutes the essence of forced labour. Such a man is bound to look for any kind of work no matter how he will be exploited in the process if only it will save him from jail. Every African adult in Mozambique must carry a cadernets to show not only where he is working and where he had been working but also where he has paid his poll-tax and other dues. The Portuguese boasted that their system of pass-laws was foolproof and even the government of settler South Africa took a leaf out of their statute books by introducing the reference book along the lines of the Portuguese cadernets. Thc various Geneva conventions have their book definitions of forced labour: the 1930 International Forced Labour Convention, for example, defined forced labour as: 'work or service exacted from any person under the threat of any penalty and for which the said person has, not offered himself voluntarily.1 The first part of this definition constitutes the essence of forced labour. The Portuguese cadernets or the South African reference book exact work or service from the holders under the threat of penalty. To force someone to accept any kind of job rather than to go to jail and to argue that he has therefore offered himself 'voluntarily' is to indulge in calculated colonialist cynicism. As long as the pass system exists therefore there can be no such thing as voluntary labour, for anyone is subject to its rigorous provisions. Thc Portuguese, of course do not deny the existence of forced labour in their vast colonial concentration camps' such as Mozambique. What they do deny is the actual extent of the practice for they still sell the big lie that some Africans under them are voluntary labourers. Whatever observations are made about labour in Mozambique must be viewed against the background of this analysis of the nature of forced labour. in 1906 the Portuguese government passed laws prohibiting, in general terms, the use of forced labour. Of recent years labour for the cocoa fields of Sao Tome and Principe have been obtained from Mozambique rather than Angola. • Contracts signed in Mozambique were at first for four years. This period had now been reduced to one year, and repatriation is insisted upon. In 1903 British cocoa firms boycotted all cocoa from the islands of Sao Tome and Principe because of the forced labour used there. It was following this that the 1906 law was passed. Much criticism has of late been levelled against forced labour for public works and private employment in Mozambique. Portugal signed the Anti-Slavery Convention (1926) which limited the use of forced labour to public purposes. She has, however, refused .to sign the 1930 Forced Labour Convention, and the 1936 Recruitment of Indigenous Workers Convention. By her own 1928 Labour Cod? Portugal restricts the use of forced labour to public purposes and by the Order of April 11, 1930 all such labour must be paid for. The Portuguese argue that labour is an essential part of the "Civilizing process", a formula they evolved to justify the use of forced labour. Portuguese colonial subjects are compelled to work in public and to produce marketable crops. More often than not they work for nothing. In spite of official orders to the contrary district officers get ten times what the labourer will earn in six months whenever they supply labour to private employers. The Witwatcrsrand Native Labour Associaion (W.N.L.A.) has recruiting depots for the Rand and Free State gold fields. More than 100,000 indentured labourers are recruited annually from Mozambique to these gold fields. In 1896 these labourers were earning 3/- per day. Today they earn 3/4 per day, 4d. rise in 68 years. The P ortuguese government sells each of these labourers for £2 to the South Africa mines. It also abuses their deferred pay which is forwarded to it. ASSIMILADOS In Mozambique, as in other Portuguese colonies, Portugal has developed the racket of assimilado, according to which certain Africans by reason of having assimilated the Catholic faith, Portuguese language and culture and by reason of their high standard of living are accepted as full Portuguese citizens with all rights and privileges attached thereto. Out of 6.5 million Africans there are, after 450 years of Portuguese rule, only a little over 4,000 Africans who have qualified as assimilados, a sure proof of the failure of the "civilising mission" of the Portuguese. The product of any African woman and a Portuguese male automatically becomes an "assimilado." The assimilado system was designed to rob the African masses of their leaders by incorporating them into the body politic of the ruling class in the vain hope that Portuguese colonial rule would continue for ever. Another measure that was designed to ensure that Portuguese colonial rule would continue forever is the law that declared Portuguese colonial integral parts of metropolitan Portugal. Since the United Nations charter prohibits interference in the domestic affairs of member-states, by this ruse, Portugal, in her incredibly naive expectation, attempted to arm herself against the attacks of anti-colonialists and anti-imperialists. The changing of a territory from a colony into an overseas province 20 VOICE OF AFRICA
Object Description
Description
Title | CENPA-324a~06 |
Filename | CENPA-324a~06.tiff |
