ABSTRACT
Labour circulation is the process in which people periodically leave their permanent residence in search of wage employment at places too far away to enable them to commute daily, stay at these labour centres for extensive periods and then return to their homes. 1 This type of labour mobility has manifested itself in many different parts of the world at different times in history. It is manifested in one of its most clear-cut forms in the present day Republic of South Africa particularly in respect of the Black labour force in the gold mining industry (see, for example, van der Horst 1942, chap. 12; F. Wilson 1972; First 1979). The practice of employing Black workers for limited periods without allowing them to establish permanent residence, has existed since the diamond mines were established in the Cape in the 1860s, and probably developed out of the earlier employment of Hottentots in agriculture for over a century previously.
