Читать книгу Sir David de Villiers Graaff - Ebbe Dommisse - Страница 9

Councillor: Clean Party vs Dirty Party

A year after David Graaff gained sole control of Combrinck & Co. he became a member of the Cape Town city council. This was in 1882, when Combrinck secured a seat in the Cape Parliament. Combrinck had long been interested in entering public life. In 1849 he had already played a role in the Anti-Bandit Movement and helped prevent 300 British and Irish bandits disembarking in Cape Town. A boycott was declared against any trader who provided supplies to the bandit vessel Neptune. The Anti-Bandit Association was the first mass movement in South Africa. Cape Town’s main street was named after its leader, Adderley.1

Local politics became more important after the Cape Colony had gained self-government in 1872 and British Governor Sir Henry Barkly had laid the cornerstone of the Cape Parliament (the current Parliament building) in 1875.

After Combrinck had transferred his business to Graaff, he also campaigned for election to the Legislative Council, the upper house of the Cape Parliament. He dealt swiftly with any objections to his candidacy:

“Thirty years ago a butcher was by no means held to be a person of no account. There was Jacob van Reenen, for instance, who was the chosen friend of English Governors, and kept a pack of hounds for their sport. Jacob was one of the best-known men of his day in this country, and I could name others who were looked up to with great respect, and held quite a good position as he did.”2

After his election Combrinck remained a Member of Parliament until his death in 1891. He was regarded as a man of stature – “distinguished for practical good sense and business aptitude, respected by all his fellow members, and honoured by the public at large”.3

When Combrinck resigned from the city council, Graaff, a mere 23 years old, succeeded him as the representative of Papendorp.

Graaff’s entry into municipal politics came at a time when Cape Town was beginning to expand significantly, mainly due to the discovery of diamonds and gold in the interior. Through these discoveries it was established that South Africa was one of the foremost countries in the world as far as mineral wealth was concerned. That, along with the construction of railways, contributed to the expansion of the harbour city as one of the country’s predominant centres of trade. As a result of gold prospecting on the world’s richest goldfields and with the discovery of the largest, most expensive diamond reserves in the world, South Africa changed from an agricultural to an agricultural and mining economy.

The Cape Province colony was able to undertake railway and harbour works, making it possible to borrow money in the London market. Cape Town itself as the capital had extensive harbour facilities, and as the railway terminal of the Western Cape rail system it served as the southern springboard to the interior and Rhodesia. This growing centre of trade attracted, inter alia, the head offices of banks and insurance companies, ensuring a substantial inflow of capital between 1870 and 1900.4

At that stage there was a great demand for leaders with the necessary drive and vision to modernise and improve the city. In the 1870s Cape Town hardly seemed like a shining example of tidiness and hygiene. Dim gaslights only illuminated the main roads; private contractors did not clean the streets properly; open sewers criss-crossed the city; and sewage flowed into the sea. Some writers believed Cape Town deserved its title, City of Stenches.5

By the time Graaff started serving on the city council there was a powerful lobby for cleaning up and modernising the city. Newspapers like the Lantern and the Cape Times were among those insisting that a “Clean Party” should replace the so-called “Dirty Party” in control of the council. The “Dirty Party” mostly comprised the owners of small properties, who displayed neither the ability nor the desire to improve the unhygienic conditions. Like a large number of taxpayers, they were opposed to the higher taxes needed for the cleaning operation.6

Even before the smallpox epidemic of 1882 the Cape Times accused the council of allowing Cape Town to become a “city of slums”. Councillors like M.J. Louw, J.C. Hofmeyr, G.A. Ashley and A. Zoutendyk bore the brunt of the criticism. In the election of August 1880 the Cape Times expressed its support to “reformers” – people like W. Fleming, W.M. Farmer, H. Bolus, J.L. Brown, P.J. Stigant and A.R. McKenzie, all of whom were elected.7

With his election in 1882, Graaff, coming from the meat trade, which contributed to the awful conditions in the city, was initially grouped with the “Dirty Party” by the Cape Times. A contributing factor might have been that the paper regarded him as an Afrikaner who did not belong with the predominantly English-speaking “reformers”, a group mostly comprising successful businessmen and traders. Graaff, described by Merriman as “one of the new breed of pushy urban Afrikaners”,8 and his patron Combrinck both became supporters of the Afrikaner Bond over time. This new political movement, initially formed by Rev. S.J. du Toit, experienced a huge upsurge after the annexation of Transvaal by Shepstone. The subsequent revolt against British rule resulted in the First Boer War, in which the Boers triumphed at the Battle of Majuba on 27 February 1881.

