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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Missionary Work and the Sotho in the Gold Mine Compounds, 1920-1940 |
Author: | Maloka, Tshidiso |
Year: | 1994 |
Periodical: | South African Historical Journal |
Issue: | 31 |
Pages: | 28-54 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | missions Sotho miners History and Exploration Labor and Employment Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582479408671796 |
Abstract: | This article focuses on the activities of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (PEMS) among Sotho miners in the mine compounds on the Rand, South Africa, and examines the role that religion and the church played in instilling an industrial ethic among workers. The PEMS arrived on the Reef in the 1920s. Its strategies included visiting compounds, selling books, especially the Bible, visiting hospitals, and holding literary classes. The work of the PEMS cannot adequately be understood without looking at the role played by Sotho evangelists and volunteers. Their activities in the spread of the gospel in the compounds were important. All the same, the PEMS mission on the Rand failed. The main reason was the Society's difficult financial position. The Rand mission was supposed to be financed from the coffers of the Lesotho branch of the Society. Other factors included the lack of cooperation on the part of compound managers, and the missionaries' intolerance of practices such as beer drinking, prostitution and dancing, which were intrinsic to Sotho society. Notes, ref. |