Swaziland report / Commonwealth Relations Office.

  • Great Britain. Office of Commonwealth Relations.
Date:
[1959]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Swaziland report / Commonwealth Relations Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/156 (page 12)
    Chapter li : Occupations, Wages and Labour Organisation Until the recent post-war development period, the gold mines in the Union of South Africa were the main source of employment for the Swazi. Within the Terri¬ tory, employment was provided by the Havelock Asbestos Mine and European farms. The recent intro¬ duction of large forestry and irrigation undertakings has led, in turn, to the establishment of processing in¬ dustries. A large sugar mill has been constructed by the Mhlume (Swaziland) Sugar Company Ltd., and another sugar mill is under construction at Ubombo Ranches where it will replace the existing one. At the end of the year, arrangements were being made for the erect¬ ion of a pulp factory for processing timber on the estate of the Usutu Pulp Company Limited. In the mining industry, the prospecting of iron ore and coal deposits continued, but this has not yet led to the establishment of any mine. The cash earnings obtained from these sources are used to supplement the traditional tribal subsistence economy. EMPLOYMENT At the 1956 Census, 25.5% of the gainfully employed European population over the age of fifteen years was engaged in farming and forestry, 19.8% were craftsmen or labourers and 18.3% were enumerated as pro¬ fessional workers such as teachers, engineers, mission¬ aries, lawyers and medical practitioners. Excluding those engaged in farming and mining, managers and administrators comprised 11.3% of this section, of the population. Of the gainfully employed Eurafrican popu¬ lation over fifteen years of age, 29.8% were employed in farming and forestry and 26.2% were enumerated as craftsmen or labourers. This Census also showed that 25,928 Swazi were peasant farmers, 200 ran their own businesses and 26,050 were enumerated as employees, of whom 14,322