Under the leadership of J.H. (Onze Jan) Hofmeyr, who wanted to co-ordinate the political aspirations of Afrikaners and whom Graaff regarded as his leader, the organisation grew by leaps and bounds. Hofmeyr, editor of De Zuid-Afrikaan, strove for a united South Africa under the motto Afrika voor de Afrikaners. Initially, in his Zuidafrikaanse Boeren Beschermings Vereniging (South African Society for the Protection of Farmers) he united the economic power of agricultural societies and became one of the most important political figures in the Cape Colony after the merger of the Afrikaner Bond and societies for the protection of farmers.9 In time the Afrikaner Bond proceeded to protect more than just the farmers’ interests, as it was joined by successful Afrikaner trade entrepreneurs, like Graaff, D.C. de Waal, G.J. Krige, A.B. de Villiers, C.W.H. Kohler, N.F. de Waal, P.G. Wege, M.M. Venter and others.10

Furthermore, the year 1882 became a milestone for stronger municipal management in Cape Town. That year, the colonial government provided more clarity about shifting the responsibilities between colonial and local government, after councillors had been ineffective for a number of years because of uncertainty about the exact extent of their responsibilities. The Cape Parliament passed legislation clearly stating the rights and duties of the Cape Town city council. In future the provision of water, butcheries, wash-houses and sewerage would be the exclusive responsibility of the city council.11

The smallpox epidemic that hit Cape Town in the same year was the worst of its kind in the city in more than a century. It forced the city fathers to take real action on behalf of the residents. At that stage about 40 000 people lived in the city itself, and a further 15 000 in the suburbs. The poorest communities were hardest hit, and Malays of the city and the Bo-Kaap revolted against the way they were being treated. From June to November 1882 the city council met almost daily. Water provision improved after the completion of the Molteno Reservoir in Oranjezicht the previous year, but the upgrading of sanitary facilities became imperative.12

Despite his Afrikaner roots, Graaff, who was becoming one of the most successful businessmen in the Cape, soon started supporting the “reformers” in their endeavour to clean up the city. As a businessman, he was a natural ally to them; however, he still he was one of many Cape Afrikaners who did not completely subject themselves to the process of anglification.13 This was also apparent later in his career: he would advocate development and progress without becoming estranged from Afrikaners, some of whom wanted to cut all imperial ties.

Critics of the “reformers” believed that the proponents of reform could afford the higher taxes for the cleaning process, since they would not be affected as badly by a relatively small levy on their properties. In addition, their business interests would benefit from the improvements and developments upon which the city council was embarking, and the value of their buildings in the central business district may increase. Besides, newspapers supporting them, like the Cape Times, Lantern and Cape Argus, were believed to be largely dependent on these businessmen for advertising revenue.14

On the other hand, it could be argued that, even if “liberal self-interest” had been mentioned, it could not be to everybody’s disadvantage. Cape Town would remain backward without the initiative of “reformers” like that, even though modernisation would be to their advantage. The growth and expansion of Cape Town indeed demanded a new type of councillor – those who had experience of the challenges of urban development. At the same time, money had to be borrowed on an unprecedented scale, and for that businessmen like Graaff, with their financial background, would be a great asset in the provision of municipal services. Besides, Graaff had already been abroad and had gained experience about the role municipal revamping could play to improve urban conditions.15

In June 1882 he took out membership to the reading room of the Cape Chamber of Commerce, of which he became a full member in 1886.16 Popular among Cape businessmen, the reading room gave him access to a variety of publications on financial and economic issues.

