Mdukatshani - Fifty Years of Beading

Maria Ratschitz Catholic Mission The First Crafts

The Mdukatshani Bead Project was never planned. It happened almost accidentally, a small part of an ecumenical organisation called Church Agricultural Projects (CAP) which was then based on Maria Ratschitz Catholic Mission near Wasbank, KwaZulu-Natal. CAP was founded in 1965 to develop derelict church land to produce food and training for rural African communities, but this changed when the apartheid government announced plans for large-scale forced removals in the district, starting with the African residents on the mission. Only those in full time employment were exempt, so CAP set up a basketwork project using osiers grown on the mission. The project was a week old when the Dundee Bantu Commissioner arrived in October 1967 to do a head count, reluctantly adding the obviously inexperienced weavers to the list of those allowed to stay. The crafts soon expanded to include pottery, wool weaving, and sewing projects which were designed to provide an income not only for mission residents, but for neighbouring communities who were forcibly removed to the Limehill resettlement area in January 1968. (For a more detailed history of Mdukatshani see Page 51).

Volunteer Carolyn Moult with the Matiwane sewing group

Nancy Kumalo, our basketwork instructor

Generosa Hlatshwayo

Kherorana Dube, one of the potters

Nancy Khumalo

Generosa Hlatshwayo with handwoven cushions and bags

Kherorana Dube

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Mdukatshani – Fifty Years of Beading