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Searching for the Reluctant Hands: Obsession, Ambivalence and the Practice of Organising Involuntary Labour in Colonial Cuanza-Sul and Malange Districts, Angola, 1926–1945

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 41; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03086534.2013.779116

1743-9329

Alexander Keese,

African studies and sociopolitical issues

Abstract In the 1930s, administrative control over the unruly hinterlands of Angola was established by the Portuguese colonisers, and officials at Lisbon's colonial ministry attempted to set up efficient mechanisms to force local populations to work. However, the experience and the attitudes of the administrators of the local posts—the chefes de posto—and of the small subdivisions were full of ambivalences and insecurities; their interaction with the African inhabitants of the respective areas and with the European settlers was characterised by improvisation. These attitudes of the local administrators, slowly changing up to and beyond the period of the Second World War, can be used as a window into administrative life in the field, and these attitudes had direct repercussions on the living conditions of rural Angolans. While this analysis is limited to subdivisions of the Angolan districts of Cuanza-Sul and Malange, it is intended to contribute to a broader picture of the effects the decisions of local administrators had, a picture applicable to other Portuguese colonies and to the lower parts of the hierarchy of other colonial empires. Notes Research for this article was at different stages supported by ERC Starting Grant no. 240898, by Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowship no. 235130 and by the EURESCL Research Network, all three under the Framework Programme 7 (FP7) of the European Commission. Miguel A. de Freitas Barros, Intendência do Cuanza-Sul: Relatório sobre os acontecimentos ocorridos [no Amboim] em 19 de Janeiro do Corrente Ano (no number), 24 Feb. 1939, 4–5, Arquivo Histórico Nacional de Angola, Luanda, Angola (hereafter AHA), 1790. Eurico Eduardo Rodrigues Nogueira, Governor of the Province of Benguela, Despacho (no number), 24 July 1939, AHA, 1790. In 1944, many of Angola's border regions were nearly empty of their former inhabitants: see Inspectorate-General of Colonial Administration, Parecer (no. 15), 18 Sept. 1944, 3, MU/ISAU, Sala 3, 1725, Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Lisbon, Portugal (hereafter AHU). The experiences of recruiting for the mines of Diamang in the Lunda District are discussed in Cleveland, ‘Minors in Name Only’, 95, and ‘Rock Solid’. Administrator of Post of Conda, Província de Benguela, Circunscrição Administrativa do Séles, Posto da Conda: Cópia do Diario de Serviço do Posto Administrativo da Conda, referente ao Mez de Junho de 1939 (no number), 1 July 1939, AHA, 1764. Only from 1918 had Portuguese forces been able to control the more remote parts of Seles subdivision effectively: see António Augusto, Commander of Subdivision (Capitão-Mor) to Commander of the Operation Forces in Amboim and Seles (no. 552), 6 June 1918, 1, AHA, 3482. Isaacman, ‘Chiefs’, 23–26; Vail and White. ‘“Tawani, Machambero!”’, 252–3. Ball, ‘“I Escaped in a Coffin”’. Keese, ‘“Proteger os pretos”’, 114–5. For Mozambique, a new monograph by Eric Allina has provided path-breaking insights, although those apply to the particular case of concession company rule in Manica e Sofala. See Allina, Slavery by Any Other Name, 80–9 for the ideologies of administrators and company personnel and 90–104 for African reactions. Pitcher, Politics in the Portuguese Empire, 51–62. There is no analytical study of ‘typical trajectories’ within the Portuguese colonial service. As in the other colonial empires, Portuguese colonial officials constituted a heterogeneous group, and only the smaller part went through a colonial training institution, the Escola Colonial; see Dias Antunes and Gaspar Rodrigues. ‘A Escola Colonial’. In the case of the Portuguese administration, the