Traditional grass broomskeep certain culturalpractices alive in urbanareas and provide ru ralpeople with a means toearn an Income,

Traditional brooms

ABOVE: The grass bundles are tied in the middle and bent back 180· to formarounded handle on one end and abrush on the other end. Photo: Tony Oold.

• Stutterheim

.Mxhalanga

EASTERN

CAP E

.Queenstown

Cathcart.

-+-Nico Malan Pass

Allee_

.Seymour50

,~.."Fort Beaufort •

2S

Kilometres

broomA new

King William's Town_

G)- Pfsh REast London.

by Michelle Cocks, Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), Rhodes University, Tony Dold and Nomtunzi Sizane, bothfrom the Selmar Schonland Herbarium, Rhodes University

In the last few years there has been renewed interest in theimportance of wild plants for rural livelihoods, both throughtheir household use and sale. Wild harvested plant productsare most often categorized as having either a subsistenceconsumption value or a commercial value, however they mayalso have cultural uses, but the significance of these are rel­atively poorly documented.

Most studies that discuss the role of the environment withregard to cultural functions refer to specific areas or units ofvegetation, such as sacred forests, rainmaking sites or land­marks. The cultural functions of wild harvested plants havefor the most part been overlooked.

Several case studies have shown that large quantities ofwild plant products are used in urban areas, notably medic­inal plants. Such 'medicinal' use of wild plant products alsohas an important cultural dimension.

For example, a study in the Eastern Cape found that 30%of the plant species bought for 'amayeza' (medicine - in thebroad sense) was used exclusively for cultural purposes,including rituals.

These findings highlight the value and significance that

wild plants have for urban communities through commer­cialization. The commercialization of natural resources is agrowing phenomenon with recent studies now investigatingthe resulting rural-urban links.

Much attention has been given to the flow of cash andremittances from urban to rural areas, however far lessacknowledged is the reverse flow of goods and 'culture' tourban areas and the significance of wild harvested plantmaterial to urban cultural diversity.

Grass broom production and marketing in Mxhalangavillage

Mxhalanga village is located in the former Ciskei homelandof the Eastern Cape Province. The village of just over 400households is typical of many peri-urban villages in the for­mer homelands being characterized by poor infrastructure,high population densities and high poverty levels.

A large proportion of the population of Mxhalanga is unem­ployed and relies on welfare payments or on urban earnings.

Thirty-one broom makers were interviewed in Mxhalangavillage. The broom makers are all women and are mostly

158 December 2004 Veld&Flora

between thirty and sixty years old.Few younger women have the inter­

est or skills for this craft. The majorityare heads of their households and haveonly primary level education.

All the broom makers learnt theirskills from their mothers and grand­mothers who began the industry in theearly 1970s.

Material to make the brooms is har­vested on a privately owned farm onthe Nico Malan Pass in the Seymourdistrict. Two types of brooms are pro­duced at Mxhalanga.

The producers consider the smallerbrooms, 'umtshayelo wesandle', to beof traditional Xhosa origin, a sentimentsupported by early historical records.The long-handled broom, 'umtshayelowentonga', is made in the same waybut a wooden handle is attached. Thistype of broom was originally copiedfrom a European broom but hasreportedly been in existence for morethan a century.

The grass brooms are made fromtamboekie grass Cymbopogon validus,an aromatic tufted perennial reaching2.4 m high. It is widespread and com­mon throughout the eastern regions ofSouth Africa.

The Xhosa name for this species is'irwashu'. Handles are made of'igumtree' Eucalyptus saplings harvest­ed from nearby State Forest timberplantations.

The grass brooms are seldom soldwithin Mxhalanga but the producerstravel extensively to sell them - indicat­ing a strong rural-urban link. Sale

RIGHT TOP: A traditional hand broom talisman in amodern home. The broom is a protection againstlightning and is used to apply traditional medicine forritual cleansing and purification to ensure good healthand prosperity. Photo: Tony Oold.

RIGHT: The brush-end is trimmed flush. Photo: TonyOold.

localities include Alice, Cathcart, EastLondon, King William's Town, PortElizabeth, Queenstown andStutterheim. Sellers may sell from doorto door in residential areas, or theymay set up an informal roadside stallnear taxi ranks and bus stations wherecommuters are targeted as potentialcustomers.

IncomeApproximately 7 200 large brooms

and 1 400 small brooms are producedin Mxhalanga each year. The averageprice for a large broom is R11 andR4.50 for a small broom. In total thethirty-one grass producers interviewedgenerate a gross profit of R83 000 per

year. This equates to approximatelyR2 700 per producer per year.

The expenses incurred by the broomproducers amount to approximatelyR844 per year. These costs includetransport to and from the harvestingsite, permit fees to harvest the grassand Eucalyptus saplings as well asaccommodation and transport costs toand from the urban areas.

This results in a net profit of Rl 800a year per producer.

