Black workers, typhoid fever and the construction of the Berg River – Saldanha military water pipeline, 1942 – 1943

Abstract

War creates a huge need for labour to support the war efforts of the belligerent parties. In South Africa tens of thousands of ‘non-white’ workers were mobilised during the Second World War to satisfy the Union Defence Force’s (UDF’s) labour needs at home and abroad. This article, firstly, outlines the role of ‘non-white people’, particularly black Africans, in the UDF with special reference to those employed within the Union of South Africa. Secondly, it briefly delineates typhoid fever as an historical thorn in the flesh of military forces up to the early 20th century. It then looks briefly into the incidence of and perceptions on typhoid fever as a killer disease in South Africa on the eve of the Second World War. Against that background, the article investigates the employment of black workers on the construction of the Berg River-Saldanha Bay military water pipeline and the UDF’s response to the threat and subsequent outbreak of typhoid fever amongst the workers at the Berg River intake site in 1943. The article concludes that the public health authorities and UDF were aware of the threat of typhoid fever with regard to the Berg River water scheme, but did not take sufficient precautionary measures, which could have had serious repercussions for the Allied war effort. This incident should serve as a warning to the South African National Defence Force when deploying on peace support operations on the African continent where typhoid fever remains a serious threat next to Hiv/Aids.

The co-evolution of Saldanha Bay (town and hinterland) and its Port

“…By 1942 the military activities at Saldanha had expanded and the town's meagre water supplies led to the Union Defense Force assisting in the construction of the Berg River-Saldanha Bay water pipeline during 1942 and 1943 . After the Second World War Saldanha experienced an increase in population numbers and the construction of many new houses (Visser and Monama, 2008). The ''value of existing residential property has increased three-fold and plots fetched up to ten times their prewar prices'' in the mid-1950s (Silverman, 1956: 81).…”