This reseacrh report is about the current role of the government/state in the restructuring of the clothing and textile industry in South Africa

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / The home dressmaker is a figure so constant in domestic history that one would be hard pressed to find, even today, somebody who cannot recall a woman from their family sewing at the dining room table. Within a highly industrialised world people rely more than ever on the industry of the machine and it’s endless whirring of fast consumption production. In the process, we have lost the respect for both the process and the product of the hand-made object. The fast-food, fast-living, immediate-access and instant-gratification of a post war America and Europe began an erosion of the morals-of-making which people have relied upon for centuries. Growing industries of cheaply produced clothes, shoes and fabrics from India and China have decimated these formerly strong South African industries. This dissertation aims to address the continued role of home sewing- historically undocumented- as an ‘invisible’ economy and define its position as a driving force for change through a ‘Skills Revolution’. Using the lens of a South African born, Johannesburg based and family run dressmaking and sewing teaching business, Italian Dressmaking School, this thesis aims at addressing the pressing social and economic needs of South African creative industries by providing a platform for personal and community skills development and learning. Italian Dressmaking School was founded in 1961 by my grandmother Irene Sansalvadore, and today continues to provide the tools for women to learn the craft of home sewing. This dissertation aims at providing both the space for women, in particular, to gain a skill in a craft that has historically been considered ‘women’s work’ alongside aligned crafts of weaving and textile dyeing within the historic fabric trading area of Fordsburg. South Africa no longer produces much in the way of textiles, bar traditional shweshwe, which is produced solely in the Eastern Cape and a handful of smaller mills scattered around the country. While pure cotton and linen is hard to come by, increasingly expensive and highly desirable, South Africa on a whole imports all of this fabric from China, Russia and India amongst others. The aim of this project is to build onto an existing nucleus already to be found in Johannesburg, providing South Africas’ residents with the skills to start their own micro businesses centered around the production of cloth, the dyeing/colouring and/or printmaking of produced fabrics and the final garment construction with its dual phases of patternmaking and sewing. This thesis does not aim to compete with industries like China but rather to re-establish a formerly successful craft based industry. The autonomy of people in establishing their own identity is arguably one of the most essential needs after the most basic; survival. This dissertation is not for the fashionista but rather for the woman who has used her hands, for time immemorial, making the cloth that shrouds us all. / XL2018

This research, which took the form of a case study in a large textile factory, is primarily concerned with finding out if there is a link between a particular educational level (i.e. ABET level 4 Communications/Language and Mathematics) used as a measure for the first stage of selecting prospective employees as machine operators, and a hard skill (i.e. actually operating a machine). After conducting interviews with nine people in the workplace; doing observations of three machine operators performing their jobs, and analysing various documents, such as the tool used for assessment, I found there to be an incongruence between the ‘requisite’ knowledge and skills and the actual knowledge and skills needed – the language and maths’ competencies needed in order to be deemed ‘competent’ in the assessment are of a higher ABET level than the language and maths needed ‘on-the-job’. But, this research is not simply about language and mathematics competencies. It is also about the ‘new workplace’ that has emerged with the advent and spread of globalisation. My study looks at the appropriateness of the ‘measure’ used as an entry requirement for a job, and by so doing it explores issues of inclusion and exclusion, and power relations. My study is, therefore, located within the critical social science paradigm and I raise questions around issues of morality, ethics and social justice. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

This reseacrh report is about the current role of the government/state in the restructuring of the clothing and textile industry in South Africa

Historically in South Africa, the education and social systems have worked together to deny black people both competencies and opportunities for significant participation.There are over nine million people in South Africa who cannot read or write. (Hutton, 1992) South Africa is not the only country with this problem, newly liberated countries have also had to respond to the problem of illiteracy. In South Africa many progressive organizations have initiated literacy work and have recognized the need for adult basic education. Workplace literacy has become an important national issue. It is of concern to employees, employers, unions, vocational and adult educators. But what does it mean to workers on the shopfloor and how can they benefit from such programmes. In our increasingly technological society, different workplace demands are being placed on workers. Companies try to assist their workers by offering training and retraining programmes. It sounds good, a problem has been recognized and steps are being taken to fix it, but there is something missing. Little mention is being made of the needs and rights of workers themselves. The objective of this study is to identify the literacy skills of workers and the necessity for determining job literacy requirements for employment positions. Research has shown that the level of literacy in the workplace is not determined by a grade equivalent but by the literacy needs of the workplace. In trying to identify the above objective it is important to look at what is meant by workplace literacy as well as significance of workplace literacy and its importance within a social and economic context. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1992.