MHLAFUSHI ORGANIC PRODUCTS

MEET THE EXHIBITOR

Julia Shungube grew up in Mbangwane village, in the Nkomazi

Municipality of Mpumalanga. The knowledge behind Umhlafusha Oil was first passed down in the 1950s by Julia's

grandmother, who taught the traditional method of extracting oil from the seeds of the castor plant to Julia's mother, Eva Mbebe. Ms Mbebe used the oil as extra income to supplement her wages as a farm worker. Julia learned the craft from her mother and, while working full- time as a security officer, spent evenings and off-days helping to boil, crush and press the seeds by hand. Seeds from the trees planted around the family home yielded an oil long used in the village for baby skin, elders' skin and as a hair treatment, and Julia

also supplied local traditional healers who blended it into muti.

From Backyard to Business

Siphandane Trading CC was registered in 2007 after Julia identified a real opportunity in agro-processing. Seda

advised her to formalise the enterprise with CIPRO and enrolled her in a start-up programme and basic business

management training — the first formal skills she had ever received as an entrepreneur. With that grounding, and

one employee alongside her, Julia continued selling to the local community while still boiling seeds in a pot over

an open fire and hand-pressing the oil through cloth.

Julia Shungube grew up in Mbangwane village, in the Nkomazi

Municipality of Mpumalanga. The knowledge behind

Umhlafusha Oil was first passed down in the 1950s by Julia's

grandmother, who taught the traditional method of extracting

oil from the seeds of the castor plant to Julia's mother, Eva

Mbebe. Ms Mbebe used the oil as extra income to supplement

her wages as a farm worker.

Julia learned the craft from her mother and, while working full-

time as a security officer, spent evenings and off-days helping to

boil, crush and press the seeds by hand. Seeds from the trees

planted around the family home yielded an oil long used in the

village for baby skin, elders' skin and as a hair treatment, and Julia

also supplied local traditional healers who blended it into muti.

Securing Land to Grow

Producing from a residential yard could not support real growth, so Julia approached the Mlambo Tribal Authority.

Chief Mandlenkosi Mahlalela approved 10 hectares of land for Siphandane Trading to farm the castor plant

commercially, together with authorisation to cultivate bio-diesel and cosmetic crops. It was this land that allowed

the business to move from a household hustle to a structured farming and manufacturing operation.

Science Meets Tradition

In 2010, an intervention facilitated by Seda Nkomazi saw the product tested by the CSIR through the Tshumisano

Technology Station, confirming it was suitable and safe for human use. The testing also revealed the scientific

identity of the plant Julia had always known as “Umhlafushe” — the castor bean (Ricinus communis). True to the

community that raised her, Julia chose to keep the traditional name for her brand while meeting modern

manufacturing and safety standards.