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South African Historical Journal
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'To Kill the Locusts, But Not Destroy the Farmers': Officials, Farmers and the Plagues of Pharaoh, c. 1920-1935 Lize-Marié van der Watta a University of Stellenbosch,
Online publication date: 29 July 2010
To cite this Article van der Watt, Lize-Marié(2010) ''To Kill the Locusts, But Not Destroy the Farmers': Officials, Farmers
and the Plagues of Pharaoh, c. 1920-1935', South African Historical Journal, 62: 2, 356 — 383 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/02582473.2010.493008 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2010.493008
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‘To Kill the Locusts, But Not Destroy the Farmers’: 2I¿FLDOV)DUPHUVDQGWKH3ODJXHVRI3KDUDRKF ± 1 LIZE-MARIÉ VAN DER WATT*
University of Stellenbosch
Downloaded By: [van der Watt, Lizé-Marie] At: 07:49 30 July 2010
Abstract Of all the agricultural pests farmers in the Union of South Africa had to endure, few evoked such strong, visceral, and often highly personal debates within the Afrikaner farming community as locust plagues. As a contribution to the dialogue between historians who have explored science, farmers and state intervention in agriculture within the broader theme of agricultural pests, this article seeks to add to the socio-environmental history of Afrikaners within the context of the VRXWKHUQ$IULFDQHQYLURQPHQW,WGLVFXVVHVWKHH[SOLFLWO\VFLHQWL¿FHQWRPRORJLcal issues, including the knowledge exchange process, and then turns towards the political themes on macro as well as micro level. Finally, it examines the more ephemeral themes of religious and racial identity as highlighted by the locust infestations. Key words: South African agriculture; locust; agricultural pests; Great Depression; agriculture and environment; science and agriculture; Afrikaner agriculture; Landbouweekblad; South African environment; drought Introduction :KHQ*HQHUDO-*&.HPSOHIWRI¿FHDV0LQLVWHURI$JULFXOWXUHRIWKH8QLRQRI6RXWK$IULFD LQODWH KLVGHFDGHORQJWHUPZDVGHVFULEHGDVµDWLPHRI'HSUHVVLRQGURXJKWDQGORFXVW destruction’.2 The decade during which Kemp presided over agriculture was also characterised by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. There was an emphasis on progress, with science and
1
The title quote is a translation from Afrikaans of ‘om al die sprinkane dood te maak, maar nie om die boer uit te roei nie’: ‘Bevegting van Sprinkane: De Aar Boerevereniging’, Die Landbouweekblad (hereafter LW) -DQXDU\ 6RXWK$IULFDQ1DWLRQDO$UFKLYHV KHUHDIWHU6$1$ .HPS&ROOHFWLRQ KHUHDIWHU$ /HWWHUIURP$EHUGHHQ )DUPHUV¶8QLRQWR*HQHUDO.HPSRQKLVUHVLJQDWLRQ-DQXDU\
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[email protected] South African Historical Journal ,661 3ULQW2QOLQH '2,
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µ72.,//7+(/2&8676%87127'(6752UHGMDFNHWV@WUHNDZD\VDIHO\OHDYLQJRQO\EDUH¿HOG behind’. Not everyone agreed that the government could be blamed: a member of the ruling 6RXWK$IULFDQ3DUW\ 6$3 TXRWHGWKHIROORZLQJSRHPWRVXPXSWKHVLWXDWLRQ ‘Who sends the locusts to the farm And lets them do the greatest harm? Who fails to give any balm? The Government. Who brings droughts that try us so? Who makes the dry and dreary winds to blow? Who spreads disease that causes woe?
