Changes In Homestead Building With The Invention Of Iron

The traditional homestead changes influenced by colonial architecture which started with basic huts, with corrugated iron roofs and walls. Swati traditional homestead started using round or rectangular huts with straight walls made up of stick and mud. Corrugated iron was invented in the 1870's and quickly became popular in the country as roofing material. Large rectangular huts, divided into two or more rooms, and are tending to be used more than the stick and mud with grass roof rondavel type of living. (HUGHES A. J., 1972).

In the modern homesteads you can now find western style furniture, beds, tables, chairs, dressers and cupboard which were not so common in the past. Another change usually found is the manufactured grain tank, made out of corrugated iron, used for storing maize after harvesting. The use of these is actively encouraged by the government's agricultural extension service, due to the allegedly high rate of loss of grain if it is stored in pits dug under the cattle byre or in baskets in the kitchen huts or on storage platforms. (HUGHES A. J., 1972)

In some homesteads which are near the major towns and cities, the changes may be most noticeable. The cattle byre is often no longer there. The daily life may involve the parents commuting into the city, the children going to school, so that all the traditional activities varying from agriculture to rituals have to be squeezed in to their busy lives. The only consistent and enduring component is kagogo the granny’s hut.

The Morden type of homestead can not be picked up and moved to a new site like the traditional Swati beehive. The construction of stick and can last about three weeks to finish the construction of each hut depending on its size, normally a stick and mud house does not have specific measurements. A stick and mud house can last about three years without maintenance, when the hut needs maintenance another layer is added either grass for the roof or mud for walls then it is plastered over again.

Members of a Homestead are usually taught by oral traditions or home training, to construct the huts walls out stones Kimberley sun-dried bricks. The poles and thatch used for roofing are also normally available locally, if a Homestead is abandoned it involves no great monetary loss for the homestead Manufactured articles such as doors or windows can be taken to a new site and the Group can, by its own efforts, provide itself with a now home there. (HUGHES A. J., 1972)