NEN Gallery

These whips are called Sjambok or litupa. They are made from a strip of hide cut into a section of three to five feet long, one inch at the handle end, to about three-eighths of an inch at the end. The strip was rolled until it was circular, producing a flexible, tough and hard-hitting whip. The sjambok is traditional in Southern Africa, and was used for driving oxen and cattle. It is strongly associated with the apartheid era in Southern Africa, but has older associations still, including links with slavery