QONCE- Textile entrepreneur and fine artist Nobuzwe Dumisa Mabona is marking two decades of turning cultural memory into cloth, jobs and opportunity as South Africa celebrates Africa Month.
Mabona’s career has traced a deliberate arc from fine art student to award-winning textile developer and skills mentor. Her work blends African storytelling fabrics and prints with traditional handwork and modern tech designs learned in China.
“Textiles are more than cloth, they carry our history, our languages, our pride. For 20 years I have used fabric to tell South African stories, create sustainable jobs and empower women and youth to stand on their own,” Mabona said.
Mabona’s path began in 1991at East London Technical College. A detour into broadcasting at YFM and SABC sharpened her sense of narrative but it was the 2010 FIFA World Cup that pulled her back to textiles.
She launched a t-shirt range celebrating South African greetings and township slang and the demand made clear that there was space for a business rooted in local culture.
Today she leads Buzwe Bethu Textile Prints and Design Centre, a QCTO-accredited manufacturing and training hub in the Eastern Cape.
The centre blends traditional African prints with new materials and production methods, continuing the ethos of her former brand Afrochild, which once supplied major retailers.
Furthmore, Buzwe Bethu and its non-profit arm Mazidlekaya she has trained and mentored dozens of young people and women in textile skills, partnered with Lovedale TVET College and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Development Agency and secured National Arts Council funding for multi-year community programmes.
“Two decades ago I started with a dream to make beautiful things that celebrate who we are. Today that dream has grown into jobs, skills and hope for many families. This Africa Month I celebrate every woman and young person who has picked up a needle, learned a skill or worn one of our fabrics with pride,” she said.
Her influence now extends beyond South Africa’s borders. In 2019, Mingjiang University in China appointed her Textile Technology Ambassador for Africa, a role through which she has facilitated international training for more than 15 South African learners.
As Africa Month focuses attention on unity and cultural pride, Mabona’s two decades of work stand as a case study in how heritage when paired with technical skill and purpose, can build industry from the ground up.
Photograph: Supplied
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