Context (Field collection)
This object was collected by Julia Tanner while undertaking fieldwork in South Africa from March-May 2000. The fieldwork was financed by UCMAA’s Crowther-Beynon Fund, in order to research and update UCMAA’s South African collections.

This item was purchased on 11 April 2000 at the Dakawa Art and Craft Community Centre, 6-11 Froude Street, Grahamstown.

The maker: Mzukisi Dyaloyi was 26 years old at the time of fieldwork (March-May 2000) and had received two years training at Dakawa. He also prints his designs on paper, including the image of the taxi which forms part of a larger street scene. The T-shirts are ordered from Port Elizabeth and printed at Dakawa. The project produces a wide range of objects including tablecloths, prints, clothing and writing paper. Facilities for the production of all these items are on-site.

Dakawa Art and Craft Community Centre leaflet reads, “What is it? The centre is a multi-purpose non-profit organisation which was relaunched in 1998 with the help of a grant-in-aid from the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. The centre is predominantly a production centre in the Arts and Crafts which also caters for a range of Arts and Culture activities within Grahamstown and the larger Eastern Cape Province. The centre has a large printmaking studio which specialises in linocuts, a textile printing workshop which can print up to 28 metres of handprinted cloth at a time, a weaving workshop which produces knitted and woven wool, cotton and mohair goods. There is also a beading group and seamstresses at Dakawa...How did it come into existence? The centre plays a major role in the development of the Crafts for Grahamstown and the Eastern Province. It has strong ties with various sectors of the Arts and Culture as well as with the SMME development enterprises. Its shop, galleries and halls are used for a variety of activities initiated from stakeholders and there are presently 27 self employed crafters and artists at Dakawa who are developing their creative and entrepreneurial skills through a process of self-empowerment and support from Dakawa. Today, the centre specialises in the Cultural industries which is part of a national growth strategy to create opportunities for artists and crafters to become self-employed and to gain access into the emerging markets of the new democratic South Africa...History of Dakawa: The Centre started in Tanzania in 1986 as part of the African National Congress’s initiative to create opportunities for vocational skills. It was called the Dakawa Project and it was at a base camp which was sixty kilometres north of Mazimbu where are famous Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College was based. It was re-located to Grahamstown in 1992 with the help of the Swedish International Development Agency. The African National Congress withdrew its role at the centre to ensure that the centre would become self-managing and at arms-length from the government”.

T-shirts have commonly been worn to display images and slogans in association with group allegiance, political support, cultural identity and personal agendas. At the time of research (March to May 2000) a number of museums in South Africa had displays of clothing, especially T-shirts, relating to aspects of South African history. At MuseuMAfricA in Johannesburg, the ‘Road to Democracy’ exhibition displayed T-shirts with the slogans; “Stop Apartheid”, “People’s Education for People’s Power NECC” and “Support the Miners’ Strike. A Living Wage. National Union of Mine Workers”. These slogans were also accompanied by powerful images. Many of these objects formed part of the material culture of the struggle. At the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzberg, another exhibition was entitled: “Sisonke - Symbols and Identity”. The display was based on concepts of symbols and identity in material culture. The clothing in this display included T-shirts, scarves and caps. Items such as these were used as symbols of resistance, to express political association, labour solidarity, common identity and goals. The various items of displayed clothing belonged to the African National Congress, the United Democratic Front, the Pan-Africanist Congress, the Inkatha Freedom Party and COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions).

The image of the Eastern Cape Taxi is equally multi-vocal. The Eastern Cape is one of South Africa’s poorest provinces, and was home to the Transkei and Ciskei homelands established by the apartheid regime to isolate the black population into contained areas. As a result, the region became a stronghold of the opposition struggle and consequently the scene of brutal retribution by the apartheid system. These well recognised types of vans or minibus taxis operate in and between most towns and cities. They are primarily used by black South Africans, as they are a cheap, though dangerously over-crowded, means of transport. The drivers are notoriously reckless and often unlicensed, and accidents involving these vans are frequently reported. There is also a history of violent competition between rival companies and shootings have occured. The taxis do not hold to schedules and they have a home-grown system of signalling understood by driver and passengers.




Event Date 5/5/2012
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
T-shirt with image designed and printed by Mzukisi Dyaloyi of the Dakawa Art and Craft Community Centre, Grahamstown, South Africa. The white T-shirt is printed with the side view of an Eastern Cape Taxi, with passengers and driver visible at the windows. The taxi is predominantly green in colour and the image is outlined in black and white. The word 'taxi' is written on the side and top front of the vehicle. On the front lower right corner of the shirt (as viewed) is sewn a small Dakawa project logo.
Event Date 5/5/2012
Author: maa