Bringing SA 's Textiles Industry Back To Life

Butterworth in the Eastern Cape used to be a manufacturing hub in that province. That was until two decades ago, when about 40 large-scale manufacturers closed up shop. The opening of a new cashmere manufacturer recently might be the first sign of a revival for this town.

- Andile Ntingi

For nearly 20 years traditional beer maker United National Breweries has cut a forlorn figure as the only industrial investor in Butterworth after the Eastern Cape town was deserted by more than 40 large-scale manufacturers in the mid-1990s.

The town’s two-decade long investment drought came to an end in February when the once-thriving industrial town welcomed a textiles manufacturer, raising hopes that the investment could help Butterworth reclaim its former glory.

The wool processing factory, known as Ivili Loboya, is seen as a boon for thousands of wool sheep and goat farmers in the province, who will now have a new, reliable customer to sell their produce to. The plant will be the first-ever cashmere (goat wool) commercial processing enterprise in South Africa and will also source mohair, silk and cotton from farmers. It will then turn these either into scoured wool or high-end fabrics for the décor, upholstery, and fashion apparel markets in SA and Europe. There are 3m sheep in the Eastern Cape with 19 000 small-scale wool farmers, who generate income that supports 100 000 family members.

Former chairperson of the South African Post Office (Sapo), Dr Vuyo Mahlati, is behind the wool processing factory in Ibika, one of Butterworth’s three apartheid-era industrial estates that were built in the 1970s when the town was chosen as the manufacturing hub of the former Transkei homeland.

Empowering women

Mahlati and other investors have invested R30m in the venture, which is 100% black-owned. The majority of the shares in Ivili are held by women.