Sjambok
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"When natives bring rubber to a factory, they are received by an agent surrounded by soldiers. The baskets are weighed. If the baskets do not contain the five kilos, required, the natives receive 100 blows with a chicotte. Those whose baskets attain the correct weight receive a piece of cloth or some other object. If a certain village contains 100 male inhabitants, and 50 come to the factory with rubber, they are retained as hostages, and a force is sent to bring the 50 unruly natives and burn their village." King Leopold's Rule in Africa |
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The sjambok or litupa is the official heavy leather whip of South Africa, sometimes seen as synonymous with apartheid but actually much older and still used outside the official judiciary. It is traditionally made from an adult hippopotamus (or rhinoceros) hide, but is also commonly made out of plastic.
A strip of the animal's hide is cut and carved into a strip 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 m) long, tapering from about Template:Convert thick at the handle to about Template:Convert at the tip. This strip is then rolled (possibly between heavy metal plates) until reaching a tapered-cylindrical form. The resulting whip is both flexible and durable. A plastic version was made for the South African Police Service, and used for riot control.