µ$FW WR 3UHYHQW WKH ,QWURGXFWLRQ LQWR DQG 6SUHDG ZLWKLQ WKH 8QLRQ RI ,QVHFW 3HVWV 3ODQW 'LVHDVHV DQG %HH Diseases and to Regulate the Importation into the Union of Exotic Animals’, Statutes of the Union of South Africa 1910–1911$FWRI $FWRI $UWLFOH ‘Vernietiging van Sprinkane’, LW 2FWREHU Hansard )HEUXDU\ *HOGHQKX\Vµ'LH$DQVWRUPHQGH6SULQNDDQY\DQG¶ Hansard )HEUXDU\ Ibid. 3&DVVLHµ6WHPYDQGLH%RHU %XOWIRQWHLQ¶ LW 'HFHPEHU WUDQVODWLRQ
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The Government. Le Envoi. Down with the blooming, boiling lot, It’s time they went, they’ve got to trot, Or else we’ll see that they are shot! 3RRU*RYHUQPHQW¶
$FFRUGLQJWRVWDWHRI¿FLDOVWKHUHZDVDPLVFRQFHSWLRQWKDWWKHJRYHUQPHQWZDQWHGWRLPSOHPHQW stricter regulations on farmers, saying that ‘the goal of the department is to kill the locusts, not the farmers’. The underlying political strife, however, did little to combat locusts, leading the editor of the Landbouweekblad (who was sympathetic to the state) to declare: Downloaded By: [van der Watt, Lizé-Marie] At: 07:49 30 July 2010
1RZLVQRWWKHWLPHIRUEODPH%XWLIWKHUHLVRQHFODVVRIEODPHWREHVSHFL¿FDOO\PHQWLRQHGLWLV political blame! Farmers! Remember, locust extermination is the task of the farmer. It has nothing to GRZLWKSDUW\SROLWLFV$QGLIZHZDQWWKHFDPSDLJQWRVXFFHHGZHPXVWDSSRLQWRI¿FHUVZKRFDQ OHDGXVDQGQRWEHFDXVHWKH\EHORQJWRDVSHFL¿FSDUW\«)DUPHUVQHHGWRWDNHH[FHSWLRQZKHQWKRVH who are not farmers want to use the situation for their own political means.
It was considered that ‘locust eradication is not an issue of party politics, it is an issue of the IDUPHUDVIDUPHUDQGWKHUHIRUHDOOIDUPHUVPXVWWDNHKDQGVDYRLGSROLWLFVDQGMXVWNHHSWKHLU eyes on the locust’. This was, however, not the case, and battle lines against locusts also increasingly collapsed into party lines, with blame being put on Jan Smuts’s government for DOORZLQJWKHSODJXHWRKDSSHQDQGXSKROGLQJWKHSHUFHLYHGGUDFRQLDQORFXVWODZE\XVLQJ6$3 ORFXVWRI¿FHUVDQGQHLJKERXULQJIDUPHUVZLWKSROLWLFDOYHQGHWWDV$WDOHWKDWZDVUHFRXQWHGWZLFH within one sitting was of a farmer who visited a neighbour, and, angrily dismounting, shouted: ‘General Smuts went to England to make peace when there is not peace in his own country.’ He ZHQWRQWRVD\WKDWWKHORFXVWVUXLQHGKLVKDUYHVWEXWKHFRXOGQRW¿JKWWKHPDORQH The locusts threatened to become a rallying point during the general election in 1924. The editor of the Friend of the Free State Gazette wrote in his commentary on the locust plague:
>6@XFK D EUHDGDQGEXWWHU LVVXH DV WKH ORFXVW SODJXH ZLOOEH SXW LQ WKH EDODQFH DJDLQVW WKH ¿QH promises of the congress room ... there can be little doubt that the ordinary elector will regard the NLOOLQJRIORFXVWVDPRUHLPSRUWDQWWKLQJWKDQDQ\RIWKHRWKHUV$QGVRWKHRI¿FLDOEUHDNGRZQDJDLQVW locusts is likely to do harm against the Government politically, as it will, without any question, mean a serious blow to the recuperation and progress of the country.
The locust plague was, of course, not the only factor in the election, but it certainly played a powerful political role, adding an edge to debates on the locust campaigns of the new dispensation, after Kemp replaced Smartt as Minister of Agriculture. When Kemp asked parliaPHQWIRUDQH[WUD
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Hansard )HEUXDU\ ± ‘Bevegting van Sprinkane: De Aar Boerevereniging’, LW -DQXDU\ WUDQVODWLRQ *HOGHQKX\Vµ6SULQNDDQEHYHJWLQJ¶ µ'LH6SULQNDDQ3RVLHVLH¶/: 'HFHPEHU WUDQVODWLRQ Hansard )HEUXDU\ WUDQVODWLRQ 6$1$&(1/&XWWLQJIURP The Friend of the Free State, ‘The Locust Menace’, c. October 1922;
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