Full text | The finance and trade of Mozambique arc organised to serve non- African at thc expense of African interests. This colonialist orientation can only be eliminated by the transfer of power to the Africans. FORCED LABOUR Forced labour is the cog around which the fly-wheel of Mozambique economy revolves. And as is the case in Settler South Africa the operation of the pass-laws is indispensable to such forced labour. Once a man is made to carry on his person a document to show where he is employed failing which the wrath of the law descends upon him, that constitutes the essence of forced labour. Such a man is bound to look for any kind of work no matter how he will be exploited in the process if only it will save him from jail. Every African adult in Mozambique must carry a cadernets to show not only where he is working and where he had been working but also where he has paid his poll-tax and other dues. The Portuguese boasted that their system of pass-laws was foolproof and even the government of settler South Africa took a leaf out of their statute books by introducing the reference book along the lines of the Portuguese cadernets. Thc various Geneva conventions have their book definitions of forced labour: the 1930 International Forced Labour Convention, for example, defined forced labour as: 'work or service exacted from any person under the threat of any penalty and for which the said person has, not offered himself voluntarily.1 The first part of this definition constitutes the essence of forced labour. The Portuguese cadernets or the South African reference book exact work or service from the holders under the threat of penalty. To force someone to accept any kind of job rather than to go to jail and to argue that he has therefore offered himself 'voluntarily' is to indulge in calculated colonialist cynicism. As long as the pass system exists therefore there can be no such thing as voluntary labour, for anyone is subject to its rigorous provisions. Thc Portuguese, of course do not deny the existence of forced labour in their vast colonial concentration camps' such as Mozambique. What they do deny is the actual extent of the practice for they still sell the big lie that some Africans under them are voluntary labourers. Whatever observations are made about labour in Mozambique must be viewed against the background of this analysis of the nature of forced labour. in 1906 the Portuguese government passed laws prohibiting, in general terms, the use of forced labour. Of recent years labour for the cocoa fields of Sao Tome and Principe have been obtained from Mozambique rather than Angola. • Contracts signed in Mozambique were at first for four years. This period had now been reduced to one year, and repatriation is insisted upon. In 1903 British cocoa firms boycotted all cocoa from the islands of Sao Tome and Principe because of the forced labour used there. It was following this that the 1906 law was passed. Much criticism has of late been levelled against forced labour for public works and private employment in Mozambique. Portugal signed the Anti-Slavery Convention (1926) which limited the use of forced labour to public purposes. She has, however, refused .to sign the 1930 Forced Labour Convention, and the 1936 Recruitment of Indigenous Workers Convention. By her own 1928 Labour Cod? Portugal restricts the use of forced labour to public purposes and by the Order of April 11, 1930 all such labour must be paid for. The Portuguese argue that labour is an essential part of the "Civilizing process", a formula they evolved to justify the use of forced labour. Portuguese colonial subjects are compelled to work in public and to produce marketable crops. More often than not they work for nothing. In spite of official orders to the contrary district officers get ten times what the labourer will earn in six months whenever they supply labour to private employers. The Witwatcrsrand Native Labour Associaion (W.N.L.A.) has recruiting depots for the Rand and Free State gold fields. More than 100,000 indentured labourers are recruited annually from Mozambique to these gold fields. In 1896 these labourers were earning 3/- per day. Today they earn 3/4 per day, 4d. rise in 68 years. The P ortuguese government sells each of these labourers for £2 to the South Africa mines. It also abuses their deferred pay which is forwarded to it. ASSIMILADOS In Mozambique, as in other Portuguese colonies, Portugal has developed the racket of assimilado, according to which certain Africans by reason of having assimilated the Catholic faith, Portuguese language and culture and by reason of their high standard of living are accepted as full Portuguese citizens with all rights and privileges attached thereto. Out of 6.5 million Africans there are, after 450 years of Portuguese rule, only a little over 4,000 Africans who have qualified as assimilados, a sure proof of the failure of the "civilising mission" of the Portuguese. The product of any African woman and a Portuguese male automatically becomes an "assimilado." The assimilado system was designed to rob the African masses of their leaders by incorporating them into the body politic of the ruling class in the vain hope that Portuguese colonial rule would continue for ever. Another measure that was designed to ensure that Portuguese colonial rule would continue forever is the law that declared Portuguese colonial integral parts of metropolitan Portugal. Since the United Nations charter prohibits interference in the domestic affairs of member-states, by this ruse, Portugal, in her incredibly naive expectation, attempted to arm herself against the attacks of anti-colonialists and anti-imperialists. The changing of a territory from a colony into an overseas province 20 VOICE OF AFRICA |
Archival file | Volume19/CENPA-324a~06.tiff |