process of professionalisation appeared later than in other empires and, at the start of the Second World War, a large part of the middle and upper ranks of the administration was still filled by former military personnel. On the position of British administrators, there is abundant literature; see, for Gold Coast/Ghana, Rathbone, ‘Transfer of Power’; on French attitudes, a good overview is given in the articles in Thomas, French Colonial Mind. The problems of these diaries—which tended to be full of formal irregularities in the 1930s—are discussed in Oscar Freire de Vasconcelos Ruas, Inspector of Administrative Affairs, Relatório de Inspecção Administrativa [no Norte de Angola] (no number), 17 Dec. 1937, 2–4, AHU, ISAU, 1665. There were many complaints from the central provincial services of Angola about the bad quality of the reports coming from the individual posts; however, ‘bad quality’ mainly means, in these instances, that the ways in which they were written were often irregular and the contents very divergent. Many offer, nonetheless, a detailed picture of experiences and opinions. See Cypriano José Jeremias, substituting for the director of services of civil administration of Angola, to Governor of Province of Benguela (no. 37/1829/30), 15 May 1940, AHA, 1807. The Portuguese inspectorate of labour confirmed in 1944 that the administrators of the posts, apart from some particularly active administrators of the subdivisions, were the only members of the administration who really had a regular and systematic interaction with rural Angolans; see Inspectorate-General of Colonial Administration, Parecer (no. 15), 18 Sept. 1944, 3, MU/ISAU, Sala 3, AHU, 1725. Joaquim António Coelho is not a very well-documented official, but indications concerning his further career (he became officially admitted as administrator in 1942 only) can be found in Direcção da Administração Pública, Processos Individuais, Funcionários e Agentes da Administração Ultramarina, Processo no. 3695, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon (hereafter ANTT). Stoler and Cooper, ‘Between Metropole and Colony’, 30. Penvenne, African Workers and Colonial Racism, 131–40. The racial (and racist) assumptions on which Portuguese rule was built in the 1930s are discussed in Bandeira Jerónimo, Livros Brancos, Almas Negras, 154–75 (mainly for the 1900s and 1910s), and Ferraz de Matos, Côres do Império, 122–34. An overview over the forms of labour under Portuguese rule is given in Messiant, 1961, 75–85, 211–50. On the French variant of the indigénat and its relations to forced labour, see Fall, Travail forcé; Keese, Living with Ambiguity, 150–3; Mann, ‘What was the Indigénat?’, 351. Eduardo da Mata Antunes Barradas, Secretary of Administration of Subdivision of Seles, from Vila Nova do Seles, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição do Seles respeitante ao Mês de Junho do Ano de 1939 (no number), 7 July 1939, 2, AHA, 1764. Ibid. This technique had been at the heart of early Portuguese imaginings about the economic future of Angola and had thus entered the Native Labour Code after having long been discussed as an inevitable provision of this code: see José Candido d'Avis da Silva Matos, Província de Angola—Distrito do Congo—Relatório: Trabalhos de dezobstração e limpeza dos rios do Mayombe (no number), 12 Jan. 1918, 16. AHA, 1732. Under the Portuguese Republic, colonial lawmakers had (sometimes intensely) discussed the treatment of possible vagrants and the use of cipaios to round them up. The effect of such debates on the local arena was relatively small and the ideas that motivated them quickly became obsolete after the new upsurge of authoritarianism in the metropole in 1926. Frequently, lower-ranking officials of the subdivisions were active in the control of individuals employed for road labour: see José Luíz Rebelo da Silva, Administrator of the Subdivision (circunscrição civil) of Seles to Secretary of District Government of Cuanza-Sul (no. 572/1a/18), 29 May 1933, AHA, 3850. On the larger context of relations between