The newspaper campaign in favour of the “reformers”, together with feelings of disgust at the smallpox epidemic of 1882, contributed to the victory of the “Clean Party” in the municipal election that year. According to the Cape Times, the “Clean Party” secured a majority of eight to six, with four “neutral”, though Stigant and O’Reilly, previously regarded as “reformers”, also counted among the latter group.17 Despite the fact that the paper did not regard Graaff as belonging to the “Clean Party”, he was elected for one year, 16th out of the 18 elected members, with 526 votes.18

Cape Town experienced an economic downturn in the first five years after Graaff’s election as councillor.19 Yet from 1883 his support among voters increased. In wards 2 and 3, the central business district, he was the candidate attracting the most votes that year. In the 1887 election he stood as candidate for the Ratepayers’ Protection Association.20

Despite being just 23 years old, he made an increasingly good impression on the city fathers, with his business acumen and refreshing determination to improve the facilities of the city they were serving.21 Over time it became clear that Graaff, who evidently belonged to the “Clean Party”, was exactly the kind of member the city council needed. The taxpayers obviously also realised that, since between 1882 and 1894 he was always among the councillors drawing the highest number of votes.22 The “reformers” would dominate the Cape Town city council for the next two decades. He supported their insistence on better sanitation in the city to such an extent that he associated with their demand that the abattoir, the Shambles, be closed down due to the conditions.

Dissatisfaction with the primitive abattoir in Adderley Street increased to such an extent that the matter was brought to a head in 1883. Colonel Anthony Reynolds Vivyan Crease, Commander of the Royal Engineers in the nearby barracks of the imperial garrison, sued the city council on the grounds that the Shambles was a public disturbance and had to be removed. The case in the Supreme Court was deemed so important that the attorney-general appeared for the plaintiff and Sir Thomas Upington, QC, and Advocate W.P. Schreiner, subsequent Cape prime minister, for the defendant.

Initially, after conducting an inspection, a jury ruled that the abattoir indeed had to be removed, but the city council lodged an appeal. A full bench led by the chief justice, Sir John Henry de Villiers (the subsequent lord), heard the appeal. An inspection was carried out one morning, shortly after the slaughter of a number of animals. As the judges, accompanied by the lawyers, were walking to the beach where the foul-smelling sewerage system was flowing into the ocean, the fate of Shambles was sealed. In the judgement delivered at the end of 1883, Justice De Villiers said the least that could be expected from the city council was that the livestock should be slaughtered elsewhere. Therefore, he issued an order to prohibit the slaughter of animals at the Shambles and that the abattoir should be moved.23

The result of the court order was that the Cape municipality had to establish its own abattoir. This “setback”, however, presented Graaff with an opportunity. Combrinck & Co. got the chance not only to install its own slaughtering equipment, but also to demonstrate the advantages of cold storage in South Africa.24

After this the head office of Combrinck & Co. moved to Strand Street, where it advertised:

Combrinck & Co.

Butcher

Contractors to Her Majesty

Shambles Nos 3, 4 & 5. Near the Custom House, Cape Town.

Shipping supplied with the Best Fresh and Salted Meat

on the Shortest Notice and Most Reasonable Terms.

Poultry, Vegetables & Potatoes

Always on Hand a Good Supply of Live Stock.25

Graaff not only focused on the meat industry, but also tried to take advantage of other business opportunities. One such opportunity presented itself in 1885 when tenders were requested for the provision of food and other supplies for black labourers working on the extension of the railway from the Great River (the Orange, later Gariep River) to Kimberley. He and an older friend, David C. de Waal, a brother-in-law of Onze Jan Hofmeyr, applied for the tender under the name Graaff & Co., and it was awarded to the two Davids.

De Waal later became a Member of Parliament.26 De Waal Park in Cape Town, where he had planted trees, was named after him. At the time the tender was awarded he was 40. His “good young Afrikaner friend” Graaff is described in De Waal’s biography as “a chap still only 26 years old, but in possession of a wonderful talent for business and very bright and determined by character”. Soon the pair discovered that the new venture they had taken on was “an anything but easy task”. They had to be present in person, at least one of them at a time, and that “means enduring dust, heat, hardships and a really rough, unenviable life”.

