THE SOCIAL-ECONOMIC WELL BEING OF THE NDEBELE PEOPLE OF SOUTHAFRICA

Images of the Ndebele People of South Africa. Figure 1, House Painting Showing the Beauty
of the Geometric Shapes

The Ndebele people also called the Transvaal Ndebele are one of the several Bantu
speaking people. Although the origin of the South African Ndebele people is shrouded
with mystery, they are however considered as one of the Nguni ethnic group of South
Africa comprised of the Zulu, the Ndebele, the xhosa, and the swati.

The Ndebele people in south Africa trace their heritage back to chief Muzi who about
400 years ago migrated his tribe from what is present day Kwa Zulu-Natal to Gauteng
both provinces in South Africa. To this day the Ndebele live primarily in Gauteng,
Limpopo, and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa.

During the18th century, the Ndzundza Ndebele people of South Africa created their own

tradition and style of house painting. Until the late 1900s, the Ndebele were warriors
and land owners.
In the autumn of 1883, they went to war with the neighboring Boers. The loss of the war
brought on a harsh life and horrible punishments for the Ndebele. Through those hard
times expressive symbols were generated by the suffering people expressing their grief.
These symbols were the beginning of the African art form .
There is no direct symbolism in the painting, says Smuts. “But it is a visual language
which is so sophisticated that it can be used to teach geometry.” The women took
inspiration from what they saw around them: Razor blades, shopkeepers’ scales, gabled
houses, telephone poles and even car registration plates have featured in
their artwork over the years. Oddly, animals are largely absent. The murals, which can
be 40 feet long, were all painted freehand, without any set squares or rulers.
Ndebele Grass Thatched Hut

The Ndebele tribe originally in the early 18th century lived in grass huts. They began
using mud-walled houses in the mid-18th century when these symbols began to be
created on their houses and walls. These expressive symbols were used for
communication between sub-groups of the Ndebele people. They stood for their
continuity and cultural resistance to their circumstances. The Boer farmers did not
understand the meaning and viewed it as cultural art that was not harmful, so it was
allowed to continue. These wall paintings done by the women were their secret code to
their people, disguised to anyone but the Ndebele.
The vibrant symbols and expressions portray communications of personal prayers, self-
identification, values, emotions, and marriage. Sometimes the male initiation, known as
the wela, was a reason for repainting, but the ritual was not expressed. One quality of
life that has never been expressed or directed through their walls is sacred expression.
The women of the Ndebele are often the tradition carriers and the main developer of the
wall art of their home. The tradition and style of house painting is passed down in the
families from generation to generation by the mothers and grandmothers.
A well-painted home shows the female of the household is a good wife and mother.
She is responsible for the painting of the outside gates, front walls, side walls, and
usually the interior of her home. One thing that has changed since the beginning of the
house painting and the present-day wall art is their styles.
Traditionally earth colors made from ground ochre and different natural colored clays in
white, browns, pinks and yellow were used, and black was derived from charcoal. Most
of the patterns were of a V shape and a very simple triangle on a large shape of color.
The patterns, earth tones, directions, and sizes were more important than the present-
day vivid and bright colours.

In the beginning of house painting, their symbols and patterns were often based from
Ndebele’s beadwork. The patterns were tonal and painted with the women’s fingers.
Ndebele mother and child using Paint Brush to Paint/ Image of Feathers used for
painting.

Images of clay

Cowrie shells

Over time, the colours and shape became a key aspect in the overall design. In the late
1968s, the new style was evident. What was once a finger-painted creation was now
created using bundled twigs with feathers as brushes. The walls are still originally
whitewashed, but the outlines and colours have significantly changed. The patterns and
symbols can be seen today with a rich black outline and a vivid colour inside. There are
five main colours represented: red and dark red, yellow to gold, a sky blue, green, and
sometimes pink. The colours give an intensified symbolic meaning to the Ndebele. An
example of a mural is shown in figure 1.
They can mean status or power of the home owners, offer prayer, announce a marriage
in the home, or can represent a current protest. The paintings express an abstract
meaning with no real reference to any specific characteristic of their homes. This is the
most direct way to show their individual expression to the people outside their far
distinct family, showing of the talent and the taste of the mother. The colour white is
always used as the background because it makes the bright patterns stand out more.
The geometric patterns and shape are first drawn with the black outline and later filled in
with colour. The patterns are grouped together throughout the walls in terms of their
basic design structure. Creating the right tools to allow accuracy
The Ndebele women are responsible for painting the colorful and intricate patterns on
walls of their houses. This presented the traditionally subordinate wife with an
opportunity to express her individuality and sense of self-worth.
.

