By Mzwandile Ndlovu
A renewed push to translate indigenous knowledge (IK) into practical rural development will take centre stage when stakeholders gather for the Second Smart Village conference in Nyandeni in the Eastern Cape.
Being held under the theme “Towards an indigenous knowledge-based smart village model: A multi-stakeholder planning dialogue for sustainable rural development”, the three-day engagement from 24 to 26 March 2026 moves beyond conceptual discussions and towards implementation and community participation.
The dialogue is being convened as a partnership by academic, government, traditional and civil society leaders. They are the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Nyandeni Royal House, MSV Consulting and the Nyandeni Local Municipality. The proceedings will rotate between Nyandeni Local Municipality, Nyandeni Great Place and Dan’s Country Lodge.
Local realities are foremost
The conference builds on South Africa’s first Indigenous Knowledge-led Smart Village Regeneration Conference held in February 2025, which introduced the theoretical foundations of the Nyandeni Smart Village initiative.
The initiative is aimed at stimulating rural and regional economies by integrating indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, cultural heritage, quality education and citizen engagement. The model seeks to protect indigenous knowledge while also promoting environmental sustainability, job creation and the revitalisation of rural areas through policy integration and strong community participation.
The upcoming gathering seeks to consolidate those foundations through practical planning aligned with local governance systems.
Central to the discussions will be the implementation of the Protection, Promotion, Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Act 6 of 2019, which seeks to elevate IK systems as a driver of socio-economic development.
Participants will also examine how the Smart Village initiative can be aligned with existing spatial and land-use frameworks, including the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, as well as the District Development Model’s “One Plan,” to ensure coordinated planning and budgeting.
Organisers have structured the conference as a community-based planning dialogue rather than a traditional academic conference to deepen co-creation between communities, government institutions and other stakeholders.
Key objectives include strengthening community-government engagement, advocating for budget allocation and bulk infrastructure support, and positioning the Nyandeni Smart Village as a catalytic project within district development plans.
Recognised innovation
The Nyandeni Smart Village project has been recognised internationally, receiving the Star of Discovery Award in 2022 under the Global Awards for World Heritage Education – Innovative Cases programme of the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for Asia and the Pacific.
In 2025, the initiative also earned a Best Paper Award at the 8th International Conference on Smart Villages and Rural Development, organised by the Smart Village Lab at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with SASTRA Deemed University.
The NWU, has played a pioneering role in IKS development, according to Mothusiotsile Maditsi, lecturer in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and community engagement coordinator.
“We are the first institution of higher learning to have an IKS programme fully recognised from undergraduate to postgraduate level,” he says. “As an African institution we saw the value in tapping into the knowledge and systems of Africans to bring about transformation, address poverty, inequality and the rural-urban divide through such a programme.”
This is an in-person dialogue and participation is by invitation only. Invited participants are requested to register by 2 March 2026. To register, please visit: https://forms.gle/Bu6K8tkw7AmfHoMM6
To request an invitation, please contact one of the following persons:
Otsile Madintsi, Otsile.Maditsi@nwu.ac.za
Mcebisi Mabuza, mabuzamcebisi@gmail.com
Nazo Cekwana, cekwana@nyandenilm.gov.za
Sisanda Chutshela, Sisanda.Chutshela@dsti.gov.za
