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ABSTRACT
A common feature of colonial towns in Africa was the ‘beer hall’, serving traditional sorghum beer under municipal monopoly to the African labour force. This system was designed with a dual purpose – to fund rudimentary welfare and housing services for workers whilst consolidating control of drinking and sociality. But it was oppressive, and therefore lacked legitimacy; beer halls became targets of anti-colonial struggle and faced stiff competition from illicit brewers and drinking dens. Little is known about how colonial authorities considered and addressed these problems. This article shows how authorities in late colonial Bulawayo – in the spirit of post-war developmentalism – attempted to make their municipal liquor enterprise more legitimate, by building a multitude of landscaped community beer gardens serving good quality sorghum beer, and hailing the African welfare, education, recreation and home ownership schemes built from the considerable profits. Notwithstanding this attempt to associate municipal drinking with respectable sociality and socio-cultural development, the Council received (and strenuously rebutted) sustained criticism from Africans and Europeans alike for its heavy promotion of alcohol, which undermined its moral authority as the arbiter of post-war development.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the archivists at the Bulawayo City Council (particularly Elias Mdluli), the Chronicle and the National Archives of Zimbabwe; the interviewees; and Sara Dorman, Sam Spiegel and Emma Hunter for their supervision.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 Ashton, “Introduction,” in Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, xx.
2 See e.g., Ambler, “Alcohol and Disorder in Precolonial Africa”.
3 Rogerson, “A Strange Case of Beer”.
4 Swanson, “The Durban System,” 174.
5 La Hausse, “The Struggle for the City,” vii.
6 Willis, “Unpretentious Bars”; British National Archives/CO 795-77-2/Provincial Commissioners' conference Lusaka, 1935.
7 Nugent, “Modernity, Tradition and Intoxication,” 135.
8 See e.g., la Hausse, Brewers, Beerhalls and Boycotts; Crush and Ambler (eds) Liquor and Labor; Sadler, ““Trouble was Brewing””; Gewald, “Diluting Drinks”; Chimhete, “African Nationalism”.
9 Job Michello, Proceedings of the Northern Rhodesia Legislative Council (NRLC), 18 June 1962, para. 804, cited in Ambler, “Alcohol, Racial Segregation,” 295.
10 Mager, “The First Decade,” 368; See also Willis, “Drinking Power”.
11 Aktinson, “Contradictions of community,” 150 and 152; See also Whelan, “eMatsheni”.
12 Willis, “Unpretentious Bars”.
13 The interviews were about the broader topic of late colonial township development, in which the liquor system appeared as one theme.
14 Hodge, Developing Africa, 369.
15 From the 1950s it was also commonly referred to as ‘African beer’.
16 These changes followed a 1911 Native Affairs Commission recommendation to adopt the Durban system; see Parry, “The Durban System and the Limits of Colonial Power in Salisbury,” 124.
17 Ashton, African Administration in Bulawayo, 36.
18 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, “Mapping Cultural and Colonial Encounters,” 71.
19 CID report to Chief Superintendant, 10 June 1929, in Ranger, Bulawayo Burning, 52.
20 BCC/Annual report of the Director of Native Administration, 1952.
21 Ashton, African Administration in Bulawayo, 38.
22 See e.g., Cooper, Decolonization and African Society. Note: Bulawayo’s township administration was called the Native Administration Department from 1949 to 1953, the African Administration Department from 1953 to 1963, Housing and Amenities from 1963 to 1975, and finally Housing and Community Services until today.
23 Ashton had been a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, attendee of Malinowski’s seminars at LSE, PhD student of Isaac Schapera in Cape Town, personal secretary to the British High Commissioner, district commissioner in Bechuanaland, and welfare administrator in Johannesburg, before moving up to Bulawayo in 1949.
24 BCC/Annual Report of the Director, 1977.
25 See Hutton, “Bulawayo Breaks Ranks”.
26 National Archives of Zimbabwe/S2609/35/2/Vol. 1. Native Housing Policy, 1946-53/Conference on Native Housing, 21 May, 1953.
27 Bulawayo City Council archive (BCC)/African Administration Committee minutes, 2nd Feb, 1960.
28 The Council’s brewery also served many off-site customers, including the army, police and several rural African Councils in the areas surrounding the city.