Esther Mahlangu Infront of one of her Paintings/British airways tail Ndebele

colour scheme on a Boeing 737-400

The Ndebele are a sophisticated people who have developed a consciousness both for
personal art and public art which solely is the practice of making beads and painted
forms, but today their art making has economic value not only traditional motivation,
Their work has been shown in some of the museums around the world, sold on the
streets, crafts markets in form of cards, pottery, post cards, bead work( Ndebele beaded
apron, blankets, beaded pots, Ndebele bridal blanket, bridal veil,),neck and foot rings

A case in study of a woman who has benefited from the wall painting pattern art is the
world-renowned Ndebele artist and educator Esther Mahlangu who has travelled
because of her art and also is teaching young boys and girls the Ndebele art so that the
tradition of art painting and bead making will not die out.

In 1991, Mahlangu was the first woman to take part in the BMW Art car project, placing
Ndebele art in the international spotlight when she was invited to paint the then new
BMW 525i. The exceptional cross-cultural work of Mahlangu has made her see different
parts of the world. Amongst her many achievements, she has also painted on the wall at
a museum in Angoul France.
She has also hard her work commissioned by South African airways, the British Air
Ways. She also painted the panels of the Virginia museum of fine arts in Richmond.

“My art has taken me all over the world and I have seen many places, I have painted
many walls and objects and my work is in many museums but I am still Esther
Mahlangu from Mpumalanga in South Africa” she said on Biz News Africa.

Continuing to spread her art and the symbols of her people, Mahlangu has now
collaborated with BMW for the second time, painting the interior of a limited edition
BMW 7 Series. The car is designed with a special white coloured fine-wood that has
enabled Mahlangu to paint her unique patterns and brighten with colour. Jordan Knoll.

Image of the BMW Art Car Project 12, 1991

The Museum of Fine Arts of Richmond in Virginia/Dr. Esther Mahlanga painting

the museum
Dr. Esther Mahlangu with one of her students.

The Ndebele have long been an oppressed minority, but that has never stopped
Ndebele women from sustaining their cultural identity through the powerful visual
language of their beaded body adornments and distinctive homestead murals. “Wall
painting flourished because it helped a woman proclaim who she was,” says Helene
Smuts, founder of Nonprofit  Africa Meets Africa Project and publisher and co-author
of Africa Meets Africa

Ndebele families, who until then had lived in villages, were now isolated from one
another and forced to confront a fundamental question: “How do we keep our traditions
alive when we’ve been plucked from our ancestral land” and inspired no doubt by the
sophisticated design of their beaded aprons, the Ndebele women developed an
architectural style that made the individual family home a “village.” Over time, as they
were provided with rectangular Western beds and tables by their Boer employers, the
Ndzunza Ndebele abandoned constructing circular huts in favor of rectangular houses
with thatched roofs. The communal village of round grass huts was replaced with a
single family’s homestead, which was made up of a complex of square houses, each
allocated (in terms of seniority) to the wives within a polygamous marriage and the
offspring.

I have discovered, you can not talk about Ndeebele wall painting, without talking about
beadwork because the Nbdebele geometric shapes were derived from the patterns of
the bead work so these two go hand in hand

In comparison to other African cultures, where both men and women are involved in
beading, for Ndebele, women are the sole designers and creators of these arts. The
elaborate and labor intensive designs are made by hand, and each aspect, from the
size and shape of the garment, to the color of the beads, signifies something about the
wearer, such as age, social class, spiritual state, and marital status.
 Ndebele
women wearing traditional handmade accessories selling traditional dolls and beads in Lesedi African
Lodge and Cultural village

Ndebele crafts Ndebele women blanket

For Ndebele in particular, the complex designs are often geometrical, rather than figural,
and they resemble patterns that are found in murals painted on the sides of Ndebele
homes. These murals are also painted primarily by women; the fact that these two art
forms are in dialogue with one another can be understood as a way for Ndebele women
to further cement their social and cultural identities through the language of beadwork
Many of the objects, such as this isiyaya (bridal veil) and isithimba (backskirt), are to be
worn on the body during important ceremonies and rituals. For example, an isiyaya is
worn in Ndebele wedding ceremonies and initiations into womanhood, to hide the
woman’s face during the transition from one state of being to another. Along with veils,
Ndebele brides also wear long trains called nyoga, which are made of white beads
woven together with string by their female relatives. The patterns, length and structure
of the nyoga veil can signal things such as whether the bride will be the groom’s first
wife, or if she is still a virgin. The isiyaya features two rows of strands of small,
cylindrical white beads, bound together at the top with strips of leather and held on the
wearer’s head by two beaded straps that crisscross to form an ‘X’. Each strand of white
beads on the longer row is accented with a red bead at the tip;
When the veil is worn, this row of beads falls down the back of the head and neck. The
shorter row of beads is accented with a blue bead at the tip of each strand, and when
worn falls over the eyes and face. Throughout many Zulu-speaking groups, the color
red can often symbolize women and fertility, white has associations to ancestors and
purity, and blue, although less commonly used, seems to be significant in
communicating notions of love. When combined into a veil, it is clear to see how all of
these separate meanings come together to form a unifying message about a bride’s
readiness for marriage and motherhood.