Portuguese settlers and officials, see also Castelo, Passagens para África. In the subdivision of Songo in Malange District, which was a reservoir of labourers for plantation work in Amboim, only 123 workers could be drafted in 1942 as ‘voluntary workers’, while a full 2518 were recruited through ‘the intervention of the state’. These numbers can be regarded as representative of the entire period between 1920 and 1945: see Álvaro Correia de Freitas, Administrator of Subdivision (circunscrição) of Songo to Álvaro de Freitas Morna, Governor-General of Angola (no number), 30 April 1942, MU/ISAU, Sala 3, 1725, AHU. José Diogo Ferreira Martins, Inspector of Administrative Affairs, Relatório da Inspecção aos Distritos de Cuanza Norte [e] Cuanza Sul 1960–1961 (no. 7–8), 1 March 1961, 211–213, MU/ISAU, A2.050.05/033.00202, AHU. Nevertheless, in Cassongue and Ambuiva, colonial administrators argued quite early that the yearly forced recruitment of labourers for roças in the Bailundo (District of Huambo) or for those in other parts of the Seles subdivision ruined the potential of African large-scale agriculture: see Jozé Luiz Rebelo da Silva, Administrator of Subdivision of Seles, to Secretary of District of Cuanza-Sul (no. 825/4.a/6), 19 April 1927, 2–3, 7, AHA, 1949, Twenty-two years later, in 1949, the officials still complained that recruitment for the plantations alone surpassed the potential of the subdivision: see José Estevam Clington Martins, Agent of the Curator of Native Affairs in the Subdivision of Seles to Director of Companhia Angolana de Agricola (CADA) in Boa Entrada (no. 146/Cur8), 15 Sept. 1949, 1, AHA, 1830. Cruz Alvara, Relatório da Reunião dos intendentes de Distrito e Administradores de Circunscrição e de Concelho, efectuada na Sede da Província de Malange, de 17 a 24 Julho de 1944 (no number), 21 Aug. 1944, 16, MU/ISAU, Sala 3, 1731, AHU. Ernesto de Serpa Nunes, Acting Director of Directorate of Services and Native Affairs, Extracto de que consta de relatório do Inspector de Trabalho dos Indígenas da Zôna Norte, referente á última inspecção feita ao acampamento da Reconstrução do Caminho de Ferro de Loanda (no number), 23 Sept. 1927, AHA, 1949. On the CFB, see also Esteves, ‘Caminho-de-Ferro de Benguela’, 511–77. Bassett, ‘Uncaptured Corvée’; Roberts, Two Worlds of Cotton. Pitcher, ‘Sowing the Seeds of Failure’, 61–3; Isaacman and Chilundo, ‘Peasants at Work’, 161–6. The principal article on this revolt remains Freudenthal, ‘Baixa de Cassanje’; more recently, additional analysis on the subject was provided by Keese, ‘Dos abusos às revoltas?’, 254–60. Telegram from Civil Prosecutor of Malange to Administrator of Subdivision of Nova Gaia (no. 9), 2 May 1945, AHA, 1253; Telegram from District Governor of Malange to Administrator of Subdivision of Nova Gaia (no. 29), 9 May 1945, AHA, 1253. Administrator of Subdivision of Minungo to Administrator of Post of Quitapa (no. 977/9o/15/44), 29 Nov. 1944, AHA, 1253. These oppositions between European settlers and officials had a strong tradition: on Angola's central plateau near Huambo, fleeing individuals had long found out how to broker deals with settlers and some administrators so as to secure protection from the officials and cipaios from their regions of origin: see Francisco Manuel Carreira and António Teófilo Borges Correia, Auto de Noticia (no number), undated, 1–2, AHA, 469. In the subdivision of Alto Cuanza, locals fled from the post of Mutumbo to that of Catota, whose administrator was known for not sending refugees back as long as they paid their taxes, thus undermining the labour policy of his colleague in Mutumbo: see Othello Henriques da Fonseca, Administrator of the Civil Subdivision of Alto Cuanza in Chitembo to Administrator of Civil Post of Catota (no. 1036/3a/3), 16 Nov. 1928, AHA, 2093. Joaquim Marques de Cruz, Secretary of the Subdivision (circunscrição) of Baixo Songo, Ano de 1926—Província de Angola—Distrito de Malange, Circunscrição Civil do Baixo Songo—Guia número trezentos e cinquenta e quatro (no number), 24 Nov. 1926, 1–2, AHA, 1735. J. Ribeiro