Browsing by Author "Snyders, Hendrik"

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    "Discontented scoundrels who crowd the mercantile marine today" : labour relations regimes of the Cape Ichaboe guano trade, c. 1843-1898
    (Historical Association of South Africa, 2013-05) Snyders, Hendrik; Swart, Sandra
    The scraping of guano on offshore islands in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the mid- to late nineteenth century was an essentially primitive industry. As guano is a natural product with no further need for processing, the primary task of guano workers was the physical collection of guano chunks using basic tools such as crowbars, spades and wheelbarrows. Working on nearly barren islands with non-existent harbour facilities in remote areas far removed from its supply source, meant that guano- collection was an extremely risky enterprise and guano-labour was both back breaking and hazardous labour. Motivated by profit considerations, guanopreneurs and the Cape colonial state established and maintained an exploitative and coercive labour regime characterised by the use of deferred wages, credit and rationing as well as rigid contract enforcement. Guano diggers, however, did not accept these practices passively and as this article demonstrates, actively resisted their exploitation and marginalisation. As a result, the Cape colonial authorities were compelled to intervene, changing the system in 1898.
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    Profits, harvests or public revenue? Divergent interests and guano fertiliser struggles in the Cape Colony; c. 1872–1910
    (Historical Association of South Africa, 2015-11) Snyders, Hendrik
    During the first 50 years of its existence, the Cape guano trade was controlled by entrepreneurs who were profit and export orientated. They used their control over certain offshore islands through long-term exploitation leases to fix prices and to manipulate supply to their maximum advantage. Internal divisions, limited financial means and a lack of sophisticated fertiliser knowledge as well as weak farmer organisation, prevented Cape farmers from reversing this situation. Faced with declining soil quality, noxious weeds and decreasing harvests that threatened to scupper their livelihoods, Cape farmers made skilful use of protest, petitioning and pressurising their public representatives and finally succeeded in securing government intervention and access to cheaper and subsidised guano. Fearing their exclusion from the hitherto lucrative trade, guanopreneurs and their political allies resisted this move strongly. The ensuing battle for control of the Cape guano fertiliser market not only saw the last attempts by entrepreneurs to resist state appropriation of the product, but also inadvertently gave guano a small role in the unfolding of political events in the years leading up to the establishment the Union of South Africa.
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    "Stinky and smelly - but profitable" : the Cape guano trade, c.1843 - 1910
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-12) Snyders, Hendrik; Swart, Sandra S.; Grundlingh, Albert M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Soil infertility and concomitant low levels of food security under conditions of population pressure and land scarcity have been, and still remain, one of society’s most daunting challenges. Over time, societies have tried to maximize the yield from the available land through the use of various fertilisers. In the 19th century in the midst of an environment infertility crisis, guano (bird dung) from the Peruvian coastal islands became, through a combination of factors, the international fertilizer of choice for most commercial farmers. As a result, a combination of natural factors, monopoly control and price manipulation contributed to the relative scarcity of the product. Nevertheless, strategic manoeuvring between the major players prevented any significant change in the supply regime. News of discoveries along the African coasts in the 1840s, some inside the territorial waters of the Cape Colony, introduced a new dimension to the trade. Both established merchant houses and new contenders strategised in an attempt to gain monopoly control. These events created new policy crises for the Cape Colony, the closest legal authority, and led to new policy and other initiatives in the absence of imperial precedents. The trade in guano also impacted on constitutional, political and scientific developments in the colony. Key amongst these was the struggle for monopoly control over both the Cape- and Ichaboe-based supply, which pitted individuals, family members and businesses against each other. The process became intertwined with political developments such as the transfer of political control from the Imperial authorities to the colonies. In addition, a coercive labour system developed under the colonial administration and colonial farmers struggled for fair access to the fertiliser, which added another dimension to the trade.
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    Tegno-korreksies : 'n studie na die impak van tegnologie op 'n Suid-Afrikaanse gevangenis
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003) Snyders, Hendrik; Mouton, J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The modern correctional agency is characterised by the extensive use of information and communication technology (ICT) (e.g. computers, close-circuit television cameras, electronic monitoring systems) and human sciences technology (HST) (e.g. psychometric tests, therapy and educational programmes) to monitor, discipline and rehabilitate sentenced offenders inside and outside of institutions and to prevent their recidivism. As a result of this combination of ICT and HST, modern correctional institutions were transformed into socio-technical environments with serious implications for the relationships between those within and outside of the institution. The use of ICT for continuous monitoring of the prison and its population, has resulted in a situation where correctional officials, like prisoners, have become legitimate datasubjects. In addition to the privacy dilemma that resulted from this, continuous monitoring has also negatively affected the relationship between the state and those under surveillance (inmate, parolee, family of parolees and correctional officials). The utilisation of sophisticated technology by organisastions to achieve certain key objectives, does not necessarily bring about the desired results. Pistorius (1996) is of the opinion that only organisations who are true learning organisations will benefit from the use of such technology. This study aims to integrate all of these perspectives in order to determine the impact of technology on a single South African correctional institution.