29 BCC/Minute of the mayor for year ending 31st July, 1951.
30 BCC/Report of the Director of Native Administration, August, 1951.
31 Atkinson, “Contradictions of community,” 155.
32 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 157.
33 Gargett, “Drinking for Pleasure,” 115.
34 From 1968, the African (Joint Townships) Advisory Board also had its own Liquor Undertaking Committee.
35 BCC/African Admin Committee minutes, 31st Jan, 1961.
36 Interview with Jimmy Ncube (Bulawayo, 1 March 2017).
37 Gargett, “Drinking for Pleasure,” 116.
38 Ashton, “Liquor Laws”.
39 Note: Beer sales statistics vary slightly across multiple primary and secondary sources. However, the ratios are consistent, so the statistics in this table are indicative.
40 Ashton, observed and cited by Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 159.
41 BCC/Bulawayo Municipal Liquor Undertaking Committee minutes, 12th May, 1972.
42 See Hutton, “Bulawayo Breaks Ranks”.
43 (Published in Gwelo by Mambo Press, 1977).
44 J. Howard [Bulawayo’s Liquor Officer], Report on tour of liquor undertakings: Salisbury and Gwelo, prepared for the administrative officer, liquor sales and Distribution. (Bulawayo, housing and amenities department, 1970), 4, quoted in Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 1974, 34.
45 J. Howard, Report on tour of liquor undertakings: Pretoria, the Reef and Durban, prepared by the Administrative Officer, Liquor Sales and Distribution (Bulawayo, Housing and Amenities Department, 1970), 11, quoted in Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 31 [my emphasis]
46 Nugent, “Modernity, Tradition, and Intoxication,” 126.
47 Ashton, “Liquor Laws in Central Africa”.
48 Ibid. Note: tsoro and morabaraba are traditional Southern African mathematical strategy games. Jukskie is a centuries-old South African game in which pegs are thrown at a stake.
49 Ibid.
50 Ashton, African Administration in Bulawayo, appendix C.
51 Ibid., 39. [Note: this figure excludes African beer gardens in ‘European’ areas].
52 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 224; BCC/N6A/103B/Ndubiwa, Michael, “Urban Community Study” (Housing and Amenities Department, 1974), 78.
53 Ndubiwa, “Urban Community Study,” 79.
54 BCC/Finance Committee minutes, 9th June, 1975.
55 BCC/ Report of the Special Committee re: District Native Recreational Centres, Bulawayo, July, 1958, 2.
56 Ibid., 13.
57 Ibid., 12.
58 BCC/A13/3 (box 703), Local Govt. Association/City Engineer memo to Town Clerk, item 10, “Recreational facilities for Africans,” 25th October, 1972.
59 Ndubiwa, “Urban Community Study,” 78–9.
60 The Municipal Liquor Committee felt that “Khumalo” was too masculine and “contrary to African tradition”, which associated brewing with women, so “MaKhumalo” was deemed more appropriate. BCC/Municipal Liquor Undertaking Committee minutes, 14th July, 1972.
61 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 26
62 BCC/Council minutes/Report of the Director of Native Administration, August, 1951.
63 BCC/African Administration Committee minutes, 3rd October, 1961.
64 Ashton, “A Tale of Three Cities,” 15.
65 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 161.
66 Ibid., 185.
67 Ndubiwa, “Urban Community Study,” 80.
68 BCC/SO21/Magwegwe Tenants’ Association meeting, 10th May, 1972.
69 Ndubiwa, “Urban Community Study,” 79.
70 Happy Valley Hotel was in fact leased to a prominent township citizen, footballer and man-about-town, Jerry Vera, from 1963 until the late 1970s. The exclusive Marisha Cocktail bar in Magwegwe was also leased to an African tenant.
71 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 31.
72 BCC/African Administration Committee minutes, 9 April, 1962.
73 Kaarsholm, “Si ye Pambili, Which Way Forward?”.
74 Author interviews with Naison Ndlovu (Bulawayo, 27 April 2017); Joshua Malinga (Bulawayo, 26 April 2017); Dumiso Dabengwa (Bulawayo, 19 June 2018); Mike Ndubiwa (Bulawayo, 2 August 2016); Jimmy Ncube (Bulawayo, 1 Jan 2017); Much Masunda (Harare, 24 June 2018).
