Sarah Mahlangu is cleaning up her neighbourhood by turning cans into culture and rags into robes.
Her work is drawing tourists off Mpumalanga’s N4 toll road to her shop, aptly called Something out of Nothing, in rural Mhluzi north of Middelburg.
“We take rags and old cans and make something out of them. Then we sell them,” says the 44-year-old entrepreneur.
She stresses the importance of recycling as a means to reduce the pollution and waste in her neighbourhood. “I’m contributing to making the environment clean by collecting rubbish,” she says. “At the same time I also employ people.”
Mahlangu’s colourful stall is ablaze with Ndebele arts and crafts. Tourists are treated to hearty traditional meals and genuine Ndebele dancing while they do their shopping.
South African Tourism (Satour) was so impressed with her innovation that it invited her to exhibit her work and represent Mpumalanga at the World Travel Market in Earl’s Court, London, in November.
Travelling with fellow emerging entrepreneurs from the other eight provinces, Mahlangu also visited Cheryl Carolus at Trafalgar Square. Carolus was appointed chief executive of Satour from the beginning of November after serving as South African High Commissioner to London.
Mahlangu was given a list of businesses in London that may be interested in buying her products.
Satour’s chief of corporate affairs, Rehana Asmal, says the trip was an opportunity for the entrepreneurs to market themselves overseas. “This is an opportunity for them to showcase and expose themselves to the world. We want their businesses to grow.”
It may prove to be the kick-start Mahlangu needs: she doesn’t have financial backing, a computer or even a fax machine.
Despite these odds, last year she won the National Creativity Award for outstanding achievement in productivity improvement from the National Productivity Institute.
She was also nominated for this year’s Community Builder of the Year competition, by Technology for Women in Business.
She started her business in 1998 and today employs 25 people. One of them is her 19-year-old daughter, Lucia Mahlangu, who works as a secretary and a tour guide. She holds a diploma in crafts and tourism from MSC Private College in Middelburg.
Mahlangu has also hired entertainer Evelyn Mahlangu, who performs traditional dances for the tourists while they enjoy a home-cooked Ndebele meal. Their plates are heaped with pap and marogo (spinach), pumpkin, phutu pap and milk, mopane worms, mealies, peanuts and pumpkin seeds.
A gourd of traditional beer washes it all down. From Mahlangu’s stall, visitors can head off to Enkosini village, the home of Ndebele King Mayitjha III.
Here they can see the work of internationally acclaimed Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu, who makes traditional pots, African beads and traditional Ndebele dolls. A good souvenir would be her handmade calendar, which includes her photograph.
Tourists interested in the esoteric can also consult popular sangoma Khethiwe Ngwasheng, who will throw the bones.
“With the help of our ancestors, we can show people what troubles them,” Ngwasheng explains.
To ensure a safe journey home, the sangomas send tourists off with a song and dance.
And back where it all started, Sarah Mahlangu invites a new group of guests to Something out of Nothing. – African Eye News Service