Browsing by Author "Goussard, Yvette"
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- ItemDie gebruik van gevangene arbeid in die Wes-Kaapse landbou(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000-03) Goussard, Yvette; Ewert, J. W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research problem of this study is "The use of prison labour in die Western Cape agriculture". The aim of this qualitative-historical study was to determine how this system of labour was established, functioned and eventually came to an end. To research this topic was not easy. Most of the documentary sources have been destroyed. Therefore, the main source of information were interviews with the relevant prison wardens and guards, as well as farmers who used prison labour in the past. Prison labour played only a small part in the penal system of the Cape Colony before the nineteenth century. The focus of punishment was on the body of the criminal - inflicting physical pain. Since the early 1800's prisoners were used for the maintenance of roads and on work in Governmental gardens. Prisoners were rented ' . out to farmers, on an informal basis, since 1806. A formal system of prison labour, based on the principle of rehabilitating punishment, was introduced by the Governor John Montagu in 1843. For example, prisoners were classified according to their behavior, rather than their crimes. In 1888 free prison labour was abolished and a standard wage was introduced. The use of prison labour by private persons increased systematically after the Second World War. The reason for this was a growing labour shortage in especially agriculture. The system of farm prisons or so-called "outposts" was established to address this problem. In 194 7 the Landsdown Commission accepted the principle of farm prisons. The first farm prison was opened in 1953. The establishment of these outposts had a twofold aim: firstly, it supplied farmers with a constant source of labour. Secondly, it served as a deliverance for the state, as this would relieve the overcrowding in prisons and reduce costs. Between 1953 and 1988 a_total of thirteen outposts were established in the Western Cape. Farmers' unions carried the costs of building the prisons and were also responsible for their maintenance. The Department of Prisons was responsible for the appointment of prisonguards and their remuneration. A Central Outpost Committee was established that served as a link between the various farmers' unions and the Department. South Africa's policy on prison labour was in line with the United Nations' "Standard Minimum Rules" for the treatment of prisoners, having rehabilitation as main objective. However, this system of farm prisons clashed with the international trade ethos of the time. It was seen as "slave labour" that gave South African farmers an unfair competitive advantage. In 1988 prison labour was terminated and outposts were closed, due to the threat of sanctions and boycotts of South African agricultural products. The empirical evidence of this study largely supports the Marxist interpretation of punishment in society. According to Ma.rXism, punishment systems and prison labour serve the economic interests of the dominant classes. At the same time it also gives credence to the Weberian interpretation, in which the systematic monitoring and treatment of prisoners are a manifestation of the tendency towards increasing rationalisation in Western society.