Isiyaya bridal veil Beaded Apron,jocolo, glass beads and hide

Ndebele bridal Garb Nguba and Bridal Blanket Nyoga (train of beads)

Ndebele bride Isiyaya(bridal veil)

BackSkirt (sithimba)

Like veils, garments such as backskirts and aprons can also be worn during significant
events or stages of women’s lives. The isithimba would generally be worn by unmarried
girls who have reached the age to take a spouse. This skirt is made of a large oval-
shaped portion of leather, overlaid with a row of long strands of white beads, and
decorated at the top with a multi-colored geometric pattern and three roles of brass
rings. The skirt would be tied at the waist and worn over the buttocks. The leather hide
is meant to draw attention by hugging the buttocks and hips, and the swaying of the
beads increases this affect when the woman moves. The small brass rings that
embellish the top of this Isithimba are called nkosi, and are used to signal the status of
the wearer.
As with the veils, this Isithimba incorporates colors in order to communicate information
about the wearer: her class, the ties that she has to other women in her community or
family who made the garment and her interest in marriage and family. Because the
relationship between generations of women is so deeply significant to the process of
making these garments, ideas of what it means to be a woman in Ndebele culture, and
who a person is in the social network of their community are literally and figuratively
woven into the designs of these garments.
In the past, the beads used in these kinds of garments were made from locally available
materials such as shells, metals, and animal bones and hides. However, as trade with
Europe began to increase throughout southern Africa, beads began to be made
primarily of glass imported from India and China. As a result, some of the traditional
associations with the materials, which were chosen for their spiritual or symbolic nature,
or their abilities to protect the wearer and promote their status, began to change as well.
Today, much of Ndebele beadwork is made of glass or plastic beads. However, the
larger significance that beadwork has in the lives of women, and the way that meaning
is communicated through colors, geometric patterns, and movement continues to still
resonates through these new materials. Molly (Henry) Fox.
Most of these arts, traditions have been put in museums for locals to buy and also
visitors/tourists who come to see them and buy the art boosting the Ndebele people and
South African economy, they are sold on streets, shops for people’s daily earning
Ndebele women doing bead work.

In Conclusion.
Ndebele art speaks no longer just to the indigenous community, but now serves also as
an aesthetic commodity, an economic "bridge to the 21 (st) centuries" for these women
and their families. Witnessing an artistic society of women proceeding through their own
cultural aesthetic evolution exemplifies the discussions of Shohat (1998) and other
authors who call for coalition between so-called first world women of color and so-called
third world women of color. Through this coalition, Ndebele women now express their
voice on the future of this new commodity, the package of the Ndebele image and
material culture
I chose the Ndebele people of South Africa because of their beautiful vibrant colours of
different shades hues and tones I love colours so much, so these caught my eye. They
are a strong people despite their hardships they still have rhythm and hope in life and
amidst calamity they are very creative and have a reason to live.
References & further reading;
Author: Molly (Henry) Fox, Master’s student in Art History, 2017.
 Courtney-Clarke, M. (1986). Ndebele. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.

Knight, N. & Priebatsch, S. (1977, November). Ndebele dress and beadwork. Lantern
27:4, pp 40-45.
Levinsohn, R. (1985, August-September). Beadwork as Cultural Icon. American Craft
45:4, pp 24-31.
Levy, D. (1993, Winter). Women as Makers of Meaning: Tradition and the Ndebele
Bride. Jewish Affairs 48:2, pp 147-152.
Loubser, A. (1994). Recent Changes in Wall Painting amongst the Ndzundza as an
Indication Of Social Changes amongst AmaNdebele Women. Unpublished Honors
Dissertation, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Magubane, P. (1998). Vanishing Cultures of South Africa. Capetown: Struik Publishers
(Pty) Ltd.
Mead, M. (1975). New Lives for Old. Cultural Transformation-Manus, 1928-1953. New
York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., Paperback Edition.
Schneider, E.A. (1985, April). Ndebele Mural Art. African Arts 18:3, pp 60-67, 100-101.
Shohat, E., ed. (1998). Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age.
New York: New Museum of Contemporary Art/Cambridge: MIT Press.
Steiner, C. (1994). African Art in Transit. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Van Vuuren, C.J. (1994). "Myths of Ndebele Identity: From Aesthetic Curiosity to
Unwanted Homeland." Paper presented at the AASA Conference, Durban, S.A.,
September.
 Deborah Stokes, “Rediscovered Treasures: African Beadwork at the Field Museum,
Chicago,” African Arts Autumn (1999): 29.
 
 Elizabeth Ann Schneider, “Ndebele Mural Art,” African Arts 18:3 (1985): 60-66.