As they were sitting at their fire one night after an exhausting day, the older David, later a faithful friend of Cecil John Rhodes, whom he accompanied on his trips to Mashonaland,27 sighed about the “dog’s life” he had to endure in the veld. “The younger one, a model of phlegmatic serenity, then pointed out to him that entrepreneurial spirits were usually, more so than others, subject to harassments, but that those spirits were the ones rising in the world. ‘I, for example,’ David Graaff added, ‘am still going to become a cabinet minister.’ The other David smiled about that in scepticism. Yet the ambitious young man could also have added that he would become the wealthiest Dutch-speaking Afrikaner of his time in the whole of South Africa, and a baronet as well.”28

This account makes it clear that Graaff, apart from his business acumen, drive, persistence and determination to reach the top in his career, was a remarkable individual already at an early age.

The rise of entrepreneurial, urbanised Afrikaners who were also influential in politics became significant in this period, although it was not received favourably all over. The politician John X. Merriman, for example, who had earlier described Graaff as one of the “new breed of pushy urban Afrikaners”, wrote in a letter to M. Currey in 1886:

“I feel sorry for the Mole (Hofmeyr), who has to fight an uphill battle and obviously does with great pluck, but I wish he saw that his interest led him in the opposite direction of the Graaffs and De Waals.”

Merriman’s denigrating remarks were interpreted by his biographer, Phyllis Lewsen, as a reference to a new group of upwardly mobile Afrikaners of Cape Town.29 They played an important part in the Afrikaner Bond.

In addition to his extensive interests in the meat industry, which were profoundly affected by the improvement in sanitary conditions, in his public duties in the city council Graaff increasingly played a role in financing city projects, and in particular the electrification of the town.

In 1884 he became a member of the city council’s finance committee, where he made an important contribution to the sound management of the city’s finances.

The taxes collected the previous year were not sufficient to cover the budgeted amount for general works.30 The finance committee therefore decided to take legal steps against those who did not pay their municipal taxes. Better arrangements were made to restructure and gradually repay a loan from Standard Bank. Holders of 6 per cent debentures to the amount of £243 650 received six months’ notice of repayment of interest unless they chose to have the interest reduced to 5 per cent, since the city council could now accept tenders for 5 per cent debentures. The city council also arranged with government to withdraw its loan amount in instalments, so government would not lose interest and the council would only pay interest on the amount actually paid out.31

The council also secured foreign loans. Graaff apparently played a role in these decisions, since he was re-elected to the finance committee twice, although he had to give up his seat because he could not attend meetings. The taxpayers, who had to approve these steps with their financial implications, gave the council more powers than ever before in the period while Graaff remained involved.32

An extraordinary loan of £12 000 negotiated in 1886 for a drainage system regarded as essential for the progress and health of the city, was followed in 1887 by a £25 000 loan for the Table Mountain water provision scheme. The following year £3 075 was approved for sewer pipes for the city.33

Evidently, not only Graaff can be credited for the financing of the city projects. Although he had considerable influence with the taxpayers, the smallpox epidemic also played a major role, since it made improved sanitation imperative. Nevertheless, as a knowledgeable businessman he was the right man in the right place.

His business experience also came in handy in the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce. Rail extensions to Transvaal, an important issue for Cape Town, were discussed at a meeting of the Chamber in 1887 and among those present were Onze Jan Hofmeyr and D.C. de Waal. The emphasis was on expansion to the Transvaal border with an extension of the railway from Kimberley to Parys. Graaff, to whom the transport of meat products was a matter of great importance, became a member of the chamber’s vigilance committee that had to look after the interests of Cape Town with regard to the railway extensions from the goldfields to the Cape Colony.34

The considerable contribution he made in public life, including the activities of the city council, made such a good impression that within a few years Graaff was regarded as worthy of being a parliamentarian. In 1888, at the age of 29, he was approached by influential Cape residents, including the incumbent mayor, John Woodhead, to make himself available for election as Member of the Cape Parliament. In a newspaper advertisement he politely refused the honour rendered to him. He declared that due to his business obligations he would not be able to do justice to the great responsibilities that he would have as representative of the seat of Cape Town in the House of Assembly.35

A larger political role would await him after he had been elected as mayor of the Mother City.