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View of the Great Constantia Farm belonging to Mr
Jacob Cloete.
From: The Cape Sketchbooks of Sir Charles D'Oyly. A.A. Balkema, Cape
Town, 1968.
View of the Great Constantia Farm looking West.
From: The Cape Sketchbooks of Sir Charles D'Oyly. A.A. Balkema, Cape
Town, 1968. |
Slavery today is outlawed
in most countries and in 1948 the United Nations issued a
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 4): "No one shall be
held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be
prohibited in all their forms". Despite this it is believed that 27
million adults and children are still enslaved to oppression, and it
is also estimated that there are at present more slaves than ever
before. Modern slavery, like past slavery, includes human trafficking
between countries, bonded and mandatory labour, slavery by descent,
forced marriage, and child labour (Web
Ref). Most of these factors were part of Cape slavery and in
particular, slavery at Groot Constantia.
In 1680 Commander (later Governor) Simon van der Stel bought his first
slave, Jan van Oldenburg from Bengal. In 1685 the farm Constantia
was granted to him. By 1686 he had 22 slaves who mainly worked on
the farm. Thus, slavery was part of the farm since its establishment.
In 1716 Constantia was divided into three and sold. Two parts
were called Bergvliet and Klein Constantia, while the
part on which the Van der Stel farm buildings stood, were called
Constantia (later Groot Constantia) (Van der Merwe 1987:
38, Van der Merwe 1997: 14).
Various persons then owned the farm. The history of the Groot
Constantia slaves is fragmentary and little is known about them or
their occupations. Anna de Koningh, wife of Oloff Bergh and a
descendent of slaves became the first female owner of Groot
Constantia. During her tenure (1724-34), a total of 27 male
slaves, one of them from Natal, attended to the farm. Most of the
others came from India and Madagascar. One came from Bengal, the
birthplace of Anna’s mother Angela (CA: MOOC 8/5 Inventory 118, Van
der Merwe 1997: 17-20). During and prior to 1734 there was little or
no wine produced at Groot Constantia, while there was
production at Klein Constantia (Schutte 2003: 268). This may
explain the lack of information, especially with regards to the duties
of the slaves. Interestingly, from 1759-1778, a slave acted as cellar
master, but nothing is known about his identity. It is also known that
Jacobus van der Spuij, who then owned Groot Constantia, did not
really involve himself with the winemaking (Swellengrebel 1982:112).
In 1778 the farm became the property of Hendrik Cloete of the farm
Nooitgedacht near Stellenbosch, with his son Hendrik being the
next owner. After his death in 1818, his wife Anna Catharina Scheller
became the second woman to own Groot Constantia. During her
ownership, in 1823, the farm officially became Groot Constantia.
In 1824 she sold the farm to her son Jacob Pieter Cloete, and it was
to remain his property till 1885 when it was sold to the Cape
Government. During Cloete tenure extensive use was made of slaves on
the farm. One reads about the restoration work of Groot Constantia
roundabout 1778 requiring many hands, and sometimes 120 to 150 men
were required to do the work (Schutte 2003:271). Who they were, where
they came from or to whom they belonged, is not known.
In spite of this, the history of the slaves during the Cloete tenure
became better documented, but still fragmentary. A big improvement
however, came in 1816 with the inception of the Slave Office
and Slave Register.More to follow... |