da Cruz, Acting Director of the Central Department of Native Affairs of the Government-General of Angola, Relatório (no number), 18 June 1942, 19–20, MU/ISAU, Sala 3, 1725, AHU. Luís d'Almeida da Silva to Administrator of Subdivision of Nova Gaia, District of Malange (no. 60), 6 Sept. 1924, 1, AHA, 4541. Typical for this complex question is J. F. Fiúza da Silva, Native Labour Inspector in the Northern Zone to Administrator of Quibala and Agent of the Curator (no number), 9 July 1928, 1, AHA, 3647. See also J. Ribeiro da Cruz, Relatório (no number), 18 June 1942, 23, MU/ISAU, Sala 3, 1725, AHU. Pompeu Valdez, Administrator of Subdivision (circunscrição) of Libolo, Província de Angola, Distrito do Cuanza-Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Libôlo—Ano de 1939—Mês de Abril—Cópia do ‘Diário de Serviço’ desta Administração, referente ao mês de Abril de 1939 (no number), 10 May 1939, 1, AHA, 1764. Joaquim António Coelho, Administrator of Post of Botera, Província de Benguela, Distrito do Cuanza Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles: Cópia do ‘diario de serviço’ referente ao mez de Abril (no number), 1 May 1939, 1, AHA, 1764. Ibid., 1–2. Ibid., 2. Joaquim António Coelho, Província de Benguela, Distrito do Cuanza Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles: Cópia do ‘Diario de Serviço’, referente ao Mez de maio findo (no number), 2 June 1939, 1–2, AHA, 1764. Joaquim António Coelho, Província de Benguela, Distrito do Cuanza Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles: Cópia do ‘Diario de Serviço’, referente ao Mez de Junho findo (no number), 2 July 1939, 1, AHA, 1764. Joaquim António Coelho, Província de Benguela, Distrito do Cuanza Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles: Cópia do ‘Diário de Serviço’, referente ao Mez de Setembro de 1939 (no number), 1 Oct. 1939, 2, AHA, 1807. Joaquim António Coelho, Província de Benguela, Distrito do Cuanza Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles: Cópia do ‘Diario de Serviço’, referente ao Mez de Dezembro de 1939 (no number), 1 Jan. 1940, 2, AHA, 1807. Joaquim António Coelho, Província de Benguela, Distrito do Cuanza Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles: Cópia do ‘Diario de Serviço’, referente ao Mês de Fevereiro de 1940 (no number), 2 March 1940, AHA, 1807. Eduardo da Mata Antunes Barradas, Secretary of the Administration of Subdivision of Seles, in Vila Nova do Seles, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição do Seles respeitante ao Mês de Junho do Ano de 1939 (no number), 7 July 1939, 1, AHA, 1764. José Augusto Cerriño Padrão, Administrator of Post of Ambuiva, Posto de Ambuiva—Cópia do Diário de Serviço, referente ao mez de Junho de 1939 (no number), 3 July 1939, 1, AHA, 1764. Pompeu Valdez, Província de Angola, Distrito do Cuanza-Sul, Circunscrição Administrativa do Libôlo—Ano de 1939—Mês de Agosto—Cópia do Diário de Serviço desta Administração, referente ao mês acima indicado (no number), 31 Aug. 1939, 1, AHA, 1764. Eduardo da Mata Antunes Barradas, Secretary of the Administration of the Administrative Subdivision of Seles, in Vila Nova do Seles, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição do Seles respeitante ao Mês de Junho do Ano de 1939 (no number), 7 July 1939, 2, AHA, 1764. Keese, Living with Ambiguity, 162–8. J. F. Fiuza da Silva, Native Labour Inspector of the Northern Zone, Ofício, urgente, no 474/28, do Cônsul Alemão (no number), 16 May 1928, 1, AHA, 796. José Pereira da Silva Júnior, Secretary of Administration of the Subdivision of Seles, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles, referente ao Mês de Novembro de 1940 (no number), 2 Dec. 1940, 1, AHA, 1807. J. A. da Silva Carvalho, Despacho (no number), 26 March 1946, AHA, 1830. José Diogo Ferreira Martins, Inspector-General, Relatório Parcial: Distrito do Huambo 1961 (no. 8), 10 May 1961, 130, MU/ISAU, A2.001.02/008.00038, AHU. José de Oliveira Leite, Administrator of concelho and circunscrição (urban and rural subdivision) of Humpata, District of Huíla, Resposta aos Questionários (no number), 20 Feb. 1933, 1, AHA, 958. António Abel de Almeida, Administrator of Post of Pungo Andongo, Cópia do Diario de Serviço do Posto Administrativo do Pungo Andongo referente ao mes de Junho de 1948 (no number), 24 July 1948, 1, AHA, 3988. António Carvalho, Companhia Geral dos Algodões de Angola to Administrator of Central Post of the Subdivision of Songo in Nova Gaia (no number), 17 June 1945, 3, AHA, 1253. Administração do Concelho de Malange: Cópia do Diário de Serviços no mês de Outubro de 1945 (no number), undated, 2, AHA, 3988. José Pereira da Silva Júnior, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles, referente ao Mês de Outubro de 1940 (no number), 2 Nov. 1940, 3, AHA, 1807. C. H. Almeida Silveira, Inspector-General of Native Affairs, Parecer (no number), 7 Feb. 1949, 2, 5–6, MU/ISAU, Sala 3, 1661, AHU. Administrator of Post of Conda, Província de Benguela, Circunscrição Administrativa do Séles, Posto da Conda: Cópia do Diario de Serviço do Posto Administrativo da Conda, referente ao Mez de Junho de 1939 (no number), 1 July, AHA, 1764. José Pereira da Silva Júnior, Secretary of Administration of the Subdivision of Seles, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles, referente ao Mês de Dezembro do Ano de 1940 (no number), 4 Jan. 1941, 1, AHA, 1807. José Lima Castelo, Administrator of Post of Conda, Província de Benguela, Circunscrição Administrativa do Séles, Posto da Conda: Cópia do Diario de Serviço do Posto Administrativo da Conda, referente ao mez de Fevereiro de 1940 (no number), 1 March 1940, 1, AHA, 1807. Eduardo da Mata Antunes Barradas, Secretary of Administration of the Subdivision of Seles, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles, referente ao Mês de Janeiro de 1940 (no number), 1 Feb. 1940, 1, AHA, 1807. José Pereira da Silva Júnior, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles, referente ao Mês de Setembro de 1940 (no number), 2 Oct. 1940, 2, AHA, 1807. Eduardo da Mata Antunes Barradas, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles, referente ao Mês de Fevereiro de 1940 (no number), 1 March 1940, 2, AHA, 1807; Eduardo da Mata Antunes Barradas, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Circunscrição Administrativa do Seles, referente ao Mês de Março de 1940 (no number), 1 April 1940, 1, AHA, 1807. [Distrito de Malange—Circunscrição do Songo—] Relatório Anual: 1952 (no number), undated, 29, AHA, 1999. Gaspar da Cunha Lima, Director-General of the Companhia Angolana de Agricultura (CADA) to Agent of the Native Affairs Officer of the Subdivision (concelho) of Amboim (no. 3.447/885/Dv—cópia), 1, AHA, 1830; Armando Melício Nunes, Agent of the Native Affairs Officer of Benguela, to Director-General of CADA in Boa Entrada (no. 100/10/CUR/950, from Gabela), 16 May 1950, AHA, 1830. Alvaro Corrêa de Freitas, Provincial Director of Civil Administration of Province of Benguela, Circular (no. 153/950), 5 June 1950, AHA, 2320. Vasco Abreu, Administrator of Post of Lucala, Província de Angola, Distrito do Cuanza Norte Concelho de Cazengo, Posto Administrativo do Lucala—Cópia do Diário de Serviço, referente ao mês de Outubro de 1955 (no number), 31 Oct. 1955, 2, AHA, 3870. Custódio Abel Fernandes Ramos, Administrador of Subdivision (concelho) of Amboim, 1957: Governo do Distrito do Cuanza-Sul: Concelho do Amboim—Relatório Anual (no. 5410/1a/111/1a), undated, 13, AHA, 2315. Pedro A. Gonçalves, Administrator of Post of Ritondo, Posto Administrativo do Ritondo: Cópia do Diário de Serviço do mez de Janeiro de 1961 (no number), undated, 1246, 1, AHA, 1246. A considerable number of reports and diary entries from the region sustain this view. Among these examples are Secretary of Administration of the Subdivision of Seles, in Vila Nova do Seles, Cópia do Diário de Serviço da Administração da Circunscrição do Seles respeitante ao Mês de Abril de 1939 (no number), 6 July 1939, 2, AHA, 1764, or Administrator of Subdivision of Bailundo, Concelho do Bailundo: Cópia do Diário de Serviço no Mês de Dezembro de 1939 (no number), 9 Jan. 1940, 2, AHA, 1764.