The Mapusha Weaving Cooperative of Limpopo Province, South Africa
By Linky Matsie

On a quiet, dirt road in Acornhoek in Limpopo Province, a big white building next to a church holds twelve female weavers. Each one has a different job: spinning wool, weaving, painting, dying wool, and making felt. Women sit on big looms made of wood and wire, weaving different types of rugs and tapestries. A woman weaves a mat with a design of zebras, trees and sky. Two pots on top of a stove boil colourful paints to dye the wool. Four women learn to make felt flowers, earrings and belts. Tapestries hang from the walls.

This is the Mapusha Weaving Cooperative. It started in 1973, when Father Graf, a German Missionary of the Catholic church at Rooiboglagte, took two women to Burgersfort school to learn how to weave. Lindy Molimi and Joyce Makhubela went to school for two years. Molimi said that when they completed their studies, Father Graf wanted them to teach the other 23 women at the Mapusha weavers project, but Makhubela decided to quit. In the late 1980s, Father Graf left as well. He was replaced by the Spanish missionaries, and because they didn’t operate like Father Graf, most of the women quit. The project was finally left with twelve weavers, but business continued.

Molimi taught the remaining women what she learned at Burgersfort school. Molimi said, “Since I came back from school and have been teaching the Mapusha women, I’m improving and learning new things myself. I enjoy it because we work as a group, and we understand what we want. Even though Father Graf is not with us, we are still strong with the help of Judy.” Judy Miller is an American who assists the weavers with marketing and sales.

Regina Mohlolo, a weaver who started in 1973, explained that there are two different kinds of designs: geometry and free design. Free design is not a pattern but a scene of animals, trees, people and plants. She added, “I enjoy all the things that I’m doing. I know a lot about weaving, and if I know that what I’m doing is needed quickly, I can finish before my deadline.”

Red, blue, green, cream, yellow and brown yarn hangs from a wooden beam. The cotton is bought at Standerton, and one of the women feeds it into a spinning machine. There is a bottle of dye on the window sill. Some of the tapestries have beads hanging from the fringe. One of the weavers clips off extra bits of string and ties the ends of the fringe together. Inside the cooperative, there is a store room in which all the different kinds of weaving products are stored.

Mohlolo said they have lots of customers from different places, especially from America. She explained that they teach young people who are interested in learning how to weave. “We are happy to teach the youth because they end up knowing how to weave better than us. I am very proud of the youth that we are working with now because they are brilliant,” said Mohlolo.

Angy Dibakwane, who has worked with Mapusha for four years said she sees everything the group does as a flow of cooperation. She added, “The first thing I learned how to weave was a handbag, and even now it is very simple to do.” Dibakwane said she loves working at Mapusha because she is always with older people who give young weavers advice, and tell them when they are doing something wrong. She is not the only one who enjoys working with older women. Wonder Mbetse, who also has been working at Mapusha for four years, said she enjoys painting pillows and tablecloths more than anything else that they are doing.

The Mapusha Weavers have become one big family. Two of the young weavers’ children play around the room, running up and down in between the hanging rugs as if they are at home. Women sit and eat together. Everything the weavers do is touched by each person working there: from spinning to dying to weaving to selling, all the women contribute to the success of their project.

If you’d like to find out more, go to www.mapusha.org or call Judy, concerning marketing, at 013 748 0481 or Wodner at 072 691 0021 for tours of the workshop.

Photos by Briget Ganske