South African Railways and Harbours Administration

The South African Railways and Harbours Administration was established on 31 May 1910 by the amalgamation of all the provincial railways in South Africa - about 11,000 kilometres of track. It managed South African Airways from 1934 to 1997.

The Central South African Railways, the Cape Government Railways and the Natal Government Railways were all fused by an Act of Parliament.

The South African Railways and Harbours Service Act, 1912 made striking by railway employees punishable by fine or imprisonment.

The total track had expanded to 18000 kilometres by the end of 1916.

In 1924 as a result of the industrial depression the government adopted a "civilised labour" policy, the intention of which was to ensure that the European minority did not sink below the level of the non-European workers. Unskilled white labour was recruited to the railways and a probation grade introduced, restricted to white employees. The number of black employees fell from 47,157 in 1924 to 41,533 in 1929, while the number of white employees increased from 39,024 to 58,562. This policy continued until 1939. Die Spoorbund, an Afrikaner trade union formed in 1934, advocated a policy of replacing all black railway workers by Afrikaners.

Most of the black workers were migrants, housed in company labour compounds. In 1936 starting pay for single black workers was 3/6d a day and for coloured workers 4/-d a day. After 11 years pay rose to 4/6d for black and 5/- for coloured workers. Married workers got between 4d and 6d more per day. 28,000 of the 45,000 employed were casual day labourers. Dock workers were often required to "stand by" waiting for a ship to arrive.

The South African Railways and Harbours Union was formed after a meeting of the staff in Cape Town on 1 April 1936 addressed by Rachel Simons.

In 1939 the organisation had 47,000 African employees.

The railways were a stronghold of the National Party. A special white labourer grade was created for Afrikaners from which most were eventually promoted.

In 1962 there were 218,000 employees, of which about 100,000 were Africans. About a third of the Africans were officially casual workers, paid a daily rate with no leave, pension rights of marriage allowance. The remainder were mostly temporary workers who were eligible for 15 days paid leave. Permanent workers were in addition entitled to a marriage allowance and a pension at the age of 60.

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