Grasbesem /gbrass broom / yard broom / Africa broom / lefielo

This iconic item is one of the purist proudly South-African products.  It is hand-made by small entrepreneurs and sold at about R60 each.  There is no equivalent available in any shop.  You only get the real thing straight from the vendor and it sweeps like no other mass-produced broom.

Victor (who can be contacted at 078 1785 039) is one such grasbesem vendor who frequently hops on a taxi with his bundle of brooms and sell them door-to-door.

On a good day he sells anything between three and ten. When he is not selling he manufactures.  It takes him about half an hour to make one broom.   The grass tufts are folded and wire-bound to a dowel-stick type broom handle.  Various species of THICK-STEMMED grass are used as raw material.

In some areas grasbesem vendors have a signature high-pitch chant “be-he-sem” that notifies potential buyers in the same way as an ice cart’s jingle to their approach.  This chant is the Afrikaans word for broom.

More grasbesem vendors:

Walter   07  66 99 6503 (Hammanskraal)

Unice 076  18 77  081   (Soshanguve)

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