labour tenant, noun phrase

In historical contexts. See first quotation. Also attributive. Cf. bywoner sense 1.
Note:
The labour tenant system was made illegal in 1969.
1931 [see trek noun sense 2].
c1970 C. Desmond Discarded People 15Labour-tenants are Africans over the age of 15 years who occupy certain parts of white farms, for which, instead of paying a money rent, they and other members of their families work for the farmer for a very low cash payment, or none at all, for a part of the year, varying from 3 to 9 months.
1970 Survey of Race Rel. (S.A.I.R.R.) 101The Government is pursuing its objective of abolishing the labour tenant system in favour of full-time labour.
1985 Platzky & Walker Surplus People 30Labour tenants..supplied their labour to the land owner for part of the year..as a form of rent, in return for the use of some of the land for themselves.
1988 Afra Newsletter (Assoc. for Rural Advancement) No.1, 2A ‘labour tenant’ family lived on the land of a white landlord and worked for him for six months of the year for no wages...This was the dominant form of farm labour in the Natal Midlands and northern districts as well as the Eastern Transvaal until the abolition of the system in the 1960’s.
See first quotation. Also attributive.
Derivatives:
Hence labour tenancy  noun phrase.
1985 Platzky & Walker Surplus People 123By January 1969 labour tenancy had been abolished throughout the Orange Free State.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19701988

Derivatives

labour tenancy

Browse Related Words

By Category

Slavery and Indentured Labour
Colonial

By Usage

historical
Labarang, nounn.ladies’ bar, noun phrasen. phr.
Copyright © 2023 Dictionary Unit for South African English.