Uses for grass brooms in PortElizabeth

Port Elizabeth, now known as theNelson Mandela Metropole, is home toabout 775 000 people, of whom 56%

LEFT: Traditional hand brooms 'umt­shayelo wesandle' (foreground) andlong-handled, modern brooms, 'umt­shayelo wentonga' (background) forsale at an informal medicinal plantmarket in King William's Town.Photo: Tony Dold.

are Xhosa speaking Africans.Two hundred people were inter­

viewed while they were buying a broomin the suburban and informal settle­ments of KwaZakhele, New Brighton,Motherwell, KwaMagxaki, Costine andNjoli. Eighty-four percent of the grassbroom buyers were women and 60% ofthe buyers purchased a broom for'isisiko' (cultural purposes).

The remaining 40% indicated thatthey used a grass broom for cleaningpurposes as it was considered to bemore effective than a commerciallyavailable broom.

The three main cultural uses of grassbrooms are as a traditional weddinggift, as a protective talisman against

lightning, and as an implement for theapplication of traditional protectivemedicine.

Seventy percent of the broom buyerswho bought a broom for cultural pur­poses bought them as a wedding gift fora family member.

All these buyers had also received abroom as a gift at their own weddingsand were upholding the custom. Thetraditional wedding reception, where aset of grass brooms is presented to thebride, is called 'ukudliswa amasi' (liter­ally 'to present a gift of sour milk').

160 December 2004 Veld&Flora

The broom is symbolic of traditionalXhosa culture and represents respectto the ancestral faith in the newly­weds' home. These brooms are used fordaily cleaning and are replaced whennecessary.

The remainder of those who bought abroom for cultural purposes indicatedthat the presence of the small broom inthe home served to protect the inhabi­tants from lightning, most often attrib­uted to sorcery.

A broom purchased for this purposeis not used for cleaning, but is hungabove the door as a talisman. The grassbroom is also used to apply protectivemedicines in and around thehomestead.

The ritual in which an infusion ofvarious plant materials is splashed orsprayed on the floor, walls and roof iscalled 'ukutshiza'.

This ritual cleansing and purificationensures the good health and prosperityof the inhabitants.

This example of grass brooms showsthat the use of wild harvested plantproducts is not restricted to rural utili­tarian use, but is an important elementin the performance and conservation ofcultural practices and traditions forboth rural and urban people.

Other urban examples of these arethe growing of protective plants suchas Gasteria and Haworthia species,called 'intelezi', around the home andthe use of wild olive (Olea europaeasubsp. ajricana) leaves as a platter forthe meat of a ritually slaughtereddomestic animal.

Many traditional cultural practicesare still significant even in highlyurbanized contemporary settings.

The extent to which urban peoplestill adhere to such cultural practicesis complex and is influenced by vari­ables such as family origin, economicstatus, level of education and age.

The demand for grass brooms inurban areas provides an opportunity

for people living in disadvantaged areassuch as the former homelands to gen­erate an income.

The trade value of grass brooms toproducers in Mxhalanga is significantconsidering that almost 80% of resi­dents are unemployed.

Our observations in the harvestingsites indicated that Cymbopogonvalidus is a sustainable resource forMxhalanga broom producers at thecurrent level of harvesting.

In this regard it has been shown thatharvesting of tamboekie grass in

Pondoland actually promotes annualgrowth. These findings indicate on theone hand that cultural practices arethreatened by the loss of biodiversityand, conversely, the cultural valueattributed to many plant species couldbe used as an argument to support theconservation of biodiversity.

The importance of recognizing thetraditional value of indigenous commu-

nities in biodiversity conservation isnow recognized, e.g. in the Conventionon Biological Diversity, but as yet hasnot been applied locally.

It has been argued that 'promotingconservation in the context oflocal cul­ture would endow protected areas witha significance that emphasis on biolog­ical diversity, landscapes or economiesdoes not.' This is especially relevant in

a country such as South Africa, wherepeople can ill-afford the luxury of aspecies-focused conservation ethic butrecognize the importance of culturaldiversity.

We therefore need to reintroduce theconcept of culture into our analyses ofthe environment and not simply por­tray wild harvested material as beingonly of economic value to users.

AcknowledgementsThis study was partly funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and International Foundation of Science (IFS).

Further readingCocks, M.L. and M011er, V. 2002. Use of indigenous and indigenised medicines to enhance personal well-being: a South African case study. Social Science andMedicine 54(3), 387-397.Cocks, M.L. and Wiersum, K.F. 2003. The significance of biodiversity to rural households in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods13,39-58.

ABOVE: Broom-sized bundles of grass aresteeped in boiling water to soften the middle sec­tion and facilitate bending. Photo: Tony Oold.

RIGHT: The broom makers of Mxhalanga villageare all women, mostly between thirty and sixtyyears old. They strip Eucalyptus saplings of theirbark as soon after harvesting as possible as itbecomes increasingly difficult to remove as itdries. Photo: Tony Oold.

December 2004 Veld&Flora 161