Mdukatshani - Fifty Years of Beading

Ntombizini Skakane has always been a free spirit, direct, joyful, ready to break the rules. This changed when her husband Mtwelanga Mdlolo died of throat cancer in 1995, and her courage faltered when her son Muthobeleni, was burnt to death in a hostel in Johannesburg in 2003. Today she is unable to walk, but still doing beads, sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front of her, her wonderful giggle lighting up the room with gaiety.

Thandekile Magubane was the craft group’s intellectual, always in the forefront of discussions, ready to speak her mind. She tried to reduce the world to order, passionate, intense, and willing to interfere against injustice or hurt. She was 54 when she was killed by lightning in 2003. Her husband, Mpembe Mvelase never recovered from her death, and died a year later. Their daughters Gosi and Zwakushiwo, are two of our star headworkers today.

Ngenzeni Mvelase was at home with her husband, Mthanana Dladla, when he was shot sitting outside at a fire in 1992. He had called a meeting to help a neighbour settle a quarrel with his son, and would linger in hospital for six weeks before he died. News of his death had not yet reached home when acting on instinct they could not explain, Ngenzeni and her co wife Maskakane decided to remove their isicholos , an act of widowhood. Their heads would be shaved after the funeral and they never wore their isicholos again.

Ntoza Ndimande (right) was sweeping her yard when she heard her husband, Hlangiseni, had been killed in an ambush at a roadblock coming home for Easter in April 1994. He had always been concerned for his wife’s frailty and was considering giving up his job due to increased violence in the city when he died. Ntoza struggled on in failing health, leaving two daughters when she died after a long illness in 2005. Here she wears one of the pieces she made for Yves St. Laurent. Working with her is Qwengukile Madondo, who lost her husband Khuzeni Zwane, to malaria in 1989. She is now a pensioner and retired from beading.

Mdukatshani – Fifty Years of Beading

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