75 Ashton, “Introduction,” in Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, xvii.
76 Ibid., xx.
77 Gargett, “Drinking for Pleasure,” 115.
78 Ibid.
79 Ibid., 159. Note: The exam was instructed and examined in Bulawayo by Ashton and one other examiner, but accredited by the regional Institute of Administrators of Non-European Affairs.
80 Ndubiwa, “Urban Community Study,” 79.
81 BCC/SO6/Mpopoma Leaseholders Association meeting, 4th Nov, 1974.
82 West, “Liquor and Libido”.
83 Ashton, African Administration in Bulawayo, 37.
84 West, “Liquor and Libido,” 651–5.
85 BCC/African Advisory Board meeting, 20th March, 1952.
86 BCC/SO21/Magwegwe Tenants’ Association meeting, 9th Sept, 1973.
87 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 63.
88 Ndubiwa, “Urban Community Study,” 80.
89 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 33.
90 Jackson Commission, quoted in Ashton, African Administration in Bulawayo, 37.
91 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 185.
92 Rogerson, “A Strange Case,” 18.
93 Chimhete, “African Nationalism”.
94 Author interview with Dumiso Dabengwa, Bulawayo, 19 June 2018.
95 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 184.
96 Hutton, “Seeing Like a Second City,” chapter 3. Further research is needed on urban political activity during the liberation war in Zimbabwe.
97 Mpofu, “Articulating Regional and Ethnic Dissent?,” 485–6.
98 BCC/Council minutes, 21st April, 1954.
99 BCC/SO4 (transfer box 152) Residents' Association W.A.T/Western Commonage No.6 Resident Association to the Native Commissioner, 22nd August, 1954.
100 “Municipal Eviction Law is “Discriminating”,” The Chronicle, August 31st, 1954.
101 Ashton, African Administration in Bulawayo, 39.
102 BCC/H4/4/1(transfer box 210)/Ashton memorandum to Town Clerk, “Western Commonage No. 6 Scheme: Use of Beer Profits,” 28th October, 1954.
103 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 129.
104 Crush and Ambler, Liquor and Labor, 7.
105 BCC/Annual Report of the Director of African Administration, 1957.
106 Ashton, “Liquor Laws in Central Africa”.
107 BCC/Report of the Special Committee/Ashton’s report re: district native recreational centres, 20th Feb, 1958.
108 Ibid., 12.
109 Ibid., 14.
110 Ibid., appendix with objections.
111 Ibid.
112 Author interview with Ewen Greenfield, London, 18th Jan, 2016
113 ““Unwise”’ to Provide African Facilities,” The Chronicle, 3 August, 1967
114 Ashton, “Introduction,” in Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, xx.
115 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 133.
116 BCC/African Administration Committee minutes, 9 April, 1962.
117 Gelfand, “Alcoholism in Contemporary African Society,” 13.
118 Administrator to Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 135.
119 May, Survey of Urban African Drinking Patterns in the Bulawayo Municipal Townships.
120 53% of men and 19% of women said that they drank alcohol. There is reason to suspect that survey respondents’ answers were modified due to social stigma: women could be less likely to admit to the “immodest” activity of drinking, although drinking after child-bearing age was much more acceptable (May, Survey, 38–9; Ndubiwa, Urban Community Study, 78). The municipality’s sales figures suggested that average individual alcohol consumption was higher than what May’s informants’ self-reported.
121 Higher earners and younger people were the main consumers of European beer, but still usually preferred African beer.
122 May, Survey, p. 25.
123 BCC/E. Gargett, “The Welfare of the Urban Community,” Homes and Social Planning Conference (Salisbury, 1968)
124 “Gaunt “frees” beer profits,” The Chronicle, 14 April 1965. [However, the Council had previously been granted some exemptions, e.g., it was allowed to appropriate £100 000 of beer profits in 1955 for the capital costs of a large family rental scheme.]
125 “Beer: “Last Ditch” Warning,” The Chronicle, 6 January 1965.
126 Wolcott, The African Beer Gardens, 164.
127 Ibid., 224.
128 Mair, cited in Gargett, “The Welfare of the Urban Community”.