the richtersveld cultural and botanical landscape - SAHRA

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site Nomination 56
plastic sheeting. In some instances thin sheet metal (corrugated-iron or metal
salvaged from cans and drums) replaces the lowest cordon of mats. To provide
greater security the roll-down mat door is sometimes replaced by a variation on a
conventional door.
The traditional materials, however, are seeing a comeback, as a result of renewed
pride in Nama culture and out of recognition of the high quality and better suitability
of local natural materials. In the traditional method, frame staves are secured to one
another using a fibre made from the bark of a certain tree. Today such thread is
often hand-rolled from yarn recovered from unravelling hessian cloth, or rags torn
into strips are used exclusively. The same hessian thread has also been used to
replace indigenous fibre as the yarn used to sew the mats which are made using a
long, broad needle that draws the thread through the rushes. This tradition is
unique in Southern Africa where most cultures weave or plait rather than sew mats.
In some areas there is colouring of rushes (using cow manure as a dye) for half of
their length to create geometric patterns in finished mats, but this tradition is not
evident in the Richtersveld where only occasionally there are deviations from a
strictly lineal arrangement of rushes to create a geometric pattern in the ‘weave’ of
the mat. Mats can vary in width from around 500mm to 1m and are usually three to
four metres long. Width is dependent upon the length of rushes which is
determined by the species of rush and grading of harvested rushes by length.
In the Richtersveld today mats are made by familial groups of women, usually four
to five sisters or cousins, often overseen by an elder woman (an aunt or mother)
who take orders for mats from members of their community. These women work
alone at home with the ‘team’ producing sufficient mats to cover an order. If poles
are required they are usually cut and bent by a male member of the same family.
The reasons for intrusion of alternative materials into the building technique of the
Nama are many and varied, but broadly relate to: